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^OFCA

A HISTORY OF
BABYLONIA AND ASSYRIA

BY
ROBERT WILLIAM ROGERS

PH.D. (LEIPZIG), D.D., LL.D., F.R.G.S., PROFESSOR IN DREW
THEOLOGICAL SEMINARY, MADISON, NEW JERSEY

THIRD EDITION

IN TWO VOLUMES
VOLUME I

NEW YORK : EATON & MAINS
CINCINNATI: JENNINGS & PYE

EATON & MAINS

New York

A-H Rights Reserved

First EditioD printed NoTember, 1900.
Second Edition printed March, 1901.
Second Edition reprinted June, 1901.
Tliird Edition printed March, 1902.

no a

•'t give tbis fault? bool? to vjou,

^or tbo' tbc faults be tbicft as Just
■fln vacant cbambcis, U can trust
gour woman's nature ^!in^ an^ true."

PREFACE.

During the past ten years, when not absorbed in
the duties of a busy professorship, I have given my
time to the preparation of this work. In its inter-
est I have made repeated journeys to Europe, and
also to the East, and the greater part of the text has
been written in the University Library at Leipzig,
the British Museum in London, and the Bodleian
Library in Oxford. In the last named I have had
especial opportunity to investigate the early his-
tory of cuneiform research in the almost unrivaled
collections of early travelers and decipherers.
Large parts of the book have been rewritten twice
or thrice as changes in opinion and the discovery
of fresh monumental material have modified the
views previously entertained. Whatever may be
the judgment of my fellow-investigators in this
difficult field, it will not truthfully be said that I
have not taken pains.

Every part of the two volumes rests upon origi-
nal sources, yet I have tried to consider all that
modern Assyriologists have brought forward in
elucidation of them, and have sought to give due
credit for every explanation which I have ac-
cepted, and to treat with courtesy and respect any
that I have ventured to reject. The progress of

vi PREFACE.

Assyriology in the past twenty years has been so
rapid that every book on the history of Babylonia
and Assyria published prior to 1880 is hopelessly
antiquated, and many issued much later would
need extensive revision. The work of investiga-
tion has fallen necessarily into the hands of spe-
cialists, and so vast has the field grown that there
are now specialists in even small parts of the sub-
ject. The results of all this detailed research are
scattered in scientific journals and monographs in
almost all the languages of Europe. To sift,
weigh, and decide upon their merits is no easy
task, and I am sadly conscious that it might have
been better done ; yet am I persuaded that schol-
ars who know the field intimately will recognize
the difficulties and be most ready to pardon the
shortcomings which each may discover in his own
province.

I have sou2:ht to tell the whole storv as scholars
now generally understand it, rather being disposed
to yield to the consensus of opinion, when any
exists, than eager to set forth novel personal
opinions. Yet in parts of the field at least I may
claim to be an independent investigator, and to
have made contributions to the knowledge of the
subject.

In travel and in research in the libraries and
museums of Paris, Berlin, Cairo, Constantinople,
and elsewhere I have received many courtesies
which I should gladly acknowledge here did it
not seem disproportionate to carve great names on

PREFACE. vii

SO small a structure. The obligations to my frieud
Professor Sayce are, lio^vever, so unusual that they
must be expressed. He has read the entire book
in manuscript, and made many suggestions, some
of which led me to change my view, while others
showed me wherein I had written obscurely or
had failed to defend my position adequately. I
am grateful to him for this new illustration of his
unfailing kindness and generosity to younger men.
I take leave of the book with mingled pleasure
and regret, hoping only that it may prove suffi-
ciently useful to demand and deserve a revision at
no distant day.

ROBERT W. ROGERS.

Madison, New Jersey,
September 18, 1900.

CONTENTS.

BOOK I : PROLEGOMENA.

CHAPTER I.
Early Travelers and Early Decipherers.

PAGE

Ignorance concerning Babylonia before 1820 . . 1

Two lines of research 2

The ruins of Persepolis, Mount Rachmet ... 3

Odoric's account of Comum (Comerum) . . 4

Importance of Odoric's account ..... 5

Josophat Barbaro at Camara ..... G

Barbaro and Antonio de Gouvea Y

Gouvea's account of Chelminira . . . . " 8

The great stones, staircases, and columns ... 9

The inscriptions as Gouvea saw them . . . 10

The embassy of Don Garcia de Sylva y Figueroa . 1 1

His description of the ruins of Persepolis . . . 12

Sculpture at Persepolis . . . . . . . 13

Inscriptions . . . . . . . .14

End of Figueroa's account . . . . . . 15

Letters of Pietro della Valle. Copy of inscription . 16
His speculations concerning the characters . .17

Thomas Herbert, 1634 18

His account of the inscriptions . . . . . 19

Mandelslo's account. Herbert, 1677 ... 20
Further descriptions by Herbert . . . .21

Herbert's later account of the inscriptions . . 22

His copy of the characters . . . c . . 23

Sir John Chardiu born 1643 . . . . . 24

CONTENTS.

Chardin's account; Jean Baptiste Taveruier

Carreri on the inscriptions

Continuation of his account

Carreri's copy of the characters

Estimate of Carreri's work .

Kaempfer's narrative

Cornelis de Bruin, 1704

Small influence of the travelers

Publication of vase, 1762

Carsten Niebuhr, 1765

Niebuhr's work at Persepolis

Niebuhr's publications, 1774-1837

His copies and analyses

Tychsen and Miinter

Tychsen's erroneous translation

Miinter's better success

Anquetil-Duperron, 1731

His publication of Zend-Avesta

De Sacy and Sassanian

Summaiy of materials for decipherment

The problem of decipherment

CHAPTER II.
Gkotefend and Rawlistson
Grotef end born 1775 .
Begins decipherment
Inscriptions " b " and " g " of Niebuhr
Persian equivalents for king
Equivalents for " king of kings " .
The names Hyst.asj^es, Darius, and Xerxes
Darheush and Ciishharsha .
Goshtasp .......

Grotef end's partial t riinslations .

Heeren assists Grotefend

Abbe Saint-Martin . . . .

(rrotefend's later work ....

Rask and Eugene Burnouf

CONTENTS. xi

PAGE

The lists of names at Naksh-i-Rustam . . . 59
Lassen's work ........ 60

Rich copies Persepolis texts . . . . . 61

Westergaard's copies . . , . . . .62

Sir Henry Rawlinson, 1810, birth and education . 63
Rawlinson's attempts to decipher . . . .64

His own account ....... 65

He copies inscriptions at Behistun . . .66

Rawlinson sent to Afghanistan .... 67

Rawlinson's memoir on Persian inscriptions . . 68
His obligations to others ..... 69

The Rev. Edward Hincks 70

His education and early labors . . . . 71

The close of the Persian decipherment . . .72
Other problems . . . . . . . 73

Flower's lettei's ........ 74

His copies of cuneiform characters .... 75

Aston's publication of them . . . . .76

A retrograde movement begins . . . . 77

Thomas Hyde quotes Flower . . . . .78

Witsen reproduces Flower's signs .... 79

Cantemir visits Tarku ...... 80

Guldenstadt and Schulz 81

St. Martin and Burnouf 82

Holtzmann's translation of Flower's cop}' . . 83

CHAPTER III.

Early Explorers in Babylonia.
The Middle Age ignorant of Babylon
Rabbi Benjamin of Tudela
His accounts of Nineveh and Babylon
His account of Babylon continued .
The influence of his narrative
John Eldred, 1583 .
His account of Babylon
He confuses Baghdad and Babylon
Anthony Shirley, 1599

. . . UT

. 86

. 88

. 90

. 92

xii CONTENTS.

His influence on later explorers

John Cartwright visits Nineveh ....

His account of the city .....

And of Babylon ......

Gasparo Balbi visits Babylon ....

Athanasius Kircher receives a brick from Babylon
End of the age of travelers ....

PAGK

93
94
95
96
97
98
99

CHAPTER IV.

Explorations in Assyria and Babylonia, 1734-1820.

Jean Otter begins the new age of exploration . .100

Saint Albert visits the East 101

His description of Hillah . . . . . .102

D'Anville on Babylon 103

Niebuhr visits Babylon 1765 ..... 104

And also Nineveh . . . . . . . 1 05

Beauchamj) describes Babel . . . . .106

And Makloube 107

He recognizes relationship of Babylonian script . 108
Olivier succeeds him . . . . . .109

Joseph Hager publishes a remarkable book . .110

He shows that Babylon was earlier than Persepolis . Ill

Great influence of his book . . . . .112

Claudius James Rich born 1787 . . . . 113

His first impressions of Babylon . . . .114

Further description, and first excavations, 1811 . 115

Rennell's criticism of Rich , . . , .116

Rich visits Neby Yunus and Kuyunjik . . . 117

Suspicions of the natives . . . . . .118

Rich visits Persepolis . . . . . .119

His influence upon cuneiform research . . .120

Sir Robert Ker Porter visits Rich at Baghdad . 121

His unique equipment for exploration . . .122
Porter's book on Babylon . . . . .123

Close of another period of exploration . . .124

Rich and Porter as leaders in it . . . . 125

CONTENTS.

ziu

CHAPTER V.

Julius Mohl begins residence in Paris 1823
Botta sent to Mosul as vice consul 1842 .
The town of Mosul at that time

city

844

1 40.

Excavations in Assyria and Babylonia, 1843-1854.

PAoa
. 126
127

. 128
General view of mounds opposite the city . .129
Botta searches Mosul for antiquities
Kuyunjik selected for first excavations
Small success of his efforts .
Begins excavations at Khorsabad
Encouraged by Mohl .
Difficulties with Turkish officials
Work resumed May 4, 1844
End of Botta's excavations, October,
Austen Henry Layard born 1817
His extensive journey with Mitford
First description of Nimroud
Layard visits Botta at Mosul .
Layard begins collecting funds to excavate in
First night at Nimroud ....
Discovers winged bull in the mound .
Description of the scene ....
Excitement caused by discovery .
Second pair of human-headed lions found
Layard's musings over the discoveries
And reflections upon their interest .
Layard's gifts in description
Permission from Constantinople to continue the work 153
Hormuzd Rassam acts as assistant . . . .154
Obelisk of Shalmaneser II found .... 155
Excavations at Kalah Shergat . . . . . 156
Layard's expedition of 1849 . . ... .157

Returns to England 1852 158

Fruitfulness of his work . . . . . .159

William Kennett Loftus in the Orient . . .160

130
131
132
133
134
135
136
137
138
139
141
142

Assyria 143
144

. 145
146, 147

. 148
149

. 150
151

. 152

PAGE

161

162

163,

164

165

167,

168

169,

170

171

172,

173

174

xiv CONTENTS.

Excavates at Warka . . .

Assyrian Excavation Fund organized

Taylor excavates at Mugheir , ...

The French expedition to Babylonia .

Kassam begins work at Kuyunjik . . 166,

Discoveries made by him there

Jones surveys Nineveh ....

Rawlinson makes discovery at Ur .

Close of excavations ......

CHAPTER VI.

Thb Decipherment of Assyrian.

The problem . . . . . . . .175

Westergaard begins the work . . . . 176

De Saulcy uses the name Assyriaa . . . .177

Xorris publishes second column of Behistun texts . 178
The second form of writing deciphered . . . 17&

Loewenstein begins Assyrian decipherment . 180, 181
Hincks continues his work . . . . . .182

Longperier translates one of Botta's inscriptions 183, 184
Botta makes some contributions toward the solution 185
De Saulcy makes futile attempts . . . .186

Hincks is much more successful . . . 187, 188
Rawlinson does not equal him . . . . .189

Publication of Rawlinson's Memoir . . 190, 191

Hincks makes still further contributions . 192, 193

Workers increase in number . . . . .194

Fox Talbot proposes a test of the decipherment 195, 196
Effect of the demonstration . . . . .197

Organization of the Society of Biblical Archaeology

198, 199
CHAPTER Vn.

The Decipherment op Sumerian and of Vannic.

Disputes concerning the origin of cuneiform signs 200
Rawlinson announces discovery of non-Semitic in-
scriptions . . . . . . .201

CONTENTS.

His studies of " Scythian " inscriptions .

Ilincks names the language Old Chaldean .

Sayee publishes important paper on Accadian

LejQormant writes grammar of Sumerian

Solution of the problem in 1873

Halevy denies the existence of Sumerian

But does not convince Assyriologists

Halevy's theory gains recruits

Defends his thesis at Leiden, 1883 .

Delitzsch joins Halevy and later deserts him

The end of Sumerian decipherment

Schulz finds inscriptions at Van .

Edward Hincks begins their decipherment .

Which is continued by Lenormant and Mordtmann

Guyard finds a valuable clue to the language

Sayce independently finds the same clue

And deciphers the Vannic inscriptions .

Belck and Lehmann on Chaldian language

CHAPTER Vin.

ExPLORATioxs IX Assyria and Babylonia, 1872-1900.
Julius Mohl, Secretary of the Societe Asiatique . . 225
George Smith begins his work . . . 226, 227
He attempts Cypriote decipherment .... 228
Finds fragments of deluge tablet .... 229
Important meeting of the Society of Biblical Archae- ,

ology 230

Daily Telegraph expedition to Assyria . . 231
Smith's second and third expeditions .... 232
Smith's death at Aleppo, 1876 . . . . 233
Rassam undertakes a new expedition , . 234, 235

De Sarzec's excavations at Tello . . 236, 237, 238
The Wolfe expedition to Babylonia , . . 239, 240
The Philadelphia expedition begins work . . 241
The second and third campaigns . . . 242, 243

The remarkable work of Haynes at Nip})ur . 244, 245
Hilprecht in charge of excavations .... 246

PAGE

202

203

204

205

206

207,

208

209,

210

211

212

213,

214

215

216,

217

218,

219

lann

220

221

222

223

224

xvi CONTENTS.

PAOa
The German expedition at Babylon . . . 247
Discoveries at Tell-el-Amarna . . . .248, 249
Turkish expedition at Sippar . . . 250, 251

Conclusion of period of excavation . . . 252, 253

CHAPTER IX.

The Soukces.

The monuments of Babylonia and Assyria . . 254

Their character 255, 256

Egyptian texts and the Old Testament as sources . 257
Greek and Latin writers ..... 258

Berossos 259, 260

Ktesias 261, 262

Herodotus 263, 264

Lesser authorities 265

CHAPTER X.

The Lands of Babylonia and Assyria.

The boundaries of the two countries . . 266, 267
Chaldea and Assyria ....... 268

Mesopotamia 269

Sources of the Tigris and Euphrates . . 270, 271

Their tributaries 272, 273

Flood periods in the rivers . . . . .274

Canal system 275

Other water supplies . . . . . , .276

Climate of the great valley . . . . . 277

Incursions of sand . . . . . . .278

Temperate winters . . . . . . 279

Fertility of the soil 280, 281

Its cereals, vegetables, and trees . . . . 282

The fauna of the country 283, 284

The elephant and the wild ass .... 285
No mineral wealth in Babylonia . . . .286

Clay as a building material ..... 287
Stone found plentifully in Assyria .... 288

CONTENTS.

Cities of Babylonia : Eridii .

Ur and Larsa ....

Girsu, Uruk ....

Isin and Nippm - ....

Babyl on .....

Kutha, Dur-Kurigalzu, and Opis
Cities of Assyria: Asshur

Calah and Nineveh .

Dur-Sharrukin and Arbailu

Na9ibina and Harran

CHAPTER XI.

xvu

FAGB

289
. 290

291, 292

. 293

294, 295

296

. 297

298

. 299

300, 301

The Peoples of Babylonia and Assyria.

The early Babylonians ...... 302

The Sumerian language 303

The Sumerian people ...... 304

Invasion of Semites ....... 305

Original home of Semites .... 306, 307

Origin and character of Assyrians . . . 308, 309
The Chaldeans 310, 311

CHAPTER XII.

The Chronology.

Babylonian chronological materials

The King Lists ......

Babylonian Chronicles ....

Boundary stone of Bel-nadin-apli

The Nabonidus Chronological materials

Date of Sargon I and Naram-Sin

Date of Marduk-nadin-akhe .

External indications of age

Assyrian chronological material

Expedition Lists and Synchronistic Histoiy

Statements of Sennacherib inscriptions

Chronology in Tiglathpileser's texts

Greek writers : Berossos

312

313

314,

315

316

317,

318

319

320,

321

322

323

324

325

326

327,

328

xviii CONTENTS.

PAGE

The beginning of Babylonian history • . . .329

Statements of Simplicius .... 330, 331

Schwartz on chronology of Berossos . .: . 332

The Canon of Ptolemy 333, 334

Egyptian inscriptions and Old Testament . . 335

Tables of chronology : Early Babylonia . 336, 337

First dynasty . . . . . . . 338

Second dynasty . . . . . . 339

Third dynasty 340, 341

Fourth dynasty • 342, 343

Fifth, sixth, and seventh dynasties . . . 344
Eighth and ninth dynasties .... 345

Chronology of Assyria, Ishakkus of Asshur . 346

Kings of Assyria . . . . . 347, 348

BOOK II: THE HISTORY OF BABYLONIA.

CHAPTER I.

The History of Babylonia to thk

Fall of

Laksa.

The difficult study of origins

, .

349

Earliest cities of Babylonia

350

The land of Kengi

351

En-shag-kush-ana, patesi .

352,

353

Lugalzaggisi .....

354,

355

Urukagina . .

356

Eannatum .....

357

His successors

358,

359

Lasirab and Manishtusu .

360

Sargon I and his origin

361,

362

His great career ....

363,

364,

365

Naram-Sin

366,

367

Ur Bau-and Gudea

368,

369,

370

The civilization of Shirpurla

371

The favorable location of Ur

372

Ur-Gur and Dungi ....

. 373,

374,

375

CONTENTS.

The kings of Isin . . . . .
The third dynasty of Ur .
Kingdom of Amnanu . . . .
Nur-Adad and Sin-iddin
Kudur-Nankhundi . . . . .
Chedorlaonier and Eri-Aku
End of the kingdom of Larsa
Sumerian civilization in early Babylonia
The political development

CHAPTER II.

XIX

PAGE

376

. 377
378

. 379
380

. 381
382

. 383
384, 385

The First and Second Dynasties of Babylon.

The origin of the city of Babylon
Sumu-abi to Apil-Sin . . . ,
Sin-muballit and Hammurabi
Hammurabi rules all Babylonia
Chedorlaomer .....

Arioch ; Hammurabi, the statesman

The glory of his reign

Samsu-iluna ......

End of the first dynasty

The second dynasty ....

CHAPTER III.

The Kassite Dynasty,

Conquest of Babylonia by the Kassites
Their racial affiliations ....

Unsatisfactory knowledge concerning them
The first kings of the dynasty
Agum-kakrime ......

The titles of Kassite kings

Extent of Ascum-kakrime's kins^dom

He restores Babylonian gods

Lacuna? in King Lists . . • .

Beginnings of Assj^ria ....

INIitanni .......

. 38 G

387
. 388

389
• 390

391
392, 393

394

. 395

396, 397

. ' . *

399

400

401

. 402,

403

404

405

406

. 407,

408

409

. 410,

411

CONTENTS.

Karaindash

Kadashman-Bel . . . . .

Bumaburiash I

Kurigalzu I

Bumaburiash II

Karakhardash, Kadashman-Khaibe I

Kurigalzu II

Kadashman-Turgu to Shagarakti-Shuriash

Invasion by Tukulti-Ninib

Meli-Shipak ......

Marduk-apal-iddin ....

CHAPTER IV
The Dyxasty of Isin.

PAGE

2, 413, 314
. 415

416
. 417

418
. 419

420
. 421

422
. 423

424

Origin of the dynasty .....

Its first kings .......

Nebuchadrezzar I ..... .

Marduk-nadin-akhe ......

End of the dynasty 429

425
426
427

428

LIST OF PLATES AND DIAGRAMS.

Pietro della Valle's Copy of Cuneiform Signs . page 16
The First Persepolis Inscriptions, copied entire

(Sir J. Chardin) . . . .to face page 24
Carreri's Copy of Inscription at Persepolis . page 28

Inscriptions Deciphered by Grotefend to face page 48

Inscription Copied by Flower .... j^age 75

A HISTORY

BABYLONIA AND ASSYRIA.

BOOK i:

PROLEGOMENA

CHAPTER I.

EARLY TRAVELERS AND EARLY DECIPHERERS.

Prior to 1820 the only knowledge possessed by
the world of the two cities Babylon and Nineveh,
and of the empires which they founded and led,
was derived from peoples other than their inhab-
itants. No single word had come from the deep
stillness of the ruins of Babylon, no voice was
heard beneath the mounds of Nineveh. It would
then have seemed a dream of impossible things
to hope that some future day would discover
buried libraries in these mounds, filled with
books in which these peoples had written not
only their history and chronology, but their sci-
ence, their operations of building, their manners
and customs, their very thoughts and emotions.
That the long-lost languages in which these books

2 HISTORY OF BABYLONIA AND ASSYRIA.

were written should be recovered, that men should
I'ead them as readily and as surely as the tongues
of which traditional use had never ceased among
men — all this would then have seemed impossible
indeed. But this and much more has happened.
From these long-lost, even forgotten materials the
history of Babylonia and Assyria has become
known. These are now the chief sources of our
knowledge, and before we begin our survey of the
long line of the centuries it is well that we should
look at the steps by which our sources were
secured.

The story of the rediscovery of Babylonia and
Assyria is really twofold. Two lines of research,
pursued separately for a long time, at last formed
a union, and from that union has resulted present
knowledge. By the one line the ancient sources
were rediscovered, by the other men learned how
to read them.

The first clue which led to the rediscovery of the
ancient language of Babylonia and of Assyria was
not found in either of these two lands. It was
not found by a scholar who set out to search for
it. It was not a brilliant discovery made in a day,
to become the wonder of ages. It was rather
the natural result of a long, tedious, and some-
what involved process. It began and long con-
tinued to be in the hands of travelers, each learn-
ing a little from his predecessors, and then adding
a mite as the result of his own observation. It
was found in the most unlikely place in Persia,

EARLY TRAVELERS AND DECIPHERERS. 3

far from Babylonia and Assyria. The story of its
finding is worth the telling, not only because it is
necessary to any just appreciation of our present
knowledge of Assyria and Babylonia, but because
it has its own interest, and is instructive as a his-
tory of the progress of knowledge.

In Persia, forty miles northeast of Shiraz, once
the capital of the kingdom, there is a range of
everlasting hills, composed of a marble of dark
grey limestone, which bears the name of Mount
Rachmet. In front of this ridge, and in a semi-
circular hollow, there rises above the plain a vast
terracelike platform. Nature built this terrace in
part, but man at some time erected a wall in front
of it, leveled off the top, and there built great pal-
aces and temples. In the Middle Ages this land
of Persia became full of intei'est for various rea-
sons. It had an important commerce with Europe,
and that naturally drew men of trade fi-om Europe
into its extensive plateaus, that were reeking with
heat in summer, and equally uncomfortable in the
bleak cold of winter. The commercial contact of
Persia led, also, most naturally to diplomatic inter-
course of various kinds with European states, and
this intercourse gradually made the land known in
some measure to the West.

The earliest European, at present known to us,
who visited the great terrace at the foot of Mount
Rachmet was a wandering friar, Odoricus, or Odoric,
by name. He was going overland to Cathaj^, and
on the way passed between Yezd and Huz, about

4 HISTORY OF BABYLONIA AND ASSYRIA.

1320 A. D. He had no time to look at ruins,
and appears hardly to have seen them at all.
Yet his record is the first word heard in Europe
concerning the ruins at Persepolis :

''I came unto a certaine citie called Comum, which
was an huge and mightie city in olde time, con-
teyning well nigh fiftie miles in circuite, and hath
done in times past great damage unto the Romanes.
In it there are stately palaces altogether destitute
of inhabitants, notwithstanding it aboundeth with
great store of victuals." '

The passage is disappointing. Odoric was a
" man of little refinement " * and, though possessed
of a desire to wander and see strange sights, cared
little for the intellectual or spiritual meaning of
great places. It is an oft-recurring statement with

' TJie Second Volume of the Principal Navigations, Voyages, Traffiques,
and Discoveries of the English Nation, etc. By Richard Hakluyt, Preacher,
and sometime Student of Christ Church, Oxford. Imprinted at London,
anno 1599, p. 54. [Here beginneth the iournall of Frier Odoricus, one of
the order of the Minorites, concerning strange things which hee sawe
among the Tartars of the East.] The following is the original Latin text :

" Ab hac, transiens per civitates et terras, veni ad quamdam civitatem
nomine Coprum, quae antiquitatus civitas magna fuit : haec maximum
damnum quondam intulit Romae ; eius autem muri bene quadraginta milia-
rum sunt capaces. Et in ea sunt palacia adhuc integra, et multis victuali-
bus haec abundat." (See Sopra la Vita e i Viaggi del Beato Odorico da
Pordenone, Stuni del Chierico Francescano Fr. Teofilo Domenichelli. In
Prato, 1881, pp. 156, 157.) The name of the place called Comum, above,
is variously written by different authorities: Comerum, Yule; Conium,
Venni ; Comum, Utin. ; Coman, Mrs. ; Comerum, Pars. The manuscript
readings are very diverse, but I believe with Yule {Cathay and the Way
Tliilher, by Col. Henry Yule, C. B., London, Hakluyt Society, 1866, p. 52,
note) that the reading to be preferred is Comerum, which is the Camara of
Barbaro, the Kinara of Rich, and the Kenare of Mme. Dieulafoy.

' This is the judgment of Colonel Yule \ih. i, p. 8], and everything seems
to me to bear it out.

EARLY TRAVELERS AND DECIPHERERS. 5

him that he found good " victuals," and with that
his simple soul was content. He evidently did
not know what place the ancient ruins marked,
and that he cared at all does not appear. So
simple is his word that men have even doubted
whether he ever saw the ruins with his own eyes ;
but there is no real reason to doubt that he did.
But even though he saw little and said less, his
narrative was almost a classic before the invention
of printing, and was copied frequently, as the nu-
merous manuscripts still in existence show.' Not
very long after the invention of printing his story
found expression in type. Then it became a call
to others to go and see also. It is only a first
voice in the dark — this word of Odoric — and long
would it be ere another wayfarer should see the
same I'elics of the past.

In the year 1472 the glorious republic of Ven-
ice dispatched an envoy to the Court of Uzun

' Cordier enumerates seventy-nine as still existing in London, Oxford,
Cambridge, Paris, etc.

See for biographical and critical material : Les Voyages en Asie au XIV'
Steele du Bienheureuz Frere Odoric de Pordenone Religieux de Saint-Francis,
publics avec une introduction et des notes par Henri Cordier. Paris, 1891.

The narrative of Odoricus was first published in 1513 under the title,
^^Odorichus de rebus incognitis, Pesaro [per Girolamo Soncino], 1513, in 4."
Only one copy of this extraordinarily rare book is known to exist, and that
is in the Reale Biblioteca Palatina de Parme, and I have not seen it. It
is described with facsimiles in Cordier, pp. cxvii-cxxiii.

A second edition appeared in 1528, at Paris, and the third reprinting was in
Ramusio, Navigationi et Viaggi, ii, Venetia, 1583, pp. 245-253. This beau-
tiful edition I have seen. The title of the section is *' Viaggio del Beato
Odorico da Vdine, dell' ordine de' frati Minori, Delle usanze, costumi, &
nature, di diverse nationi & genti del Mondo, & del maritirio di quattro
frati dell'ordine predetto, qual patirono tra gl'Infedeli."

e HISTORY OF BABYLONIA AND ASSYRIA.

Hassan. His name was Josophat Barbaro, and he
passed the same way as Odoric, hut saw a little
more, which he thus describes : ,

" Near the town of Camara is seen a circular
mountain, which on one side appears to have been
cut and made into a terrace six paces high. On
the summit of this terrace is a flat space, and
around are forty columns, which are called Cil-
minar, which means in our tongue Forty Columns,
each of which is twenty cubits long, as thick as
the embrace of three men ; some of them are ruined ;
but, to judge from that which can still be seen,
this was formerly a beautiful building. The ter-
race is all of one piece of rock, and upon it stand
sculj^tured figures of animals as large as giants,
and above them is a figure like those by which, in
our country, we represent God the Father in-
closed in a circle, and holding a ring in his hand ;
underneath are other smaller figures. In front is
the figure of a man leaning on his bow, which is
said to be a figure of Solomon. Below are many
others which seem to support those above them,
and among these is one who seems to wear on his
head a papal miter, and holds up his open hand,
apparently with the intention of giving his bene-
diction to those below, who look up to him, and
seem to stand in a certain expectation of the said
benediction. Beyond this there is a tall figure on
horseback, apparently that of a strong man ; this
they say is Samson, near whom are many other
figures, dressed in the French fashion and wearing

EARLY TRAVELERS AND DECIPHERERS. 7

long cloaks ; all these figures are in half relief.
Two days' journey fi'om this place thei'e is a vil-
lage called Thimar, and two days further off an-
other village, where there is a tomb in which they
say the mother of Solomon was buried. Over
this is built an edifice in the form of a chapel, and
there are Arabic letters upon it, which say, as we
understand from the inhabitants of the place, Mes-
ser Suleimen, which means in our tongue Temple
of Solomon, and its gate looks toward the east." '

Barbaro had not made much advance upon
Odoric, but his account was not altogether fruit-
less, though soon to be superseded.

When Shah Abbas the Great, king of Persia,
began his long and remarkable reign (1586) Persia
was a dark land to European eyes. It was he who
opened it freely to ambassadors from Europe, all
of whom he treated with a magnificent courtesy.
The first of these ambassadors to arrive in his
kingdom came fi-om the kingdom of Portugal, sent
out by Philip III, king of Spain and Portugal.
This man was an Augustinian friar, Antonio de
Gouvea, who came with messages both of peace
and of war. It was his aim to endeavor to carry
Christianity among the Persians — a message of
peace — but also to induce Abbas to make war on
the Osmanli Turks. He was somewhat more suc-
cessful in the second than in the first object,

1 Viaggi Fatli da Vinetia, alia Tana, in Persia, in India et in Constanti-
7iopli,coii la descrittione particolare di Citta, Luoghi, Sitti, Costumi, et della
Porta del gran Turco & di tutte le intrate, spese, & modo di governo suo, &
della ultima Impressa contra Portoghesi. In Venezia, M.D.XLIII, p. 51.

8 HISTORY OF BABYLONIA AND ASSYRIA.

though he did establish an Augustinian society at
the Persian court. After many and sore adven-
tures at the hands of sea pirates he again saw his
native land, and published an account of his ad-
ventures. In this story he tells of a visit to Per-
sepolis, and in these terms:

"We continued our journey as far as a village
called Chelminira, which in their language means
Forty Minarets, because that was the number in
the tomb of an ancient king which stood there. . . .
We went to see the tomb of which I have spoken,
and it is my firm belief that the mausoleum which
Artemisia erected to her husband was not more
notable, though it is held as one of the wonders of
the world ; but the mausoleum has been destroyed
by time, which seems to have no power against
this monument, which has also resisted the efforts
of human malice. . . . The place is between two
high ridges, and the tomb of which I have made
mention is at the foot of the northern ridge. Those
who say that Cyrus rebuilt the city of Shiraz,
affirm also that he built for himself this famous
tomb. There are indications that Ahasuerus, or
Artaxerxes, erected it for himself, besides another
near it which he made for Queen Vashti ; and this
opinion is made more probable by the considera-
tion of the short distance from this site to the city
of Suzis, or Shushan, in which he generally re-
sided. ... At the foot of the ridge began two
staircases facing one another, with many steps
made of stones of so great a size that it will be

EARLY TRAVELERS AND DECIPHERERS. 9

beyond belief when I affirm that some of them,
when they were first hewn, were more than
twenty-five palms in circumference, ten or twelve
broad, and six or eight high ; and of these, there
were very many throughout the whole structure,
for the building was chiefly composed of them ;
and it was no small wonder to consider how they
could have been placed one upon the other, par-
ticularly in the columns, where the stones were
larger than in any other part. That which aston-
ished us most was to see that certain small chapels
were made of a single stone — doorway, pavement,
walls, and roof. . . .The staircases, of which I
have spoken, met on a broad landing, from which
the whole plain was visible. The walls of the
staircases were entirely covered with figures in re-
lief, of workmanship so excellent that I doubt
whether it could be surpassed ; and by ascending
the staircases access was gained to an extensive
terrace, on which stood the forty columns which
gave their name to the place, each formed, in spite
of their great size, of no more than three stones. . . .
The bases might be thirty palms round, and on
the columns were beautifully carved figures. The
porches through which the terrace was entered
were very high and the walls very thick ; at each
end stood out figures of lions and other fierce ani-
mals, carved in relief in the same stone ; so well exe-
cuted that they seemed to be endeavoring to terrify
the spectators. The likeness of the king was drawn
life-size upon the porches and in many other parts.

10 HISTORY OF BABYLONIA AND ASSYRIA.

" From this place was an ascent to another much
higher, where was a chamber excavated in the
hillside, which must have been intended to con-
tain the king's body, although the natives, imagin-
ing that it contained a different treasure, have
broken into it, having little respect for the ancient
memory of him who constructed it. . . .

" The inscriptions — which relate to the founda-
tion of the edifice, and, no doubt, also, declare the
author of it — although they remain in many parts
very distinct, yet there is none that can read them,
for they are not in Persian, nor Arabic, nor Arme-
nian, nor Hebrew, which are the languages cur-
rent in those parts ; and thus all helps to blot out
the memory of that which the ambitious king
hoped to make eternal. And because the hardness
of the material of which it is built still resists the
wear of time, the inhabitants of the place, ill
treated or irritated by the numbers of visitors
who came to see this wonder, set to work to do it
as much injury as they could, taking as much
trouble perhaps to deface it as the builders had
done to erect it. The hard stone has resisted the
effect of fire and steel, but not without showing
signs of injury." '

Composto pella Padre F. Antonio de Gouvea | Religiose da mesma ordem,

EARLY TRAVELERS AND DECIPHERERS. 11

From this narrative it is plain that the militant
friar had learned more of the rains than had Odoric
or Barbaro. He no longer believes that Solomon
had aught to do wdth them, but connects them
with fair degree of exactness with the Persian
kings. He also is more accurate and explicit con-
cerning the inscriptions which he saw. They had
already begun to exercise over his mind some little
spell — a spell which was soon to hold a large part
of Europe beneath its sway.

The next ambassador whom Philip III sent out
to Shah Abbas was Don Garcia de Sylva y Fig-
ueroa, who likewise visited the great ruins. On
his return to Isfahan he wrote a letter, in 1619, to
the Marquess de Bedmar. It was written origi-
nally in Spanish, but immediately was done into
Latin and published at Antwerp in 1620. This
letter of a brilliant man completely superseded
Gouvea's account, and evidently made a profound
impression in Europe. Within five years it was

Reitor do Col j legio de sancto Augustinho de Goa, & | professor da sagrada
Theologia.

Impresso em Lisboa per Pedro Crasbeeck. — Anno M.DCXI, fol. 30, recto
et seq.

Par le P. Fr. Anthoine de Gouvea, Religieux du mesme | Ordre, Recteur
du College de S. Augustin de Goa, | Professeur en Theologie.

Traduit de I'Original Portugais, imprime a Lisbonne avec Licence | de
rinquisition, de I'oridinaire & du Palais.

A Rouen, | chez Nicolas Loyselet, pres S, Lo, | derriere le Palais, d
rOyselet.— 1646, pp. 18, ff.

12 HISTORY OF BABYLONIA AND ASSYRIA.

translated into English, so receiving still greater
publicity. His description of the ruins of Per-
sepolis runs after this fashion :

"There are yet remayning most of those huge
wilde buildings of the Castle and Palace of Per-
sepolis, so much celebrated in the monuments of
ancient writers. These frames do the Arabians
and Persians in their owne language call Chilmi-
nara : which is as much as if you should say in
Spanish Quarenta Coliimnas^ or Alcoranas : for so
they call those high naiTow round steeples which
the Arabians have in their Mesquites. This rare,
yea and onely monument of the world (which farre
exceedeth all the rest of the World's miracles that
we have seen or heard of), sheweth it selfe to them
that come to this Citie from the Towne of Xiria,
and standeth about a league from the River Ban-
damir, in times past called Araxis (not that which
parteth Media from the greater Armenia), whereof
often mention is made by Q. Curtius, Diodorus,
and Plutarch : which Authors doe point us oute the
situation of Persepolis, and doe almost lead us
unto it by the hand. The largenesse, fairnesse, and
long-lasting matter of these Pillars appeareth by
the twentie which are yet left of alike fashion ;
which with other remaynders of those stately Piles
do move admiration in the minde of beholders, and
cannot but with much labour and at leisure be
layed open. But since it is your Lordships hap
to live now at Venice, where you may see some
resemblance of the things which I am about to

EARLY TRAVELERS AND DECIPHERERS. 13

write of, I will briefly tell you that most of the
pictures of men, that, ingraven in marble, doe seele
the front, the sides, and statelier parts of this build-
ing, are decked with a very comely cloathing, and
clad in the same fashion which the Venetian Mag-
nificoes goe in : that is Gownes downe to the heeles,
with wide sleeves, with round flat caps, their hair
spred to the shoulders, and notably long beards.
Yee may see in these tables some men sitting with
great maiestie in certayne loftier chayres, such as
use to bee with us in the Quires and Chapter —
Houses of Cathedrall Churches, appointed for the
seates of the chiefe Prelates ; the seate being sup-
ported with a little foote-stoole neatly made, about
a hand high. And, which is very worthy of wonder
in so divers dresses of so many men as are ingraven
in these tables, none cometh neere the fashion
which is at this day, or hath beene these many
Ages past, in use through all Asia. For though
out of all Antiquitie we can gather no such argu-
ments of the cloathing of Assyrians, Medes, and
Persians, as we finde many of the Greekes and
Romanes; yet it appeareth sufficiently that they
used garments of a middle size for length, like the
Punike vest used by the Turks and Persians at
this day, which they call Aljuba, and these Cavaia :
and shashes round about their heads, distinguished
yet both by fashion and colour from the Cidaris,
which is the Royall Diademe. Yet verily in all
this sculpture (which, though it be ancient, yet
shineth as neatly as if it were but new-done) you

14 HISTORY OF BABYLONIA AND ASSYRIA.

can see no picture that is like or in the workman-
ship resembleth any other, which the memorie of
man could yet attaine to the knowledge of from
any part of the World : so that this worke may
seeme to excede all Antiquities. Now nothing
more confirmeth this than one notable Inscription
cut in a Jasper table, with characters still so fresh
and faire that one would wonder how it could
scape so many Ages without touch of the least
blemish. The Letters themselves are neither
Chaldean, nor Hebrew, nor Greeke, nor Arabike,
nor of any other Nation which was ever found of
old, or at this day to be extant. They are all
three cornered, but somewhat long, of the forme
of a Pyramide, or such a little Obeliske as I have
set in the margin (a) ; so that in nothing do they
differ from one another but in their placing and
situation, yet so conformed that they are wondrous
plaine, distinct and perspicuous. What kind of
building the whole was (whether Corinthian,
lonick or mixt) cannot be gathered from the re-
maynder of these mines : which is otherwise in the
old broken walls at Rome, by which that may
easily be discerned. Notwithstanding the wondrous
and artificiall exactness of the worke, the l^eautie
and elegancy of it shining out of the proportion
and symmetric, doth dazzle the eyes of the be-
holders. But nothing amazed me more than the
hardnesse and durablenesse of these Marbles and
Jaspers; for in many places there are Tables so
solide, and so curiously wrought and polished that

EARLY TRAVELERS AND DECIPHERERS. li)

ye may see your face in them as in a glasse. Be-
sides the Authors by rae ah'eadie commended,
Arrianus and Justine make special mention of this
Palace ; and they report that Alexander the Great
(at the instigation of Thais) did burne it downe.
But most delicately of all doth Diodorus deliver
this storie.

"The whole Castle was encompassed with a
threefold circle of walls, the greater part whereof
hath yielded to the time and weather. There
stand also the sepulchres of their kings, placed on
the side of that hill, at the foote whereof the
Castle itself is built; and the monuments stand
just so farre from one another as Diodorus re-
porteth. In a worde, all doth so agree with his
discourse of it that he that hath scene this and
read that cannot possibly be deceived." '

Sylva y Figueroa had evidently more interest in
the peoples of the ancient Orient than in their lan-
guages. He had not given much attention to the
inscriptions which he saw, and the idea of attempt-
ing to copy any of these strange characters never
seems to have entered his mind. It was a pity
that this did not occur to him, for the wide dis-
semination of his letter would have earlier intro-

English translation in Purchas His PUgrimes. London, 1625. Part ii,
1533-1634.

16 HISTORY OF BABYLONIA AND ASSYRIA.

cluced Europe to the idea that here was another
great field for study. These mysterious signs would
even then have attracted attention. But Europe
was now soon to learn something of the appear-
ance of these strange signs.

In the yeai^ 1614-1626 Pietro della Valle trav-
ersed a large part of Turkey, Persia, and India.
On this journey he wrote " familiar " letters, which
were in reality almost treatises upon geography,
history, and ethnology, to a friend and physician,
Mario Schipano, at Naples. In passing through
Persia he visited the ruins of Persepolis, once the
capital of ancient Persia. Here he marked that the
city was surrounded upon three sides by mountains
which broke oif abruptly, leaving smooth precipice
surfaces around it. Upon this smooth rock in
a number of places he found strange marks, evi-
dently made by the hand of man, and intended to
mean something. What language this might be or
what letters he had no idea. In a letter written
October 21, 1621, he described the appearance of
these strange signs, and even went so far as to copy
down into his letter a few of them : '

<T m Tf \ «TT

and that without very great exactness. Comment-
ing upon these signs, he remarks that in the sec-

' Viaggi di Pietro della Valle, il Pellegrino. . . . Descriiti da hd medeimo
in 54. Leltere familiari . . . AlV enidUo, e fro' piii cari, di molii anni suo
Amico Mario Schipano. In Roma MDCL. VoL Hi, p. 206. Printed 1658.

EARLY TRAVELERS AND DECIPHERERS. 17

ond one of them, consisting of three strokes down-
ward and one pointing toward the right, there
seemed to be indications that it was made from
left to right, and not from right to left. He had
thus already begun to speculate upon the question
as to whether this unknown language was read
from right to left, as were most of the oriental
tongues of which he had knowledge, or whether it
was to be read, like the European languages, from
left to right. On the ground already alleged, and
upon other grounds which he then proceeds to
state, he decided that this tongue was really to be
read from left to right. The appearance of these
few signs in his published letters were the first
sight which Europe gained of the appearance of
the written language of ancient Persia. His let-
ters were repeatedly reprinted and must have had
an extensive circulation. So came the learned of
Europe to know that the ancient Persians had
carved some sort of language on the rocks at
Persepolis, but what these signs might mean none
knew, and there was apparently no clue to their
meaning. But to Pietro della Valle belongs the
honor of beginning the long line of men who con-
tributed little by little toward the reading of As-
syrian and Babylonian books.'

' Pietro della Valle was a man of learning in his age, writing and speak-
ing Turkish, Persian, and Arabic, and possessing some knowledge of Cop-
tic. He was a close and careful observer, and accurate, for the greater
part, in the reproduction of his observations. A brief sketch of his life is
printed in the introduction to Tlie Travels of Pietro della Valle in India,
from the old English translation of 1G64, by G. Havers. In 2 vols.
Edited by Edward Grey. London. Printed for the Hakluyt Society, 1892.

18 HISTORY OF BABYLONIA AND ASSYRIA.

Pietro della Valle was, however, not long left in
possession of the honors of primacy in his exami-
nation of Persepolis. In 1627 Sir Dodmore Cotton,
accredited to the Persian court as ambassador, sailed
away from England. In his suite was a boy of
nineteen years of age, by name Thomas Herbert.
The party landed at Gombrun, Persian Gulf, on
Januaiy 10, 1627-8, and thence proceeded to
Ashraff for an audience with the king. They later
visited Mount Taurus and Casbin, where Cotton
and Sir Robert Shirley, who was also in the suite,
died, and Herbert was left free to continue his trav-
els. Herbert saw much of Persia and of Baby-
lonia before reaching England at the end of 1629.
In 1634 he published an account of these travels
and devoted a few pages to Persepolis and Chil-
manor.' In his description he is very entertain-
ingly discursive concerning the " Images of Lions,
Tygres, Griffins, and Buls of rare sculpture and
proportion " * which he saw there, but he says not
a word about inscriptions. In 1638 he issued a
second edition, considerably enlarged, in which Per-
sepolis receives more attention, and is introduced
in quaint and enthusiastic phrase, thus :

" Let us now (what pace you please) to Persep-
olis, not much out of the road: but were it a
thousand times further, it merits our paines to

2 Ibid., p. 59.

EARLY TRAVELERS AND DECIPHERERS. 19

view it; beiug indeed the only brtive Antique-
Monument (not in Persia alone) but through all
the Oiient." '

In this edition he comes up to the question of
inscriptions, and so alludes to them :

" In paiii of this great roome (not f arre fi'om the
portall) in a mirrour of polisht marble, wee noted
above a dozen lynes of strange-characters, very f aire
and apparent to the eye, but so mysticall, so odly
framed, as no Hierogliphick, no other deep conceit
can be more difficultly fancied, more adverse to
the intellect. These consisting of Figures, obelisk,
triangular, and pyi'amidall, yet in such Simmetiy
and order as cannot well be called barbarous. Some
resemblance, I thought some words had, of the An-
tick Greek, shadowing out Ahasuerus Theos. And,
though it have small concordance with the Hebrew,
Greek, or Latine letter, yet questionlesse to the In-
venter it was well knowne; and peradventure may
conceale some excellent matter, though to this day
wrapt up in the dim leaf es of envious obscuritie." '

Even here Herbert did not cease the work of
elaborating his description of Persepolis. He did,
however, rest a few years, and in that time another
traveler had seen the ruins. This was J. Albert
de Mandelslo, a member of an " Embassy sent by
the Duke of Holstein to the great Duke of Mus-
covy and the King of Persia," who traveled in the
East 1638-1640. The account of his wanderings

' Ibid., second edition, p. 143,

20 HISTORY OF BABYLONIA AND ASSYRIA.

was written down by Olearius, secretary to the
embassy, and an Englisli translation appeared in
1662. Mandelslo also described the columns as
usual and tlien added this statement :

"Near these chambers may be seen, engraven
upon a square pillar, certain unknown characters,
which have nothing common with either the Greek,
Hebrew, or Arabian, nor indeed with any other lan-
guage. There are twelve lines of these characters,
which, as to their figure, are triangular, Piramidal,
or like obelisques, but so well graven and so pro-
portionate, that those whot did them cannot be
thought Barbarians : Some believe, they are Teles-
mes, and that they contain some secrets which Time
will discover." '

In 1677 Herbert issued the fourth impression of
the account of his travels. In this he devotes still
more space to Persepolis and its inscriptions, and it
is altogether probable that he was moved to this
by Mendelslo's book, and being desirous that he
should not lose the credit of being first to publish
a copy of the inscriptions, he includes a specimen
plate. In its revised form the account deserves
quotation here :

" Adjoyning these toward the West is a Jasper

' The first edition which I have been able to find of Mendelslo's travels
appeared at Utrecht in 1651, in Neer duyts overgeset door D. V. Wagen-
hige. The first German edition which I have seen was published at
" Schleszwig In Jahr MDCLVI." The first English edition bears title-page
thus : JTie Voyages & Travels of the Ambassadors sent by Frederick, Duke
of Holstein . . . written originally by Adam Olearius, Secretary to the
Embassy. Faithfully rendered into English, by John Davies of Kidwelly.
London, M.DC.LXII. P. 5.

EAKLY TRAVELERS AND DECIPHERERS. 21

or Marble Table about twenty foot from the pave-
ment, wherein are inscribed about twenty lines of
Characters, every line being a yard and a half broad
or thereabouts ; all of them are very perfect to the
eye, and the stone so well polished that it reserves
its lustre. The Characters are of a strange and un-
usual shape ; neither like Letters nor Hieroglyph-
icks ; yea so far from our deciphering them that
we could not so much as make any positive judg-
ment whether they were words or Characters;
albeit I rather incline to the first, and that they
comprehended words or syllables, as in Brachy-
ograpJiy or Short-writing we familiarly practise :
Nor indeed could we judge whether the writing
were from the right hand to the left, according
to the Qhaldee, and usual manner of these Orien
tal Countreys ; or from the left hand to the right,
as the Greeks, Romans and other Nations imita-
ting their Alphabets have accustomed. Neverthe-
less, by the posture and tendency of some of the
Characters (which consist of several magnitudes)
it may be supposed that this vsrriting was rather
fi'om the left hand to the right, as the Armenian
and Indian do at this day. And concerning the
Characters, albeit I have since compared them
with the twelve several Alphabets in Postellus, and
after that with those eight and fifty different Alpha-
bets I find in Purchas, most of which are borrowed
from that learned Scholar Gromay, which indeed
comprehend all or most of the various forms of
letters that either now or at any time have been

22 HISTORY OF BABYLONIA AND ASSYRIA.

in use through the greatest part of the Universe,
I could not perceive that these had the least re-
semblance or coherence with any of them : which
is very strange, and certainly renders it the greater
curiosity ; and therefore well worthy the scrutiny
of some ingenious Persons that delight themselves
in this dark and difficult Art or Exercise of deci-
phering. For, how obscure soever these seemed
to us, without doubt they were at some time un-
derstood, and perad venture by Daniel^ who prob-
ably might be the surveyour and instruct the Arch-
itector of this Palace, as he was of those mem-
orable Buildings at Shuslian and Ecbatan ; for it
is very likely that this structure was raised by
Astyages or his Grandson Cyrus i and is acknowl-
edged that this great Prophet (who likewise was
a Civil Officer in highest trust and repute dur-
ing those great revolutions of State under the
mighty Monarchs N'ebucliodonoso7\ Belsliazzai\
Astyages^ Darius^ and Cyrus) had his mysterious
Characters : So as how incommunicable soever
these Characters be to us (for they bear the resem-
blance of pyramids inverted or with bases up-
wards. Triangles or Delta's, or (if I may so com-
pare them) with the Lamed in the Samaritan
Alphabet, which is writ the contrary way to the
same letter in the Chaldee and Hebrew\ yet doubt-
less in the Age these were engraven they were
both legible and intelligible ; and not to be im-
agined that they were there placed either to
amuse or to delude the spectators ; for it cannot

EARLY TRAVELERS AND DECIPHERERS. 23

be denied but that the Persians in those primi-
tive times had letters peculiar to themselves,
which differed from all those of other Nations,
according to the testimony of a learned Author,
Persae proprios habebant Characteres^ qui hodie in
vestigiis antiquorum Monumentoriim moo inveni-
unter. However, I have thought fit to insert a
few of these for better demonstration :

't"t" T :fc»-TTT6..'riT E *<< S= <^ 11<..
T<-\«TT^<«lT^::^r \
<- TT<--Tti<t:<<tT^«X<

which nevertheless whiles they cannot be read,
will in all probability like the Mene Tekel with-
out the help of a Daniel hardly be interpreted." '
These quotations from the successive editions
of Herbert show a book in the very process of
growth, but they unfortunately do not show much
development of the author's knowledge. Herbert
had, however, in the fourth impression consulted
his notes to greater advantage, and brought forth
from them some copies of cuneiform signs. These
were the first that had been published in England,
but unhappily they did not form a complete in-
scription. The first two lines come from one in-
scription, and the third from another, and the
copying was not very well done. It was a pity

24 HISTORY OF BABYLONIA AND ASSYRIA.

that Herbert had not taken the time and pains
necessary to make a complete as well as a correct
copy of one inscription however small. That
would have been a genuine contribution to learn-
ing. As it happened Herbert's book contributed
nothing of scientific importance to the pursuit of
knowledge concerning the East. It is, however,
certainly true that this entertainingly written nar-
rative may have influenced later work by arousing
fresh interest in the ruined palaces, and the mystic
inscriptions at Persepolis.

The copies of a few signs by Pietro della Valle
and by Herbert, however, aroused no special inter-
est, and there was in reality hardly enough of these
signs even to awaken curiosity.

In the same manner the few signs which an
English traveler, Mr. S. Flower, copied and pub-
lished in England failed of arousing any interest
in the rocks and their inscriptions at Persepolis.'

The first real impulse to an attempt at unravel-
ing the secrets of Persepolis was given by Sir John
Chardin. Born at Paris in 1643, and early a wan-
derer, this man, after long voyages, saw the rocks
at Persepolis." Many things he had learned in
his journeyings, and among them had found how
important it was to make copies of inscriptions,
whether one could read them or not. He was the
first to copy one of these little Persian inscriptions

' These copies of Mr. Flower had a most singular history, an outline of
which is given in the Excursus below, see p. 74.

* Voyages de Monsieitr le Chevalier Chardin, en Perse et autres lieux de
V Orient, 3 torn. Amsterdam, 1711.

rYr^TTrYEdrTTf?r-<vTrr<r<rHrK^fr mnK'TK^<<rKK<KT<- m \

jl Jl Reduced ttom the Plate in Chardin's Voyages. W^

'■ "^ Vol. III. Page 118. '^

155

if;

^« .,.____....„............, _. 7

KT* ^4

ptinn ni the lop of ilie pnge iji Pcrtiinn, the one on the K-'ft hnnd ^

, le one on the rlglil U Bnbvloniaii. HW

U The First Pkhskfoi-IS IsscuiPiinss Topied EhriRB. ^

EARLY TRAVELERS AND DECIPHERERS. 25

entire. When this was published ' it was at last
possible for students to see some of the peculiari-
ties of this method of writing. It was now plainly
seen that the characters were made up of little
wedo-es and arrowheads — of which the latter were
formed by the combination of two of the former.
By combinations of these wedges and an-owheads
the most complex-looking signs "were produced.
In all of them this one abiding rule seemed to be
followed, that the wedges always j)ointed to the
right or downward, and that the arrowheaded
forms were always open toward the right. The
prevalence of this rule seemed to confirm the guess
already hazarded more than once that the language
was really to be read from left to right. But,
though Chardin's published inscription awakened,
for the first time, some genuine interest in the
matter, there was found no man so bold as to essay
a decipherment of the enigmatic signs.

After Chardin the next man to see the ruins of
Persepolis was Jean Baptiste Tavernier, who was,
however, too much interested in himself and in his
reception by the king to pay much attention to
the past and its great monuments. But in a short
time there came another traveler who was inter-
ested in the past more than the present. On June
13, 1693, Giovanni Francesco Gemelli-Carreri
started away from Naples to make the circuit of
the globe, and to the same city he returned Decem-
ber 3, 1699, having accomplished the task. In 1694

A ' I'lid., torn. Hi, plate at p. 118.

26 HISTORY OF BABYLONIA AND ASSYRIA.

lie was in Persia and naturally visited tlie ruins of
Persepolis. He is very explicit in his statements
as to how he traveled to the ruins and is careful
in reporting the dimensions of everything which
he saw. After some preliminary description he
makes some statements about the inscriptions in
this form :

" On the South Side outwards there is an In-
scription cut on an empty space 15 spans long,
and 7 broad, in such a character that there is now
no understanding Person in the World that can
make anything of it. It is neither Caldee, nor
Hebrew, nor Arabick, nor Greek, nor of any of
those Languages the Learned have Knowledge,
but only Triangles of several Sorts, severally
plac'd, the various placing whereof perhaps
formed divers words, and express'd some Thoughts.
The most receiv'd Opinion is, that they are Char-
acters of the ancient Goris, who were Sovereigns
of Persia ; but this is not easily to be made out,
the Goris themselves being at present very igno-
lant as to their Antiquities, and unfit to give any
Judgment of such things. . . . Not far off on a
Pilaster of the same black marble, is an Inscrip-
tion in the same Character, and another on such
another Stone ; which I observing, and remember-
ing those I had seen before, began to consider
with myself, how easily human Judgment is mis-
taken, and how different things happen to what
Man proposes to himself ; for whereas the Author
thought by means of those inscriptions to have

EARLY TRAVELERS AND DECIPHERERS. 27

eterniz'd his Memory with Posterity, which the
beauty of the work well deserv'd, yet quite the
contrary we see is fallen out. . . .

" Such precious Remains of Antiquity well de-
serve to be cut in Copper for the satisfaction of the
Ingenious, before they are quite lost through the
fault of the natives ; but it is a difficult matter to
draw above two thousand Basse Relieves, and a
vast charge to print them. The Reader therefore
Avill think it enough that I have drawn the Plan
of the Palace, with some of the principal Figures ;
that there may be some knowledge of the several
Habits of the antient Persians ; and two lines
of twelve there are in the inscription on the Pilas-
ter of the first Floor ; perhaps hereafter some more
fortunate searcher into the oriental languages may
employ his wit on it.

" Having veiy well spent all the Day in seeing
and distinctly observing the best part of those
Antiquities, I returned, and was scarce come to
the place where I had left my Armenian Servant
before I hear'd him as'k me whether I had found
the Treasure ; he believing the Inscriptions were
in Portugese, and that I had Read them and taken
the Treasure, as the Carvansedar had told him ;
which made me laugh heartily all the Way."

By the side of this narrative Carreri presents a
copperplate illustration of the platform at Perse-
polis, showing the columns of the palace still
standing in front of the mountain. Above this
picture are two lines of inscription as follows :

28 HISTORY OF BABYLONIA AND ASSYRIA.

[Reproduced in the same size as the copy given in Churchill's republica-
tion of Carreri's narrative.']

It is evidently tlie purpose of Carreri to leave
upon the reader's mind the impression that he had
copied these characters himself. This, however,
is certainly not true. A slight examination and
comparison reveal the fact that these two lines
are made up out of the three lines of Herbert,
with but slight changes. Here, then, is a clear
case of deception proved at once upon the Nea-
politan. He has borrowed, and that rather stu-
pidly, from his English predecessor. In this
matter, at least, he has made no contribution to
the search for facts about records at Persepolis.
To make the matter rather worse, the picture of
the platform at Persej)olis, which he gives beneath
his plate of inscriptions, is also borrowed without
acknowledgment. It had already appeared in
Daulier-Deslandes.'

His f)unishment has been severe. It has even

' A Collection of Voyages and Travels [Churchills]. Vol. iv. London,
MDCCIV. Containing pp. 1-606. A Voyage round the World. By Dr. John
Francis Gemelli-Carreri. . . . Translated from the Italian, pp. 1*72, 174.
Plate p. 175. The plate is better reproduced in Voyage du Tour du Monde
Traduit de Vllalien de Gemelli Careri, par M. L. N. Paris, MDCCXXVII.
P. 246. Should be p. 402. The pagination is incorrect.

* Les Beaufez de la Perse . . . par le Sieur A. D, D. V. {Andrae
Danlier Des Lands Vardomois.) Paris, M.DC.LXXIII.

K\RLY TRAVELERS AND DECIPHERERS. 29

been this, that men have been moved to say that
Carreri copied nmch more than the plate of in-
scriptions and the Plan of Persepolis ; that he
copied, indeed, everything in his book, and had
never been absent from Naples at all, nor had
seen anything which he describes. This is, how-
ever, an excess of skepticism. He doubtless bor-
rowed much from his predecessors, a common
habit then, and not altogether unknown among
travelers even now, but there is really no reason
to believe that the whole of Carreri's narrative
was fictitious.

But that question aside, the book of Carreri is
of importance in the history of decipherment ; not
indeed that his copy or his description was of
any practical use, but because his book was widely
read in Europe, and had its share in keeping alive
the interest in Persepolis and in stimulating more.
And that was no mean service.

The slow assaults upon these inscriptions at Per-
sepolis w^ere now becoming international. The
Spanish, Italians, English, and French had all
made their observations. It was now in order
that a German, Engelrecht Kaempfer, should make
his contribution to the unraveling of the mystery.
Kaempfer was a physician, born and trained in
Germany, but largely become a Hollander by resi-
dence and service. He had already made important
contributions to science through long residence in
Japan, where he had studied the botany and then
the manners, customs, and the history of that then

30 HISTORY OF BABYLONIA AND ASSYRIA.

unknown land. From the mystery of Japan he
tiii'ned to the mystery of Persia, and not knowing
exactly what he did, copied again the little three-
line inscription which Chardin had already pre-
pared for publication. That would have been no
new contribution to the work had he gone no
further, but he made a gain by publishing for the
first time a long inscription, which was not in old
Persian at all, but in Assyro-Babylonian.' The
difference between the two inscriptions he does
not appear to have noticed, and he certainly did
not know in what language or languages these texts
might be written. The longer inscription appears
to have interested him most, and upon this he made
some observations which sprang naturally out of his
former studies in Chinese and Japanese. His ques-
tion was in simplest form this : Have we in these
strange-looking inscriptions a language written in
alphabetic, in syllabic, or in ideographic characters ?
Or, in another form ; do these little wedge-shaped
signs represent in each case a letter, a syllable, or
a word ? His decision was that the signs were
ideographic, each of them representing an idea or
a word. If he had reference in this judgment only
to his longer inscription, and not to the smaller
one at all, his decision was correct, and may very

' Kaempfer's important investigations are published in his great book,
Amoenitatum ezoticarum politico-physico-medicarum, fasciculi v, quibus
continenter variae relationes, observationes & descriptiones rerum Persica-
rum & ulterioris Asiae, multa atfentione, in peregrinationibus per univer-
suni Orientem, collectae ab auctore Engelberto Kaempfero. D. Lemgoviae,
1712. Quart.

EARLY TRAVELERS AND DECIPHERERS. 31

possibly have influenced those who came after him
to a proper decision at the beginning of their re-
searches.

Kaempfer spent the later days of his life in the
Netherlands. His work might almost entirely be
claimed as Holland's contribution to this inter-
national enterprise if there were any need so to
do. But Holland was now to make its own direct
contribution through one of its own sons, Cornells
de Bruin, who visited the ruins in 1704, and also
copied inscriptions there. Ten years later an ac-
count of his travels over Moscovia, Persia, and India
was published in sumptuous style in Amsterdam.
In this new work there were reproduced two
inscriptions in a threefold form. In reality the
threefold form was later discovered to be three
languages, but Bruin believed that he had really
published six inscriptions, and not merely two in-
scriptions repeated in three languages. Bruin
reproduced two other inscriptions each in a
single language. Bruin's book was first pub-
lished in Dutch," but afterward appeared in
French." Its influence upon the progress of
these studies was surprisingly small. The very
costliness of its magnificent original publication
might have made it accessible to few, and in this

' Cornells de Bruhis Reizen ovei- Moskovie, door Persie en Indie. t'Am-
steldam, 1714. Folio. Between pages 216 and 21*7 are magnificent cop-
perplate views of the ruins at Persepolis, and between 21*7 and 218 are the
copies of the inscriptions, numbered 131, 134.

- Voyages de Corneille le Brun par la Moscovie, en Perse, et aux Indes
Orientales, 2 torn, a Amsterdam, 1718. The plates in this edition are in-
serted in vol. ii, between pages 270 and 271, and between 272 and 273.

32 HISTORY OF BABYLONIA AND ASSYRIA.

there is possibly some explanation of its slight
influence. But the French edition, in a language
more extensively used, and in a form more simple,
must have had a considerable circulation. Yet
even from this there came no impulse. Europe
looked idly over the plates in which these strange
characters ap2:)eared and apparently made no at-
tempt to get at their secret. They were still mat-
ters of curiosity, but their publication at all was
an achievement which could not be permanently
fruitless. The restless spirit of man would be in
pursuit of them shortly, and then each line pub-
lished by one traveler after another would be
eagerly scanned, and every single suggestion or
hint weighed and considered. Other travelers
planning to visit these same lands in the age
before guidebooks, would read the accounts of
their predecessors, and, inspired by them, would
go to see the same ruins and to bring back more
complete copies of these little inscriptions. In this
was the chief hope for the future. All the copies
which were yet made were too brief to offer a
good chance for translation, or even decipherment.
They were furthermore inaccurate in very impor-
tant matters. There could be no hope of a suc-
cessful decipherment until the quiet scholar in his
library had copies in which every line, every
wedge, every little corner, was accurately repro-
duced. The improvement in this respect had thus
far not been great. The gain had been chiefly in
the number of texts offered. If the proposition

EARLY TRAVELERS AND DECIPHERERS. 33

made by the Koyal Society of Loudon, wliea Mr.
Flower's copies were first presented, in 1693, had
been followed, and a complete copy made of all
these inscriptions by a competent hand, the at-
tempts to decipher would have undoubtedly be-
gun much earlier thau they did.

In this story of a slow-moving effort at de-
cipherment the small must find its mention along
with the great; and there is need to turn for a
moment from Persepolis to mention the publica-
tion made in 1762 of a beautiful vase.' Upon this
were inscribed at the upper part one long line of
cuneiform characters, followed by a shorter line of
the same. By the side of this shorter line were
some hieroglyphic characters. Like the publica-
tions which preceded it, this also failed of any in-
fluence upon the progress of research at this time.
The hieroglyphic signs were not yet deciphered, for
the Rosetta stone had not yet been found by Napo-
leon's soldiers as they threw up their breastworks.
If the Egyptian could have then been read, men
would certainly have seized upon this little vase
as containing a clue to the decipherment of the
cuneiform characters. It would then have appeared
as a bilingual text, in which the Egyptian formed
one part and the cuneiform the other. By this
means Egyptian would have become the mother
study for Assyrian. Later this vase played a part
both in Egyptian and in Assyrian studies, and then
it became known that, like the monuments at Per-

'J^cMii d'Antiquites. . . . torn, cinquieme, planche xxx. Paris, 1762.

34 HISTORY OF BABYLONIA AND ASSYRIA.

sepolis, the two lines of cuneiform texts were in
reality written in three separate languages. The
publication of the inscriptions on the vase was
made by the French. So were the European na-
tions, one by one, giving their share of time and
labor to the international work. The greater ones
among them had now done something, the smaller
had yet hardly begun. One of these, the people
of Denmark, was now to begin making contribu-
tions of great importance which should carry the
investigations far beyond anything that had yet
been attained. In the month of March, 1765, the
ruins of Persepolis were visited by Carsten Niebuhr.
He, like some of his predecessors, had had long
exj)erience of travel, and, unlike the others, was a
man of exact and methodical habits of work.
He had, furthermore, prepared for just this work
by a perusal of Bruin and Chardin, and appar-
ently, also, even by the reading of Pietro della
Valle. The references which he gives to the two
former show the continuity of study and indicate
afresh how much these early voyagers had really
accomplished, even when their work appeared to
count for little at the time. Mebuhr's descrip-
tion of the ruins of Persepolis makes careful note
of the changes which had come to the ruins by
the ravages of time and the hand of man since
Bruin had seen them, and then hurries on the real
matter which most concerned him. His distin-
guished son has thus set forth the enthusiasm and
the methods of Niebuhr in these researches :

EARLY TRAVELERS AND DECIPHERERS. 35

"These ruins, iuscriptions, and bas-reliefs had
been sufficiently well represented by three former
travelei's to arouse the attention of Niebuhr as
the most important monument of the East. The
immber of inscriptions and sculptures made him
hope that an interpreter might be found who, by
comparing them, would be able to understand
them, if once correct copies of them were placed
before him ; and Niebuhr's keen eye told him how
insufficient the drawings hitherto published were.
Nothing out of all that he saw in Asia attracted
him so powei^Uy in anticipation ; he could not
rest until he had reached Persepolis, and the last
night saw him sleepless. The remembrance of
these ruins remained ineffaceable all his life long ;
they were for him the gem of all that he had
viewed.

"Three weeks and a half he remained beneath
them, in the midst of a wilderness; and during
this time he worked without interruption at the
measurement and drawing of the ruins. The in-
scriptions are placed high up on the walls, and
were clearly to be distinguished only when the
sun shone upon them; as in this atmosphere the
hard, originally polished marble is not weather-
worn, his eyes, already affected by the uninter-
rupted work, were dangerously inflamed ; and this,
as well as the death of his Armenian servant,
obliged him, much against his will, to leave the
old Persian sanctuary before he had completed
his drawino^s."

36 HISTORY OF BABYLONIA AND ASSYRIA.

It would seem from this tliat it was the design
of Niebuhr to copy every inscription which he
could find at Persepolis. That would have been a
great task indeed. Even without this complete-
ness he achieved a result attained by no one who
had preceded him. He republished several of
the texts which Bruin and Kaempfer had pub-
lished before him, but in a form far excelling
them for accuracy. To these he added four
texts which had not before appeared in any work.
But Niebuhr made other contributions besides
merely reporting the state of the ruins and giving
coj^ies of the inscriptions. His long journeyings
ended in Denmark on November 20, 1767. A
certain amount of leisure was now secured, and
while writing the narrative of his travels ' for the
press he went over these little inscriptions and
made some discoveries concerning them. It was
in the first place clear to him that the conjectures
of earlier students, that this writing was to be read
from left to right, were correct. That was a good
point of approach, and with that in mind he com-
pared all his copies and soon determined that in
them there were really three separate systems of
writing. These three systems were always kept
distinct in the inscriptions. In one of them the
little wedges were not so complex in their com-
binations, in the second the complexity had some-

' Carsten Niebuhr, Reisebeschreibung nach Arabien und andern umliegen-
den Landern. Kopenhagen, 1774-1837, 3 vols. The description of Persep-
olis is in vol. ii.

EARLY TRAVELERS AND DECIPHERERS. 37

what increased, while iu the third it had become
much greater. He did not, however, come to what
now seems a natural conclusion, that three lan-
guages were here represented. He held rather to
the view that the proud builders of Persepolis had
carved their inscriptions in a threefold form, the
same words being written in more complicated
characters. Having come thus far, he made still
another step in advance. He divided these little
inscriptions into three distinct classes, according
to the manner of their writing, calling them Class
I, H, and IH, He then arranged all those, which he
had copied, that belonged to Class I, and by careful
comparison decided that in them there were em-
ployed altogether but forty-two (42) signs. These
he copied out and set in order in one of his plates.'
This list of signs was so nearly complete and accu-
rate that later study has made but slight changes
in it. When Niebuhr had made his list of signs
he naturally enough decided that this language,
whatever it might be, was written in alphabetic
characters. This much was finally determined,
and future investigation would not overthrow it.
Far beyond all his predecessors had Niebuhr gone.
It is a pity that he was not able to go still further
and essay the decipherment of one of these little
inscriptions of the first class. For this, however,
he did not possess the requisite linguistic genius,
nor had he at command the various historical
data necessary for its solution. He had given the

■ Jbid., vol. ii, plate xxiii, between pp. 132 and 13.3.

38 HISTORY OF BABYLONIA AND ASSYRIA.

world tlie material in a new and substantially cor-
rect form, and he had pointed out the proper place
to begin ; the rest must be left for another.

For just this which Niebuhr had furnished the
learned world had been waiting. The words of
Bruin and Chardin had awakened no scholar to
attempts to decipher the texts which they had
copied, simply because so little had been offered
by them. Soon after the richer store of Niebuhr
had been published, two scholars were at work
seriously attempting to decipher these texts. The
first was Olav Gerhard Tychsen, professor of ori-
ental languages in the University of Rostock, in
Germany; the other was Friedrich Miinter, the
Danish academician of Copenhagen. Tychsen
made a very important discovery in the beginning
of his researches, that remained to guide future
workers. He observed that there occurred at
irregular intervals in the inscriptions of the first
class a wedge that pointed neither directly to the
right nor downward, but inclined diagonally. This
wedge Tychsen suggested was the dividing sign
used to separate words.' This very simple discov-
ery later became of very great importance in the
hands of Miinter. Of more general importance
was his statement that "all the inscriptions of
Niebuhr, with a single exception, are trilingual."'
In that sentence spoke a linguist; the previous

^ De cuneatis inscripiionibus Persepolitanis lucuhratio. Kostochii, 1798,
p. 24.

"^ Ibid., p. 5.

EARLY TRAVELERS AND DECIPHERERS. 39

workers had been travelers, nien of science, men
of skill. The matter was now in the hands of men
accustomed to deal with languages, and the promise
of ultimate success was yearly growing brighter.
The rest of Tychsen's work was not of enduring
character. He argued wrongly as to the age of
the buildings at Persepolis, and reached the er-
roneous conclusion that these inscriptions had
been written duriug the Parthian dynasty (246
B. C. — 22T A. D.). This error in history vitiated
his promising attempt at the decipherment of one
small inscription which had been found above the
figure of a king. He rendered it thus :

" This is the king, this is Ai'saces the great, this
is Arsaces, this is Arsaces, the perfect and the king,
this is Arsaces the divine, the pious, the admirable
hero." '

But a later investigator was to show that this
was not an inscription of Arsaces at all, and that
scarcely a word of it had been correctty rendered.
This statement makes the work of Tychsen appear
almost abortive, but such a judgment would not
be just. He had indeed failed in the greater effort,
but in making that he had, nevertheless, gained
several smaller steps, and at the place thus attained
another might begin and travel farther.

Mtinter was more fortunate than Tychsen in his
historic researches, and that made him also more
successful in his linguistic attempts. He rightly
identified the builders of Persepolis with the AchaB-

1 Jbid., p. 29.

40 HISTORY OF BABYLONIA AND ASSYRIA.

menides, and so located in time the authors of the
inscriptions. This was great gain, the full force
of which he was not able to appreciate nor to util-
ize. He also agreed with the judgment of the
former workers that the texts were to be read
from left to right, and was beyond them in his
full recognition of three languages, of which the
last two were translations of the first. Independ-
ently of Tychsen, he recognized the oblique wedge
as the divider between words, and was able to go
far beyond this, even to the recognizing of the
vowel " a " and the consonant " b." This was the
first sure step in the decipherment. From our
present point of view it may sound small, but it is
to be remembered that it was made without the
assistance of any bilingual text, taken bodily out
of the darkness and gloom which had settled over
this language centuries before. It was an achieve-
ment far exceeding that of the decipherment of
the Egyptian hieroglyphics, which was secured by
the aid of a bilingual text containing Greek. The
name of Miinter may well be held in honor among
all who covet knowledge of the past of the Orient.
With the material which Miinter had it would
have been difficult to go farther, but events were
now to make accessible to another man of genius,
adapted to such work, new material w^hich would
greatly simplify the labor of decipherment. This
new material did not directly concern the inscrip-
tions of Persepolis, but it did cast welcome light
upon them. It is connected with three great names

EARLY TRAVELERS AND DECIPHERERS. 41

in the annals of oriental studies, and romantic in
its personal, as in its scientific connections.

In the year 1731 tliere was born at Paris a boy
whose parents gave bim the name of Abraham
Hyacinthe Anquetil-Duperron, and destined him
to the priesthood. In the seminary studies, carried
on for this purpose, the young man learned He-
brew, and that introduced him to the fascination
of the oriental world, as it has many another since
his day. His soul forgot its dedication to the priest-
hood and became absorbed in oriental study at the
Royal Library of Pans. Here he attracted the no-
tice of Abbe Sallier, who secured for him a small
stipend as a student of Arabic and Persian. In
that treasure-house of human knowledge there fell
into his hands a few leaves of an oriental manu-
script, in which were written words sacred in the
religion of Zoroaster. The language best known
as Avestan, but long erroneously called Zend, he
could not read, and his soul burned with longing
to learn what these strange characters should be,
and what the language which they expi-essed. He
determined, even in his hopeless poverty, to get
out to India, there to learn from the priests of
Zoroastrianism the language of their sacred books.
The times were troubled; war was likely at any
time to begin between France and England in In-
dia, and even now French troops were about to be
dispatched thither. With these lay his only hope
of reaching the land of his dreams. He enlisted

as a common soldier, but before he had sailed from
5

42 HISTORY OF BABYLONIA AND ASSYRIA.

L'Orient his friends had appealed to the minister,
who gave him a discharge, provided free passage,
with a seat at the captain's table, and ordered a
salary paid him on arrival at his destination. He
landed, on the 10th of August, 1755, at Pondi-
cherry, and waited a short time to study modern
Persian, and later at Chandernagore to study Sans-
krit. When the war broke out between France
and England he suffered terrible privations. At
last his reward came at Surat, where he ingratiat-
ed himself with the priests and acquired enough
knowledge of the language to translate the dic-
tionary Vedidad-Sade and other works. In May,
1762, he arrived at Paris poor and exhausted, but
laden with oriental manuscripts to the number of
one hundred and eighty. Out of this store he pub-
lished in 1771 the Zend-Avesta, which brought to
Europe its first sight of the sacred books of the
followers of Zoroaster. This publication was of
immense value to the study of religion and of his-
tory, but it was now destined to exert another
potent influence. The linguistic collections of
Anquetil-Duperron were organized and systema-
tized by Eugene Burnouf, and it was this fact that
was to have an important bearing upon the study
of the inscriptions of Persepolis.

After Anquetil-Duperron and Eugene Burnouf
there is to be added the name of Silvestre de Sacy,
the greatest Arabic scholar of his age, as one who,
without intending so to do, cast a valuable side
light upon Persepolitan research.

EARLY TRAVELERS AND DECIPHERERS. 43

In Persia travelers liad long l:)een noticing in-
scriptions written during the Sassanian period in
the Pehlevi character (227-641 A. D.). In the
years 1787-1791 Sylvestre de Sacy, -who was later
to lay the foundations of Arabic philology on
which its pi'esent structure is still standing, began
the decipherment of these inscriptions, and soon
conquered their mystery sufficiently to gain at
least their general sense. He found that they had
a stereotyped form from which there was scarcely
ever a departure, and that they run about in this
style :

" N., the great king, the king of kings, the king
of Iran and Aniran, son of N., the great king, etc."

That discovery had its own importance in its own
field, but, like the work of Duj^erron and Burnouf,
it was now to be applied to other uses by a man
whose aim was to decipher much older inscrip-
tions.

If now we look back over this long story, reach-
ing from the earlier part of the fourteenth centuiy
down to the verv besrinnino; of the nineteenth,
and gather up the loose threads of our story, ^ve
shall be the better able to understand the method
and the results which were now to be revealed.

Out of Persepolis, by the combined efforts of a
long line of travelers, Italian, Spanish, Dutch, Gei'-
man, English, Danish, and Portuguese, there had
been brought to Europe copies of some little in-
scriptions written in cuneiform characters. It had
already been learned concerning them that they

44 HISTORY OF BABYLONIA AND ASSYRIA.

belonged to the age of the Achsemenides, that they
were written in three languages, of which the first
was ancient Persian, that this ancient Persian was
almost, if not quite wholly, an alphabetic language,
with possibly some syllabic signs, and that of these
alphabetic signs two, namely, "a" and "b," were
almost certainly made out, while of some others
possible or even probable meanings were suggested.
To this were now to be added two valuable side
lights. The decipherment of the Avestan lan-
guage had supplied the grammatical structure and
much of the vocabulary of a language spoken
over the very same territory as that in which Per-
sian had formerly held dominion. It was exceed-
ingly probable that it had taken up many words,
with some changes, from the more ancient tongue
which scholars were now trying to decipher. It
was likely, also, to represent in its grammatical
structure, in its declensions or conjugations, some
reminiscence of old Persian. In grammar, syntax,
or lexicon of Avestan there was a good hope of
finding something that might be made useful to
the deciphei'er. Some of this material was acces-
sible to Tychsen and to Miinter, but they had not
known how to use it with best effect. There is a gift
for deciphering, as there is a gift of tongues. But
not only from this work of Duperron and Burnouf
was there new material; valuable hints might be
had from the discoveries of De Sacy concerning
the inscriptions of Sassanian kings. The style in
which the Sassanian kings wrote their inscriptions

EARLY TRAVELERS AND DECIPHERERS. 45

was very probably copied from the style in which
the older Achaemenides had written. That was
not certain, but as a hypothesis upon which to
work it might prove useful.

In this we have shown what the material was,
what the problem, and what the essays made for
its solution, and now there was a call for a man
able to practice a method by which all that ex-
isted of fact or of hypothesis could be brought
to bear, and the successful result be achieved.
But even while this preliminary work w^as going
on the genius who should achieve the result was
preparing.

46 HISTORY OF BABYLONIA AND ASSYRIA.

CHAPTER 11.

GEOTEFEND AND EAWLINSON.

It were difficult, if not impossible, to define the
qualities of mind which must inhere in the de-
cipherer of a forgotten language. He is not neces-
sarily a great scholar, though great scholars have
been successful decipherers. He may know but
little of the languages that are cognate with the
one whose secrets he is trying to unravel. He may
indeed know nothing of them, as has several times
been the case. But the patience, the persistence,
the power of combination, the divine gift of in-
sight, the historical sense, the feeling for archaeo-
logical indications, these must be present, and all
these were present in the extraordinary man who
now attacked the problem that had baffled so many.

On June 9, 1775, Georg Friedrich Grotefend
was born at Mliuden, in Hanover, Germany. He
w^as destined to become a classical philologist, and
for this purpose studied first at Ilfeld and later at
the University of Gottingen. Here he attracted
much attention, not only as a classical scholar of
promise, but also as an ingenious man with a pas-
sion for the unraveling of difficult and recondite
questions. He formed the friendship in Gottingen
of Heyne, Tychseu, and Heeren. On the recom-
mendation of the first named, he was appointed in

GROTEFEND AND RAWLINSON. 47

1797 to au assistant mastership iu the Gottingen
Gymnasium. Two yeai's later appeared his first
work, which brought him reputation and a supe-
rior post in the Gymnasium at Frankfort-on-the-
Main. Up to this time he had given no attention
to the study of oriental languages. But in 1802
his friend, the librarian Fiorillo, drew the attention
of Grotefend to the inscriptions from Persepolis,
and placed in his hands all the literature which
had hitherto appeared.

Grotefend was at once enlisted, and, though he
had no oriental learning, set himself to the work,
probably little dreaming of how many years of
his life would be spent upon these little inscrip-
tions or upon the work which grew out of them.
His method was exceedingly simple,' and may be
made j)erfectly clear without the possession of any
linguistic knowledge. His fundamental principles
and his simplest facts were taken over bodily from
his predecessors. He began with the assumption
that there w^ere three languages, and that of these
the first was ancient Persian, the language of the
Acha3menides, who had erected these palaces and
caused these inscriptions to be written. For his
first attempts at decipherment he chose two of

' Grotefend's first paper was written In Latin {De cimeatis, quas vacant
inscriptionibus persepolitanis legendin el esplica?idis relatio) and presented
by a friend to the Gottingen Academy September 4, 1802. It was followed
by others on October 2, November 13, 1802, and May 20, 1803. None of
these were published by the society. The original papers were found by
Professor Wilhelm Meyer, of Gottingen, in the society's archives and pub-
lished in the Kachrichten von der Kdniylichen Oesellschaft der wissenschaften
zu Gottingen, 1893, No. 14.

48 HISTORY OF BABYLONIA AND ASSYRIA.

these old Persian inscriptions and laid them side by
side. The ones which were chosen were neither too
long nor too short ; the frequent recurrence of the
same signs in them seemed to indicate that their
contents were similar, and finally they were clearly
and apparently accurately copied by Niebuhr. The
inscriptions thus selected were those numbered "B"
and " G " by Niebuhr (see plate), which, for the pur-
pose of this exposition, may be designated simply
as first and second (I and II). Following Tychsen
and Miinter, he held that these inscriptions, which
accompanied figures of kings, were the titles of
these monarchs, and were presumably similar to
the inscriptions of Sassanian kings which De Sacy
had just deciphered. Grotefend placed these two
inscriptions side by side and carefully examined
them. In the work of Mlinter a word had been
pointed out which appeared frequently in these
inscriptions, sometimes in a short form and some-
times longer, as though in the latter case some
grammatical termination had been added to it.
In these two inscriptions this word appeared both
in the shorter and in the longer form. Grotefend
was persuaded that this word meant king, as Mlin-
ter had discovered, and that when it appeared
twice in each of these texts in exactly the same
place, first the shorter and then the longer form, the
expression meant "king of kings." A glance at
the plate will show that in these two inscriptions,
in the second line, after the first word divider, ap-
pear the two sets of signs exactly alike, thus :

"fr m.^T.K-.>y^.<Tr.-^.< ■«n.<(.m.y<v.Ky.Tr.K-. v

>Tg_vT>T_ T- V .<<IT.^.Trr.K-.KT ■ ff.K- . ^ .«yr ,<< .m

K-.KT.Yf.K-.fyy.K . m . -M. v.«Ty.^<.m. T<> KT YT t<>

Y<- \ vf -yty. ^yry. ^. rf»y. Yh h -t^y . v.m.<t . <Y?. ^< . <rY . ^ .

<<yy.«.y<r''^.^y .« .^i^t a. «tt . « . tyy. Y<>-.y<Y yy. y<- \ .-y^.y--r. h

.Yt\.«YY.^.Y'yy.y<>:Y<Y.n.y<e.\.«(y.«.m. y<-.y<y. ?y . y<-. yTy

,i>-."v.>Mi.\\.ni .ivTiv.i I. 1"^ . ^.^xir.\\. "I . rv. i\i. II. !\ . Ill

Km-yry A.fy.yTr.^y.K-.-y^ .<^< xtr. <<a ^yy.^.yn . K-.y<Y .
yY^y<-><T<^.mA.ffXY7.YlA.<^<X<ir.m.-TTY.^<.R<<.Yr.K-A

* NiEBrHR Tab. xxiv. G.

•Ki*oiii Nieltuhr. ffrJ-

INSCRIPTIONS DECIPHERED BY GROTEFEND.

l((ti</ mch Arabien H7iti aiidem vmHrgnuku Lun-leni. Kopoiiliagen, 1774-1834, Rnntl II, |>. lai. Till), XXIV.

('')

GROTEFEND AND RAWLINSON. 49

this is followed by tlie same word, but much in-
creased in length, thus :

«iT.«.w. i^.iii. W. K'. fir .

The supposition was that (a) meant hing while (b)
was the plural and meant hing-s, the whole ex-
pression signifying Jcing of kings. But further
this same word, supposed to be king, occurred
again in both inscriptions, namely, in the first line,
and in both instances it was followed by the
same word, namely :

^ ^ • • • •

Here, then, was another expression containing the
word king. What could it mean ? Grotefend looked
over De Sacy's translations of Sassanian inscrip-
tions and found tliat the expression " great king "
occurred in them, and then made the conjecture
that this was the same expression, and that (c)
meant " great," hence " king great," that is, great
hing. All this looked plausible enough, but it
was, after all, only conjecture. It must all be sup-
ported by definite facts, and these words must
each be separated into its alphabetic constituents
and these understood, and supported by clear evi-
dence, before anyone would or could believe in

50 HISTORY OF BABYLONIA AND ASSYRIA.

the decipherment. To this Grotefend now bent
every energy. His method was as simple as be-
fore. He had made out to his own satisfaction
tlie titles "g]-eat king, king of kings." Now, in
the Sassanian inscriptions the first word was al-
ways the king's name, followed immediately by
" great king, king of kings ; " it was probably true
in this case. But, if true, then these two inscrip-
tions were set up by different kings, for the name
in the first was :

while in the other it Avas :

««yT.^.T<|::YYT.tT.<<.^n.

But to simplify, or to complicate the matter, as
one wall, this name wdth which I begins appears
in n in the third line, but changed somewhat in
its ending, so that it stands thus :

(/) n. m. ^T.K-rT^ . <t-< xn . ^.

From its situation in the two places Grotefend
concluded that (d) was the name in the nomina-
tive and (f) was the same name in the genitive.
Thus I begins " iV great Mng, Icing of Mngs^'' and
this same king appears in H thus: ^^ of N^ In
number n this name was followed by the w^ord for
king,and after this another word which might mean
" son," so that the whole phrase in 11 would be " of
Nhing son^^'' that is, ^'' son of N 'king ^^"^ the order

GROTEFEND AND RAWLINSON. 51

of words being presumably different from tliat to
wMcli we are accustomed. But this same word,
which is supposed to mean so?i, appears also in I,
line fiv^e, thus:

where it follows a name which does not possess
the title king. From all these facts Grotefend
surmised that in these two inscriptions he had the
names of three rulers : (1) the grandfather, who
had founded a dynasty, but did not possess the
title of king ; (2) the son, who succeeded him and
bore the title of king ; and (3) the grandson, who
also had the same title. The next thing to do
was to search through all the known names of the
Achamenides to find three names which should
suit. The first names thought of were Cambyses,
Cyrus, and Cambyses. These will, however, not
do, because the name of the grandfather and grand-
son are exactly alike, whereas on the two inscrip-
tions they are different. The next three to be
considered are Hystaspes, Darius, Xerxes. If
these be correct, then the seven signs with which
I begins must be the name Darius (see d above).
The next thing in order was to find the form of
the name Darius in ancient Persian. Of course
Grotefend did not expect to find it written in that
way exactly, for the modern European spelling
has come to us from the Greek, and the Greeks
were not careful to reproduce exactly the names
of other peoples who were, in their view, only

52 HISTORY OF BABYLONIA AND ASSYRIA.

barbarians. He ascertained from the Hebrew
lexicon that the Hebrews pronounced the word
Daryavesh, while Strabo in one passage, in trying
to represent as accurately as possible the Persian
form, gave it as Dareiaves. Neither of these would
work very well into the seven characters, and on
a venture Grotefend gave the word the form of
Darheush, and so the first word was thus to be set
down

D A R H E U SH

That seemed to fit well enough, and as later in-
vestigations have shown, it was almost wholly
correct, there being only errors in H and E, which
did not vitiate the process, nor interfere with car-
rying it out further. The next task was to make
out the name at the beginning of II. This was
comparatively easy, for nearly all these same
letters were here again used, and only the first was
wanting. It was easy to supply this from the
Hebrew form of the name and also from the
Avestan language so recently deciphered. This
name was therefore read thus :

CH SH H A R SH A

The error in this also was exceedingly slight,
when one considers the extreme difficulty of the
task and the comparative bluntness of this tool of
conjecture or surmise or, to put it boldly, guess.

GROTEFEND AND RAWLINSON. 53

This name was supposed to be the Persian form
for Xerxes.

The next thing in order was to find the letters
for the third name, and that was a much more
difficult problem. This was the name which ai>
pears in I, line four, last word, thus :

Here were ten signs. Grotefend believed that
this word was in the genitive case, and some signs
at the end must be cut off as the genitive ending.
But how many ? That was the question. Per-
haps the Avestan language (then called Zend)
would help him. To the study of this he now
had recourse, and after much doubt decided to
cut off the last three as ending, and take what
remained as the king's real name. The name
which he was seeking, as we have already seen,
was Hystaspes, the late Persian fonn of which
Grotefend followed, and thus made out the name :

G O SH T ASP

In this word, as in the other two, later discovery
showed that he had made a mistake, but this
time only in the first two characters. To Grote-
fend's own mind the whole case seemed clear and
indisputable, for the same characters occurred in

54 HISTORY OF BABYLONIA AND ASSYRIA.

all three names, and tlms each supported the
other. At this time the Persian alphabet was sup-
posed to contain forty-two alphabetic characters,
of which Grotefend believed that he had found
thirteen. To this he soon added more, by a simple
process of combination, using the word for the
name of god in these texts, namely, Aurmazda.
He now felt himself able to translate these in-
scriptions in part, thus:

I. Darius, the mighty king, king of kings . . .
son of Hystaspes.

II. Xerxes, the mighty king, king of kings . . .
son of Darius, the king.

This was an epoch-making result, and even Gro-
tefend with all his enthusiasm and with all the
confidence of genius, did not fully realize it. This
much he was anxious to get before the learned
world for acceptance, or perhaps for criticism. That
should have been easy indeed, but, in fact, it was
not easy. The Gottingen Academy of Sciences
refused absolutely to believe in his methods or his
results, and would not take the risk of disgracing
itself by publishing Grotefend's i:)aper, describing
his work, in its transactions.' He was not an
orientalist at all l^y training or experience, and
the learned men of Gottingen who were oriental-

' This refusal is the more noticeable as the Academy had, in the very-
beginning, announced that Grotefend "had been led by certain historical
presuppositions, and also by the analogy of the Sassanian inscriptions, to
discover in the shorter cuneiform inscriptions of Persepolis, written in the
first and simplest of the three forms of character, which he had examined
with this purpose in view, the names and titles of Darius and Xerxes." —
Gi}tfhif/ischc Gelehrte An~.eige7i.,^(i])iQmhcv 18, 1802 (Xo. 149).

GROTEFEND AND RAWLINSON. 55

ists asked whether " any good thing could come
out of Nazareth," that is, whether a man who was
not an orientalist could possibly offer a contribu-
tion of value to oriental learning. The case was
a sad one for the patient, plodding decipherer, for
it was not easy to see how he could gain any pub-
licity for his work. At this juncture a personal
friend, A. H. L. Heeren, who was about to pub
lish a book on the ancient world,' offered to give
space in the appendix to Grotefend for the pur-
pose of setting forth his theories and discoveries.
Grotefend eagerly seized the opportunity, and
there appeared his work. It met, on the whole,
with a cold reception. Volney denounced it as
resting on forms of names which were at least
doubtful and might be incorrect, and with him
joined many German voices. On the other hand
Anquetil-Duperron, now an aged man, waiting
"with calmness the dissolution of his mortal
frame," and the immortal De Sacy received it with
enthusiasm and hailed it as the beginning of the
sure reading of these inscriptions.

Those who doubted the whole scheme were
later to receive a severe setback, and that from

' IJeen iiber die Politik, den Verkehr und den Handel der vornehmsten
Volker der alien Welt, von A. H. L. Heeren. 3 vols. Gottingen, 1815.
The paper by Grotefend is printed in vol. i, pp. 563, ff., under the title
Ueber die Erklarung der Keilschriften, und besonders der Inschriften von
Persepolis.

Heeren's book was translated into English with the title, Historical
Researches into the Politics, Intercourse, and Trade of the Principal Nations
of Anti(fdtii, by A. H. L. Heeren. Oxford, 1833. In this edition Grote-
fend's essay appears in vol. ii, pp. 313, ff., accompanied by plates better
executed than those of the German edition.

56 HISTORY OF BABYLONIA AND ASSYRIA.

an unexpected source. It will be remembered
that while the Persepolis inscriptions were still
in the copying stage a beautiful vase had come
to Paris which contained some Egyptian hiero-
glyphics, and also some signs like those found at
Pei-sepolis. After the publication of Grotefend's
work in Heeren's book the Abbe Saint-Martin, in
Paris, devoted much thought and time to its crit-
icism and study. At this same time Champollion
was engaged in the decipherment of the Egyptian
hieroglyphics. He suggested to the abbe that
they should try to decipher together the marks
upon the vase. When this was attempted the
abbe found that the name on the vase in cunei-
form characters should be transliterated thus :

CH. SH. A. R. SH. A'

and this was remarkably confirmed by the finding
of the same name, according to Champollion, in
the Egyptian signs. This was a small matter in
some ways, but it increased the faith of many in
the method and results of Grotefend.

Meanwhile Grotefend himself was continuing
his effoi'ts to get beyond these few words and de-
cipher a whole inscription. At this stage, how-
ever, entirely different traits of mind were needed,
and a completely changed mental furnishing. In
the preliminaiy work the type of mind which
Gi'otefend possessed was admirably adapted to

' Nouvelles observations sur les inscriptions de Persepolis, par M. Saint-
Martin. {Memoires de VAcademie Royale des hiscrip. et Btlles-Lettres.
Tome xii, part 2, 1839, pp. 113, ff.) This paper was read before the
Academy, December 20, 1822.

GROTEFEND AND RAWLINSON. 57

the work to be done. The mental training de-
rived from long study of the classics of Greek
and Latin was likewise of constant service. He
had, however, now reached the point where exten-
sive and definite knowledge of the oriental lan-
guages was imperatively necessary. In order to
secure words of ancient Persian he must know
words in the related oriental languages or in those
other languages which, though not related, had
been used in or about the same territory, and so
might have borrowed words from old Persian. He
must also know the oriental spirit, have a feeling
for oriental life, be able to understand in advance
just about what an oriental was likely to say.
None of these possessions were his. His later
work was therefore largely abortive. He tried to
translate entire inscriptions, and failed almost com-
pletely, though he devoted much time for all the
rest of his life to this matter, without, however,
abandoning his real field of classical literature.

However unsuccessful the later efforts of Grote-
fend may have been, nothing can ever dim the
luster of his fame as a decipherer. It was he who
first learned how to read an ancient Persian word.
From this, in due course, came the power to read
the words of Babylonian and Assyrian. In other
words, through the discoveries of Grotefend the
world of ancient Persia was reopened, and men
learned to read its ancient inscriptions. By them
also the much greater worlds of Assyria and Baby-
lonia were likewise rediscovered. Much of what

58 HISTORY OF BABYLONIA AND ASSYRIA.

we know of ancient Persia came from tliem ; almost
all that we know of Assyria and Babylonia was
derived from tkem. To very few men, in all
time, has it happened to make discoveries of such
moment.

While he still lived and worked others with
better equipment in a knowledge of the oriental
languages took up his work. The first of these
was a Norwegian by birth, R. Rask. It was his
good fortune to discover the plural ending in
ancient Persian, which had baffled Grotefend. In
the work of decipherment Grotefend never got so
far as to determine all the characters in the phrase,
king of kings, and this was now achieved by Rask,'
who correctly apportioned the characters. The
same ending appears also in another word after
the word "king." Rask also for this suggested
a very plausible rendering. In the Sassanian in-
scriptions the phrase is "king of lands;" why
might not this be the same ? That question would
find its answer at a later day.

And now appeared a man to grapple with the
problem of the inscriptions of Persepolis, who was
in learning far better equipped than any who had
preceded him. This was the French savant,
Eugene Burnouf." He had already gained fame

' R. Rask, Ueher das Alter und die Echtheit der Zend Sprache und des
Zend-Avesta iind Herstelhmg des Zend- Alphabets nebsf einer Uebersicht der
gesammten Sprachstammes; uebersetzt von Fried. Heinrich von der Hagen.
Berlin, 1826, p. 28.

* Memoire sur deux inscriptions cunelformes trouvees pres d^Hamadan,
par M. l^ugene Burnouf, Pari?, 1836.

GROTEFEND AND RAWLINSON. 59

as the man who had given the grammar of Avestan
a scientific basis. He knew that language in all
its intricacies. To this he added a kno^vledge of
Persian life and religion in the period following
that to which these inscriptions belonged. All
this learning could be brought to bear upon these
inscriptions, and Burnouf used it all as a master.
He found in one of the little inscriptions which
Niebuhr had copied at Naksh-i-Kustam a list of
names of countries. To this he gave close study,
and by means of it accomplished almost at a
stroke several distinct achievements. In the first
place he found the equivalent for almost every
character in the Persian alphabet. In the next he
determined finally that old Persian was not the
same language as Avestan, but that it was closely
related to it, and that therefore there was good
hope that Avestan as well as certain Indo-European
languages would contribute important light to the
study of old Persian.

Before his own discoveries were made in full,
and before their publication, Burnouf had called
the attention of Lassen to this list of names. In-
duced by the remarks of Burnouf, Lassen made
this same list of names the subject of investigation,
and at about the same time as Burnouf published
the results of his study, which were almost iden-
tical.' He had, however, made, in one respect at

' Some believe that Lassen borrowed these results from Burnouf s com-
munications to him, and therefore count him dishonest in making no ac-
knowledgment.

60 HISTORY OF BABYLONIA AND ASSYRIA.

least, very definite progress over Burnouf. He
discovered that, if the system of Grotefend were
rigidly followed, and to every letter was given the
exact equivalent which Grotefend had assigned, a
good many words could not be read at all, while
others would be left wholly or almost wholly
without vowels. As instances of such words he
mentioned gPED, THTGUS, KTPTUK, FRA-
ISJM. This situation led Lassen to a very im-
portant discovery, toward which his knowledge of
the Sanskrit alphabet did much to bring him. He
came, in one word, to the conclusion that the
ancient Persian signs were not entirely alphabetic,
but were, partially at least, syllabic, that is, that
certain signs were used to represent not merely an
alphabetic character like *'b," but also a syllable
such as "ba," "bi," "bu." He believed that he
had successfully demonstrated that the sign for
" a " (see second sign in " f," below) was only used
at the beginning of a word, or before a conso-
nant, or before another vowel, and that in every
other case it was included in the consonant sign.
For example, in inscription I the first word of the
second line ought to be read thus :

Va * Za * Ra * Ka

while in inscription H the middle word in line
three should be so read :

D A Ra Ya Va H U S

GROTEFEND AND RAWLINSON. 61

This discovery was of tremendous importance,
and may be said to have completely revolutionized
the study of these long puzzling texts. To it
two other scholars made important contributions,
the one being Beer, and the other Jacquet, a
Parisian savant.

This long line of successful decipherment had
been carried on with only a small portion of the
inscriptions of ancient Persia, that were still in
existence. Other and better copies of the inscrip-
tions were even at this time in Europe, but had
not been published. In 1811 an English traveler,
Claudius James Rich, had visited Persepolis and
copied all the texts that were to be found, in-
cluding those which Niebuhr and his predecessors
had copied. These were discovered in the papers
of Kich, and in 1839 were published, coming
naturally at once into the hands of Lassen, who
found in them much new material for the testing
of his method and for the extension of the process
of decipherment.

Still greater and more valuable material was
placed in Lassen's hands through the travels of
Westergaard, a Dane, who, in this, imitated worth-
ily his fellow-countryman Mebuhr. Westergaard
had again gone over the old ground at Persepolis
and had there recopied and carefully collated all
the well-known inscriptions.' Li this he had not

' Lassen, Die Alpersischeii Keilinschrifteii nach Herrn N. L. Wester-
guard's MittheUungen. Zeitschrift fiir die Kunde dcs Morgenlandes. Band
v'i. Bonn, 1845. See especially pngcs 1—3.

62 HISTOEY OF BABYLONIA AND ASSYRIA.

done a useless task, for only by oft-repeated copying
and comparing could the finally definite and per-
fect text be attained, without which the decipher-
ment would always be subject to revision. But
Westergaard went further than this ; he visited
at Naksh-i-Rustam the tombs of the Persian kings,
and there copied all the tomb inscriptions which
were hitherto unknown. On his return this new
material was also made accessible to Lassen, who
was now fairly the leader in this work of decipher-
ment. Lassen found that the new copies of the
old texts were so important that he went over
some of the ground afresh and found it useful to
reedit some of his work which had before seemed
final. The same material called a new worker into
the field in the person of Holtzman,' of Karlsruhe,
in Grermany, whose work, however, made no veiy
deep impression on the general movement.

In the work of decipherment thus far the chief
positions had been held by Grotefend and Bur-
nouf, but for the maintaining of its international
character the time was calling for workers from
other lands. As it happened, at this very time
an Englishman was at work on the same task,
from a different point of view, and with different
materials. It was well that this was so, for the
conclusions thus far reached would probably have
failed of general acceptance but for the support
obtained by the publication of similar results

' Bcilrage zur Erkliirung der Persischen Keilimchriften, vou Adolf Holz-
niann. Erstes Heft. Carlsruhe, 1845.

GROTEFEND AND RAWLINSON. 63

achieved by a mau of different nationality and
divei*se training. The history of all forms of
decipherment of unknown languages shows that
skepticism concerning them is far more prevalent
than either its opposite, credulousness, or the happy
mean of a not too ready faith.

The man who was thus to rebuke the gainsayer
and put the capstone upon the work of the de-
cipherment of the Persian inscriptions was Major,
(afterward Sir) Henry Rawlinson, who was born at
Chadlington, Oxford, England, on April 11, 1810.
While still a boy Rawlinson went out to India in
the service of the East India Company. There he
learned Persian and several of the Indian vernacu-
lars. This training hardly seemed likely to pro-
duce a man for the work of deciphering an un-
known language. It was just such training as had
produced men like the earlier travelers who had
made the first copies of the inscriptions at Persep-
olis. It was, however, not the kind of education
which Grotefend, Burnouf, and Lassen had re-
ceived. In 1833 the young Rawlinson went to
Persia, there to work with other British oiScers in
the reorganization of the Persian army. To Persia
his services were of extraordinary value, and met
with hearty recognition. It was in Persia, while
engaged in the laborious task of whipping semi-
barbarous masses of men into the severe discipline
of the soldier's life, that the attention of Rawlin-
son was attracted by some inscriptions. The fii-st
that roused an interest in him were those at Hama-

64 HISTORY OF BABYLONIA AND ASSYRIA.

dan, which he copied with great care. This was
in the year 1835, at a time when a number of Eu-
ropean scholars were earnestly trying to decipher
the inscriptions from Persepolis. Of all this eager
work Kawlinson knew comparatively little. It is
impossible now to determine exactly when he first
secured knowledge of Grotefend's work, for Nor-
ris, the secretary of the Royal Asiatic Society, has
left us no record of when he first sent copies of
Grotefend's essays to the far-distant decipherer.
Whatever was sent in the beginning, it is quite
clear that Rawlinson worked largely independ-
ently for a considerable time. He had certainly
begun his work and adopted his method before he
learned of what was going on in Europe.'

Rawlinson's method was strikingly like that
adopted in the first instance by Grotefend. He
had copied two trilingual inscriptions. That he
had before him three languages, and not merely
three styles of writing, he appears to have under-
stood at once. To this ready appreciation of the
presence of three languages Rawlinson's experience
of the polyglot character of the East had probably
contributed. In 1839 he thus wrote concerning
his method of decipherment :

" When I proceeded ... to compare and inter,
line the t"wo inscriptions (or, rather, the Persian
columns of the two inscriptions, for as the com-

' On Rawlinson's life, and also on his work as a decipherer, see now A
Memoir of Major- General Sir Henri/ Creswicke Rmelinson, by George
Rawlinson. London, 1898. The notice of Rawlinson's work here given
was written before the appearance of this memoir.

GROTEFEND AND RAWLINSON. 65

partments exhibiting the iuscriptiou in the Pei'sian
language occupied the principal place in the tab-
lets, and were engraved in the least complicated of
the three classes of cuneiform writing, they were
naturally first submitted to examination) I found
that the characters coincided throughout, except
in certain particular groups, and it was only rea-
sonable to suppose that the groups which were
thus brought out and individualized must represent
proper names. I further remarked that there were
but three of these distinct groups in the two in-
scriptions; for the group which occupied the sec-
ond place in one inscription, and which, from its
position, suggested the idea of its representing the
name of the father of the king who was there com-
memorated, corresponded with the group which oc-
cupied the first place in the other inscription, and
thus not only served determinately to connect the
two inscriptions together, but, assuming the groups
to represent proper names, appeared also to indi-
cate a genealogical succession. The natural infer-
ence was that in these three groups of characters I
had obtained the proper names belonging to three
consecutive generations of the Persian monarchy ;
and it so happened that the first three names of
Hystaspes, Darius, and Xerxes, which I applied at
hazard to the three groups, according to the suc-
cession, proved to answer in all respects satisfac-
torily and were, in fact, the true identifications." '
In the autumn of 1836, while at Teheran, Raw-

' Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society, x, pp. 5, 6.

66 HISTORY OF BABYLONIA AND ASSYRIA.

linson first secured an acquaintance witli the works
of St. Martin and Klaproth, but found in them
nothing beyond what he had already attained by
his own unaided efforts, and in certain points he
felt that he had gone farther than they, and with
greater probability.

Rawlinson's next work was the copying of the
great inscription of Darius on the rocks at Behis-
tun. This was a task of immense difficulty, car-
ried on at the actual risk of his life, from its position
high up on the rocks and beneath a blazing sun.'
In 1835, when he first discovered it, Rawlinson
was able to study it only by means of a field glass.
At this time he could not copy the whole text,
but gained more of it in 1837, when he had be-
come more skilled in the strange character. In
that year he forwarded to the Royal Asiatic So-
ciety of London his translation of the first two
paragraphs of this Persian inscription, containing
the name, titles, and genealogy of Darius. It
must be remembered that Kawlinson had accom-
j)lished this without a knowledge of the related
languages, except for what he could extract from
the researches of Anquetil-Duperron. In the au-
tumn of 1838, however, he came into possession of
the works of Burnouf on the Avestan language,
which proved of immense value in his work. He
also secured at the same time the copies of the
Persepolis inscriptions made by Niebuhr, Le Brun,
and Porter, and the names of countries in them

> See Atheuceum, November S, 1884, No. 2976, p. 593.

GROTEFEND AND RAWLINSON. 67

were of great assistance to liim, as tliey already
had been to Burnouf and Lassen. AVith the ad-
vantage of almost all that European scholars had
done, Rawlinson was now able to make rapid i:)rog-
ress, and in the winter of 1838-1839 his alphabet
of ancient Persian was almost complete. He was,
however, unwilling to publish his results until he
had ransacked every possible source of information
which might have any bearing on the matter. In
1839 he was settled in Baghdad, his work in reality
finished and written out for publication, but still
hesitating and waiting for more light. Here he
obtained books from England for the study of
Sanskrit, and a letter from Professor Lassen, which
greatly pleased him, though from it he was able
to obtain only one character which he had not
previously known. Here also he received the
copies which Mr. Rich had made at Pei^epolis,
and a transcript of an inscription of Xerxes at
Van which had been made by M. Eugene Bore.
In this year (1839) he wrote his preliminary mem-
oir, and expected to j)ublish it in the spring of
1840.

Just at this juncture he was suddenly removed
from Baghdad and sent to Afghanistan as politi-
cal agent at Kandahar. In this land, then in a
state of war^ he spent troublous years until 1843.
He was so absorbed in war, in which he won dis-
tinction, and in administration as well, that his
oriental studies had to be given up entirely.

In December, 1843, he was returned to Bagh-

68 HISTORY OF BABYLONIA AND ASSYRIA.

clad, the troubles in Afglianistan being for tlie
time ended, and at once resumed his investiga-
tions. Here he obtained the fresh copies and cor-
rections of the Persepolitan inscriptions which Wes-
tergaard had made, and later made a journey to
Behistun to perfect his copies of those texts which
had. formed the basis of his first study. At last,
after many delays and discouragements, he pub-
lished, in 1846, in the Joiirncd of the Moyal Asiatic
Society, his memoir, or series of memoirs, on the an-
cient Persian inscriptions, in which for the first time
he gave a nearly complete translation of the whole
Persian text of Behistun. In this Rawlinson attained
an imperishable fame in oriental research. His work
had been carried on under difficulties, of which the
European scholars had never even dreamed, but
he had surpassed them all in the making of an in-
telligible and connected translation of a long in-
scription. Remarkable as this was, perhaps the
most noteworthy matter in connection with his
work 'was this, that much of it had been done with
small assistance from Europe.' He had, indeed,

' George Rawlinson has attached himself to the view that Sir Henry Raw-
linson had almost completed the work of decipherment of the Old Persian
alphabet before he learned an3'thing of the work of Grotefend. He says :
"Up to this time [end of 1836] he had no knowledge at all of the antece-
dent or contemporary labors of continental scholars, but had worked out
his conclusions entirely from his own observation and reasoning " {Memoir,
p. 309). This view rests upon the decipherer's own recollections of his work.
It is, however, almost certain that Sir Henry Rawlinson forgot just when
he first learned of Grotefend's work, and thought that he was independent,
when in reality he was assisted by Grotefend, Burnouf, and Lassen. In
1884 he carried on a spirited controversy with Professor F. Max Miiller
concerning the right of priority of discovery. In one of his letters he

GROTEFEND AND RAWLINSON. 69

received from Norris, Grotefend's results, tliough
not at the very beginning, and he was later siip-
j^lied with all that other scholars had been able to
accomplish. Furthermore, as early as 1837 he was
in correspondence with Burnouf and Lassen, from
both of whom he gained assistance. When all allow-
ance is made for these influences, his fame is not
diminished nor the extent of his services in the de-
cipherment curtailed. His method was settled
early and before he knew of Lassen's woi'k. That
two men of such different training and of such
opposing types of mind should have lighted upon
the same method, and by it have attained the
same results, confirmed, in the eyes of many, the
decipherment.

The whole history of the decipherment of these
ancient Persian inscriptions is full of surprises,
and another now followed immediately. In Jan-
uary, 1847, the Dublin University Magazine con-
tained an unsigned article with the taking title,
" Some Passages of the Life of King Darius," the
opening sentences of which were as follows :

speaks thus of the matter : " Now, for my own part, I take leave to say
that, though I worked independently, and with some success, in my early
attempts to decipher the Persian cuneiform inscriptions (from 1835 to
1839), still I never pretended to claim priority of discovery over Grotefend,
Burnouf, and Lassen. ... As I was in pretty active correspondence with
Burnouf and Lassen from 1837 to 1839 on the values of the cuneiform
characters, it is impossible to say by whom each individual letter became
identified" {Athencenm^ November 8, 1884, p. 593). This letter makes it
sufficiently plain that Rawlinson himself when he carefully considered the
matter did not make so great a claim for himself as does his brother in
the admirable memoir. His fame is secure, and needs not to be estab-
lished by any attempt to prove that he was wholly independent of Euro-
pean scholars in all his earlier work.

70 HISTORY OF BABYLONIA AND ASSYRIA.

"In adding this new name to the catalogue
of royal authors, we assure our readers that we
are perfectly serious. The volume which contains
this monarch's own account of his accession, and
of the various rebellions that followed it, is now
before us ; and unpretending as it is in its appear-
ance, we do not hesitate to say that a more inter-
esting — and on many accounts a more important —
addition to our library of ancient history has never
been made." '

After this introduction the writer proceeds to
narrate how Major Rawlinson had copied at Be-
histun the inscription of Darius and how he had
successfully deci^Dhered it. As the paper j)roceeds,
the anonymous writer goes beyond the work of
Rawlinson to tell of what had been done in Euroj)e
by Grotefend and others, displaying in every sen-
tence the most exhaustive acquaintance with the
whole history of the various attempts at decipher-
ment. Then he falls into courteous and gentle
but incisive criticism of some of Major Rawlinson's
readings or translations, and herein displays a mas-
tery of the whole subject which could only be the
result of years of study. There was but one man
in Ireland who could have written such a j)aper
as that, and he was a quiet country rector at Killy-
leagh. County Down, the Rev. Edward Hincks.*

^Dublin JJ)dversiiy Magazine, Dublin, 1847, p. 14.

* Apart from the internal evidence there is now no doubt that this paper
was written by Hincks, though published anonymously. See Adler, Pro-
ceediuffs of the American Oriental Society, October, 1888, p. civ; and com-
pare Stanley Lane Toole, Dictionary of National Biography, xxvi, p. 430

GROTEFEND AND RAWLINSON. 71

He was born at Cork, in 1792, and was therefore
the senior of Rawlinson by about eighteen years.
After an education at Trinity College, Dublin,
that wonderful nursery of distinguished Irishmen,
where he took a gold medal in 1811, he was set-
tled in 1825 at Killyleagh, to spend the remain-
der of his life. His first contributions to human
learning appear to have been in mathematics, but
he early began to devote himself to oriental lan-
guages, publishing in 1832 a Hebrew grammar.
He was one of the pioneers of Egyptian deciph-
erment, and his contributions to that great work
are acknowledged now to be of the highest rank.
Unhappily his life has never been worthily writ-
ten, and it is impossible to determine just when he
first began to study the inscriptions of Persepolis.
It is, however, clear that, independently of Rawlin-
son, he arrived at the meaning of a large number
of signs, and had among his papers, before Rawlin-
son's work appeared, translations of some of the
Persepolitau texts. His first published memoir
was read before the Royal Irish Academy on June
6, 1846, having been written in the month of
May in that yeai-. In this paper Hincks shows
an acquaintance with the efforts at decipherment
which had been made by AVestergaard and Las-
sen, but he seems not to have seen the works
of the other continental decipherers. He had
much surpassed these two without the advan-
tage which they enjoyed of more complete litera-
ture.

72 HISTORY OF BABYLONIA AND ASSYRIA.

In the work of Hincks the Persepolitan iuscrip'
tions had been now for the third time independ-
ently deciphered and in part translated. With
this Dr. Hincks did not cease his work, but went
on to larger conquests, of which we shall hear
later in this story.

The work of decipherment was now over as far
as the ancient Persian inscriptions were concerned.
There was, of course, much more to be learned
concerning the language and concerning the his-
torical material which the inscriptions had pro-
vided. On these and other points investigation
would go on even to this hour. But the pure
work of the decipherer was ended, the texts were
]-ead. A language long dead lived again. Men
long silent had spoken again. It seemed a dream ;
it was a genuine reality, the result of long and
painful study through a series of years by scores
of men, each contributing his share.

Though the work upon Persian was in this
advanced stage, very little had yet been done
with the other two languages upon these same
inscriptions. What might be the result of a
similar study of them nobody now knew. It was
believed that the columns written in two other
languages contained the same facts as those which
had been so laboriously extracted from old Per-
sian, and there was, therefore, little incitement to
their study. Before the end of this period, how-
ever, there were beginning to be hints that these
other two languages were important, and that one

GROTEFEND AND RAWLINSON. 73

of them was the representative of a great people
who possessed an extensive literature. The proofs
that this was indeed true were now slowly begin-
ning to accumulate, and, when enough of them
were gathered to make an impression, the men
who were gifted with the decipherer's skill would
turn from the Persian to unravel the secrets of
the unknown and unnamed languages which the
kings of Persia had commanded to be set up by
the side of their own Persian words. Great results
had already flowed from the Pei-sian studies. New
light had been cast upon many an enigmatical
passage in Herodotus ; a whole kingdom had been
permitted to speak, not through its enemies, as be-
fore, but for itself. But all this was as nothing
compared with the untold, unimagined results
which were soon to follow from a study of the
third language which existed in all the groups at
Persepolis. To this study men were now to be
wrought up by the brilliant work of explorers.

"We have traced one story — the story of de-
cipherment. We turn now to a second story, the
story of exploration.

74 HISTORY OF BABYLONIA AND ASSYRIA.
EXCURSUS.

THE ROMANTIC HISTORY OP FLOWER'S COPIES OP INSCRIPTIONS.

The first characters from Persepolis which were
published in England appeared in the Philosoph-
ical Transactions for June, 1693, and their history
was so peculiar and of such considerable impor-
tance that they are here reproduced and the story
of their misuse in various forms is set forth.

The beginning of the story is found in a letter
sent by Francis Aston to the publisher, which,
mth all its solecisms, runs thus :

" Sir, I here send you some Fragments of Papers
put into my hands by a very good Friend, relat-
lating to antique and obscure Inscriptions, w"
were retrieved after the Death of Mr. Flower,
Agent in Persia for our East India Company;
who while he was a Merchant at Aleppo
had taken up a resolution to procure some
Draught or Representation of the admired Ruines
at Ohilmenar, pursuant to the third Enquiry for
Persia, mentioned in the Philosophical Tran-
actions, pag. 420, viz., whether there being al-
ready good Descriptions in words of the Excellent
Pictures and Basse Relieves that are about Per-
sepolis at Chilmenar yet none very particular,
some may not be found sufficiently skilled in those
parts, that might be engaged to make a Draught
of the Place, & the Stories their [sicl pictured
<fe carved. This Desii'e of the Royal Society, as
I believe, it hinted at a Summary Delineation,

GROTEFEND AND RAWLINSON. 75

w*" might be perform'd by a Man qualify'd in
a few days, taking his own opportunity for the
avoiding much Expence, (w*" you know they
are never able to bear :) So I cannot but think
Mr. Floioer conceived it to be a business much
easier to perform then \si(i\ he found it upon
the place, where he spent a good deal of Time
and Money, & dying suddainly after, left his
Draughts <fe Papers dispersed in several hands,
one part whereof you have here, the rest its hoped
may in some wise be recovered, if Sir John Char-
din's exact <fe accurate Publication of the entire
Word do not put a period to all further Curiosity,
w'' I heartily wish."

Accompanying this letter was a lithographed
j)late of inscriptions from Nocturestand, that is
Naksh-i-Rustam, and from Chahelminar, that is,
Persepolis. They had been copied by Flower in
November, 1667. The first, second, and fourth of
these inscriptions are Sassanian and Greek, while
the third and sixth are Arabic. The fifth con-
sists of two lines of cuneiform characters as fol-
lows:

m.ET.rs . <,lKr.f<-. 1. <T>r ".-». <?:<.££.
'^.Tr. SWXr -'fe- TVr< .t=. «n. 5?Tf . SHfT.

To these cuneiform characters Mr. Flower had
added this explanatory note :

" This character, whether it be the ancient
writing of the Gawres and Gahres, or a kind of

76 HISTORY OF BABYLONIA AND ASSYRIA.

Tdesines is found only at PersepoliSy being a part
of what is there engraven in white Marble, <fe
is by no man in Persia legible or understood at
this Day. A Learned Jesuit Father, who de-
ceased three years since, affirmed this character to
be known & used in EgyptP

The editor appended to this a note which
showed that he was a man of some penetration :
*' it seems written from the Left Hand to the
Kight, and to consist of Pyramids, diversely pos-
ited, but not joined together. As to the Quantity
of the Inscriptions, Herbert reckon'd in one large
Table Twenty Lines of a prodigious Breadth. Of
this sort here are distinct Papers, each of several
Lines."

Aston appears to have been much interested
in these papers of his deceased friend, for he re-
curs to the mattei' again to say that in February,
1672, Flower had compared these cuneiform signs
with twenty-two characters, " Collected out of the
Ancient Sculptures, to be found this day extant in
the admired Hills of Canary."

It is unfortunate that Flower died without pub-
lishing his own copies of inscriptions. If he had
lived to give them forth, a curious catalogue of
mistakes might have been avoided.

Mr. Aston doubtless supposed that the char-
acters formed an inscription either complete or at
least connected. These characters, as a matter of
fact, were selected by Flower from the three lan-
guages at Persepolis, and do not form an inscrip-

GROTEFEND AND RAWLINSON. 77

tion at all. As published by Aston they are
taken at random from Persian, Susian, and As-
syrian, as the following list will show. The first
line begins with three Persian characters (a, ra, sa),
the next is Assyrian (u), and after it the Persian
word-divider. After these come one Persian (th)
and three Assyrian (bu, sa, si) syllabic signs;
then one Susian (sa), one Assyrian (rad), one
Persian (h), and finally one Assyrian (i) character.
The second line is equally mixed. It begins with
a Persian sign (probably humi) followed by three
Assyrian (a, u, nu), one Susian (ak) and then an-
other Assyrian (kha) sign. These are followed by
one Susian (ti), one Persian (kh), one Assyrian
(ya), and finally one Susian (ta). The signs were
exceedingly well copied, and it is a pity that a
man who could copy so well had not been able to
issue all his work. It might have hastened the
day of the final decipherment.

Instead of really contributing to a forward
movement in the study of the Persepolis inscrip-
tions, Flower's copies resulted in actual hindrance
to the new study.

The histoiy of this retrograde movement is a
curious chapter in the history of the science of
language. It deserves to be followed step by step
if for naught else than for its lessons in the weak-
nesses of human nature.

The cuneiform characters of Flower now began
an extraordinary and unexpected career. The
first man who appears to have noticed them was

78 HISTORY OF BABYLONIA AND ASSYRIA.

Thomas Hyde. Hyde was professor of Hebrew
in the University of Oxford, but, like other He-
brew professors in later days, devoted much energy
to other oriental study. His great book was on
the religion of the Persians,' in which he discussed
many things, without always displaying much
willing receptiveness for things that were new.
He reproduced in a plate the cuneiform characters
of Flower, along with some Sassanian and Pal-
myrene inscriptions. Over the Sassanian and
Palmyrene texts Hyde waxes eloquent of denun-
ciation. He bewails the sad fact that these
" wretched scribblings, made perhaps by ignorant
soldiers," had been left to vex a later day. Then
he comes to a discussion of the cuneiform char-
acters, and gives them that very name {dactuU
pyramidales seu cuneiformes.) * Next he quotes
Aston's statement that Herbert had mentioned
twenty lines of cuneiform writing at Persepolis.
Hyde waves this statement majestically aside, and
gives a long argument to show that these signs
were not letters, nor intended for letters, but are
purely ornamental.' He attached great impor-
tance to the interpunction in Flower's copy, and
adds that Herbert and Thevenot had given three

' Thomas Hyde, Historia Religionis veterum Persarmn, eorumque Ma-
gornm. Oxonii, 1700. The second edition appeared at Oxford, in 1760,
under the title Veterum Persarum et Parthorutn et Mediorum Religionis
Historia.

'^ Ibid., first edition, p. 526 ; second edition, p. 556.

* " Me autem judice non sunt Literae, nee pro Literis intendebantur ;
sed fuerunt solius Ornatus causa. . . ." — Ibid., first edition, p. 52*7 ; sec-
ond edition, p. 557.

GROTEFEND AND RAWLINSON. 79

lines of the same kind of ornamentation, but as
they did not give any interpunction, he pronounces
their copies worthless. Just here he made a series
of mistakes. In the firet place, of course, the in-
terpunction was the invention of Flower, and was,
as we now see, merely his way of indicating that
he had copied only separate and selected signs.
In the next place, Thevenot gives no copies of in-
scriptions at all. Hyde had evidently seen some
copies in some place and was quoting from mem-
ory. One wonders whether he had not seen the
copies of Mandeslo, and had in memory confused
him with Thevenot.

The next man who was moved to make use of
the characters of Flower was a Dutchman, Wit-
sen, who was gifted with a keen eagerness for the
marvelous. He calmly reproduces Flower's char-
acters, which he had most probably copied from
Hyde, and introduces them to his readers in a
remarkable narrative. "In the lands beyond
Tarku, Boeriah, and Osmin," he says, "is a coun-
try where a German medical man, who had trav-
ersed it when flyiug from the anger of Stenko
Rasin, has told me he had seen on arches, walls,
and mountains sculptured letters of the same
form as those found on the ruins of Persepolis,
which he had also seen. This writing belonged,
it is said, to the language of the ancient Persians,
Gaures, Gabres, or worshipers of fire. Two speci-
mens of them are given here, though these char-
acters are now unintelligible. Throughout the

80 HISTORY OF BABYLONIA AND ASSYRIA.

whole country, said this medical man, above all
at a little distance from Derbent, in the moun-
tains beside which the road passes, one sees
sculptured on the rock figures of men dressed
in strange fashion like that of the ancient Greeks,
or perhaps Komans, and not only solitary figures,
but entire scenes and representations of men en-
gaged in the same business, besides broken col-
umns, aqueducts, and arcades for walking over
pits and valleys. Among other monuments there
is there a chapel built of stone, and reverenced by
some Armenian Christians who live in its neigh-
borhood, and on the walls of which were en-
graved many of the characters of which I have
spoken. This chapel had formerly belonged to
the pagan Persians who adored a divinity in
fire." •

This whole account bears every mark of having
been manufactured to fit the inscriptions. No such
ruins have been seen by any person in the country
described, and no inscriptions have been found
there. The cuneiform characters had to be ac-
counted for in some way, and this was Witsen's
method.

But more and worse things were still to be in-
vented to account for these same little characters
of Flower.

In 1723 Derbent and Tarku were visited by

' Nicolaus Witsen, Noord en Oost Tartarj/e, II Part, p. 563. Amsterdam,
1705. Quoted by Burnouf, Memo'tre sxir deux inscriptions. Paris, 1836,
pp. 177, 178.

GROTEFEND AND RAWLINSON. 81

Dimitri Cantemir, Prince of Moldavia, who had
the patronage of the czar, Peter the Great, in his
search for antiquities and inscriptions. He died at
Derbent, and the inscriptions he saw are all cata-
logued by Frahm, and there is no cuneiform in-
scription among them. The prince's papers passed
into the hands of Th. S. Bayer, who utilized them
in a book, De Muro Caucaseo, in which he tried
to prove that this wall was built in the time of the
Medo-Persian empire. Now, Bayer was acquainted
with Witsen's book, and made references to it, but
he evidently did not believe in the marvelous story
which Witsen told concerning the cuneiform in-
scriptions, for he makes no reference to it at all,
whereas that would have given the most conclu-
sive proof of the main thesis of his book which
could possibly be suggested. Here were inscrip-
tions of the Medo-Persian people, found at the very
wall which he desired to prove was Medo-Persian
in origin. But the end was not yet concerning the
papers of the unfortunate Prince of Moldavia. Pro-
fessor Guldenstadt planned a trip through the Cau-
casus in 1766-69, and friends put in his hands cer-
tain papers to be used on the journey. Among them
was a copy of Flower's cuneiform characters. It
seems probable that he was informed that this copy
belonged to Cantemir's papers, for when Gulden-
stadt's papei's came into the hands of Klaproth he
attached to the Flower characters this note : " In-
scriptions de Tarkou, d'apres un Dessin du prince
Dimitri Cantemir, qui se trouvait avec les Instruc-

82 HISTORY OF BABYLONIA AND ASSYRIA.

tions de Guldenstadt. St. P. 4 Aug., 1807." ' Now
here, by a chapter of accidents, mistakes, and de-
ceits, were Flower's signs localized at Tarku, and
of course considered a veritable inscription.

In 1826 F. E. Schulz was sent by the French
government to the East to search for inscriptions,
and he took with him the Flower signs, with Klap-
roth's note attached. It was probably his intention
to go to Tarku and collate the copy with the orig-
inal inscription, for of course he had no doubt that
it really existed. Schulz, however, was murdered
at Julameih in 1829, and when many of his papers
were recovered, here was found among them the
same old copy of Flower. Schulz's copies were
published, and the " inscription of Tarku " appears
with the rest.

The next man to allude to it was Saint Martin,
who gravely informs his readers that this inscrip-
tion was carved above the gate of Tarku," thus
adding a little definiteness to the tradition.

Naturally enough the Flower copy made its way
to Grotefend, who was, however, not deceived by
it.' He recognized at once that it really consisted
of a number of characters selected from all three
languages which were found at Persepolis, though
he did not know that Flower was the copyist.
This was in 1820, and one might have expected

' Burnouf, ibid., p. 1*78.

2 NonveUes Observations sur les inscriptions de Persepolis, par M. Saint
Martin, Mem. de I'Acad. des Inscriptions et Belles-Lettres, 11" Serie, torn,
xli, p. 1 14.

'^ Hall, allgem. Lit.-ZeUnnff, April, 1820, p. 845.

GROTEFEND AND RAWLINSON. 83

that this would end the wanderings and the ficti-
tious history of Flower's copies. But not just yet ;
there was still vigor in the story and the race was
not yet over.

In 1836 Burnouf got a copy of the same lines
and set to work earnestly to decipher them. He
found that they contained the name of Arsakes, re-
peated three times.'

In 1838 Beer discussed the lines, and attached
himself to Grotefend's view, recognizing the fact
that they did not form an inscription at all.

Burnouf 's translation did not suit the next in-
vestigator very well, and he began afresh to de-
cipher and translate. This was A. Holtzmann,
who argued learnedly that the lines formed a gen-
uine Persepolitan text of great interest. The in-
scription was indeed a memorial of Arses, who was
murdered in B. C. 336 by Bagoas. Holtzmann
thus translated the text :

" Arses (son) of Artaxerxes, King of Provinces,
the Achamenian, made (this)."

Here was indeed a fitting conclusion of the whole
matter. Flower had copied a few signs out of
three different languages, and out of them had been
woven this elaborate history. It is a melancholy
story from one point of view. But it is instructive
also as showing that progress in knowledge is not
uniform, but has its undertow as well as its ad-
vancing wave. Happily there is a dash of humor
in it as well.

' Burnouf, Memolre snr deux hiscriptions. Paris, 1836, pp. 176, ff.

84 HISTORY OF BABYLONIA AND ASSYRIA.

CHAPTER III.

EARLY EXPLORERS IN BABYLONIA.

When the city of Nineveh fell, and when
Babylon was finally given over to the destroyer, a
deep darkness of ignorance settled over their
ruins. The very site of Nineveh was forgotten,
and, though a tradition lived on which located
the spot where Babylon had stood, there was al-
most as little known of that great capital as of
its northern neighbor. In the Middle Age the
world forgot many things, and then with wonder-
ful vigor began to learn them all over again. In
the general spell of forgetfulness it cast away all
remembrance of these two great cities. Even the
monk in his cell, to whose industry as a copyist the
world owes a debt that can never be paid, recked
little of barbarous cities, whose sins had destroyed
them. He knew of Jerusalem and of Bethlehem,
for these had imperishable fragrance in his nos-
trils. They were sacred cities in a sacred land,
and he sighed as he thought that they were now
in the hands of infidels. But Nineveh and Babylon,
they were mentioned, it is true, in the prophets ;
but then Nahum had cursed the one and Isaiah
predicted the destruction of the other, and they
had received their deserts. Where they might be
he knew not, nor cared. But after a time came

EARLY EXPLORERS IN BABYLONIA. 85

the period when Europe began to relearn, and
that with wonderful avidity. The Crusades
roused all Europe to a passionate interest in the
Orient. Palestine, Syria, and Egypt were trav-
ersed by one after another of travelers who vis-
ited sacred scenes and came home to tell won-
derful stories in Europe. Of these almost all
were Christians, who knew in greater or less de-
gree the New Testament, but were for the more
part hopelessly ignorant of the Old Testament.
They would fain see the land of the Lord, but
cared little for associations with Old Testament
prophets, heroes, or kings.

But at last there appeared a man who had
wider interests than even those that concerned
the land of Palestine. He was a Jewish rabbi of
Tudela, in the kingdom of Navarre. The Rabbi
Benjamin, son of Jonah, set out from home about
1160 A. D., and journeyed overland across Spain
and France, and thence into Italy. As he went
he made the most careful notes of all that he saw,
and gave much attention to the learned and pious
men of his own faith whom he met. From Italy
he passed over to Greece, and then on to Constan-
tinople, with which he was profoundly impressed.
After he had visited the sacred spots in Palestine
he went over the desert by way of Tadmor, and
crossed the Euphrates, and then journeyed on east-
ward to the Tigris, where he visited the Jews of
Mosul. Of Mosul and its surroundinscs he has
this to relate :

86 HISTORY OF BABYLONIA AND ASSYRIA.

" This city, situated on the confines of Persia, is
of great extent and very ancient ; it stands on the
banks of the Tigris, and is joined by a bridge to
Nineveh. Although the latter lies in ruins, there
are numerous inhabited villages and small tow^ns
on its site. Nineveh is on the Tigris distant one
parasang from the town of Arbil.'"

From Nineveh Benjamin of Tudela passed on
down the river and visited Baghdad, then a great
center of culture both Mohammedan and Jewish,
and this was more to him than even its wealth,
and it is as to a climax that his last sentence con-
cerning this city comes :

" The city of Baghdad is three miles in circum-
ference, the country in which it is situated is rich
in palm trees, gardens, and orchards, so that noth-
ing equals it in Mesopotamia. Merchants of all
countries resort thither for purposes of trade, and
it contains many wise philosophers, well skilled in
sciences, and magicians proficient in all sorts of
enchantment." *

From Baghdad Benjamin went on to Gihiagin
or Ras-al-Ain, which he mistakenly identified
with Resen (Gen. x, 12), and then continues his
narrative thus :

"From hence it is one day to Babylon. This is
the ancient Babel, and now lies in ruins ; but the
streets still extend thirty miles. The ruins of the

' Jtinerariuni Beniandn Tudelensis. Ex Hehraico Latinum factum Bened.
Aria Montana inierprete. Antverpiaj, M.D.LXXV, p. 58.
2 Ibid., pp. 69, 70,

EARLY EXPLORERS IN BABYLONIA. 87

palace of Nebuchadnezzar are still to be seen, but
people are afraid to venture among them on ac-
count of the serpents and scorpions with which
they are infested. Twenty thousand Jews live
about twenty miles from this place, and perform
their worship in the synagogue of Daniel, who
rests in peace. This synagogue is of remote an-
tiquity, having been built by Daniel himself; it
is constructed of solid stones and bricks. Here
the traveler may also behold the palace of Neb-
uchadnezzar, with the burning fiery furnace into
which were thrown Hananiah, Mishael, and Aza-
riah ; it is a valley well known to everyone.
Hillah, which is at a distance of five miles, contains
about ten thousand Jews and four synagogues.
. . . Four miles from hence is the tower built by
the dispersed Generation. It is constructed of
bricks called al-ajurr ; the base measures two
miles, the breadth two hundred and forty yards,
and the height about one hundred canna. A
spiral passage, built into the tower (in stages of
ten yards each), leads up to the summit, from
which we have a prospect of twenty miles, the
country being one wide plain and quite level.
The heavenly fire, which struck the tower, split
it to its very foundation." '

That Benjamin of Tudela actually did visit

' Jbid., pp. 70, 71. Compare also Martinet, Reisetagbuch des Rabbi Bin-
jaminvon Tudela. Bamberg, 1858, pp. 16, 18. For English translations
see Thomas Wright, Early Travels in Palestine, London (Bohn), 1848,
pp. 94, 100, and especially A. Asher, 77ie Itinerary of Rabbi Benjamin of
Tudela. London and Berlin, 1840, i, pp. 91, 92, 105-107.

88 HISTORY OF BABYLONIA AND ASSYRIA.

Mosul, and that he there saw across the river the
great mounds which marked the rains of Nineveh
there is no reason to doubt, but it is not so clear
that he also saw the ruins of Babylon. He did
make the visit to Baghdad, for that city is de-
scribed in the terms of an eyewitness. It is,
however, not certain that he had really seen the
ruins of Babylon, for his description lacks the little
touches which accompanied the former narrative.
He is here probably reproducing simply what he
had heard from others concerning these ruins.

Benjamin of Tudela wrote his narrative in He-
brew. It was known to the learned during the
thirteenth, fourteenth, and fifteenth centuries, but
was not printed until 1543, when it appeared at
Constantinople in the rabbinic character. In 1633
it appeared, with a Latin translation, at Leyden.
It later appeared in English and French, and thus
became known over a large part of Europe.
Though thus well known, the book of Benjamin
appears to have attracted no attention to the
buried cities of Nineveh and Babylon.

Like the first scant notices of Persepolis given
by the earlier travelers, these notes of Benjamin of
Tudela would bear fruit in a later day, for they
would incite other travelers to visit the same mys-
terious ruins.

The next word of information concerning the
ancient sites was brought to Europe by another
Jew, the Rabbi Pethachiah of Ratisbon, whose
recollections were set down by one of his disciples,

EARLY EXPLORERS IN BABYLONIA. 89

after the scanty notes which he had made by the
way.

The time was now hastening on toward the
period when men of Europe began to travel ex-
tensively in the Orient, and of these many visited
both Mosul and Baghdad. Most of them, how-
ever, did not pay any attention to the ruins which
lay near these cities. Many, like Sir John Man-
deville (1322-56), made no journey to these sites,
but were contented to report what they had heard
concerning them. Marco Polo appears to have
cared nothing for the ruins, and, though he vis-
ited both Mosul and Baghdad, never refers to
them. Others confounded Baghdad with Babylon,
and really believed that the Mohammedan capital
was the same city as that which Nebuchadrezzar
had made powerful.

In 1583 the Orient was visited by John Eldred,
an English traveler and merchant, whose quaint
notice of Babylon and of Nineveh was among the
very first hints which came directly to England
concerning these great cities. His account is as
follows :

"We landed at Felugia the 8th and 20th of
June, where we made our abode seven dayes, for
lack of camels to carie our goods to Babylon. The
heat at that time of the yeare is such in those
parts that men are loath to let out their camels
to travell. This Felugia is a village of some hun-
dred houses, and a place appointed for discharge-
ing of such goods as come downe the river : the

90 HISTORY OF BABYLONIA AND ASSYRIA.

inhabitants are Arabians. Not finding camels
here, we were constrained to unlade our goods,
and hired an hundred asses to carie our English
merchandizes onely to New Babylon over a short
desert; in crossing whereof we spent eighteen
houres, travelling by night and part of the morn-
ing, to avoid the great heat.

" In this place which we crossed over stood the
olde mightie citie of Babylon, many olde mines
whereof are easilie to be scene by daylight, which
I John Eldred have often behelde at my goode
leisure, having made three voyages between the
New citie of Babylon and Aleppo over this desert.
Here also are yet standing the mines of the olde
tower of Babell, which being upon a plaine ground
seemeth a farre off very great, but the nearer you
come to it, the lesser and lesser it appearetli :
sundry times I have gone thither to see it, and
found the remnants yet standing about a quartei*
of a mile in compasse, and almost as high as tlie
stone worke of Paules steeple in London, but it
sheweth much bigger.' The brickes remaining in

' " For about seven or eight miles from Bagdad, as men passe from
Felugia, a towne on Euphrates, whereon Old Babylon stood, to this newe
citie on Tigris (a worke of eighteene houres, and about forty miles space)
there is seen a ruinous shape, of a shapelesse heape and building, in cir-
cuit less than a mile, about the height of the stoneworke of Panic's steeple
in London, the bricks being six inches thicke, eight broad, and a foot
long (as Master Allen measured) with mats of canes laid betwixt them, yet
remaining as sound as if they had beene laid within a yeere's space. Thus
Master Eldred and Master Fitch, Master Cartwrlght, also, and my friend
Master Allen, by testimony of their own eyes, have reported. But I can
scarce think it to be that tower or temple, because authors place it in the
midst of old Ba>>ylon, and neere Euphrates; whereas this i? ncorer

EARLY EXPLORERS IN BABYLONIA. 91

this most ancient monument be half a yard thicke
and three quarters of a yard long, being dried in
the Sunne only, and betweene every course of
brickes there lieth a course of mattes made of
canes, which remaine sounde and not perished,
as though they had beene layed within one yeere.
The citie of New Babylon joyneth upon the
aforesaid desert where the Olde citie was, and the
river of Tygris runneth close under the wall, and
they may if they will open a sluce, and let the
water of the same mnne round about the towne.
It is about two English miles in compasse, and
the inhabitants generally speake three languages,
to wit, the Persian, Arabian, and Turkish tongues :
the people are of the Spanyards complexion : and
the women generalie weare in one of the gristles
of their noses a ring like a wedding ring, but
somewhat greater, with a pearle and a Turkish
stone set therein, and this they doe be they never
so poore." '

The old confusion between Baghdad and Baby-
lon plainly exists in the mind of Eldred, but apart
from that error his words have a magical ring in
them, and might well induce others to set out to
see such sights. He appears not to have seen the

Tigris." — Purchas his Pilgrimage, 1626, p. 50 (folio edition), quoted in
Narrative of a Journey to the Site of Babylon, etc., by the late C'laudius
James Rich, edited by his widow. London, 1839, p. 321.

' The Principall Navigations, Voiages and Discoveries of the E/nglish
Natimi. By Richard Hakluyt, Master o^" Artes, and Student sometime of
Christ-Church in Oxford. Imprinted at London by George Bishop and
Ralph Newberie, Deputies to Christopher Baker, Printer to the Queen's
most excellent Majestic. 1589, p. 232.

92 HISTORY OF BABYLONIA AND ASSYRIA.

ruins of Nineveh at all, but another Eno^lishman,
who sailed from Venice in 1599, was more fortunate
and also more romantic.

There is more of eloquence in Anthony Shirley
(or Sherley), who thus wrote of both cities :

" I will speake""of Babylon ; not to the intent
to tell stories, either of the huge mines of the first
Towne or the splendour of the second, but —
because nothing doth impose anything in man's
nature more than example — to shew the truth of
God's word, whose vengeances, threatened by His
Prophets, are truely succeeded in all those
parts. ..."

" All the ground on which Babylon was spred
is left now desolate; nothing standing in that
Peninsula between the Euphrates and the Tigris,
but only part, and that a small part, of the greate
Tower, which God hath suffered to stand (if man
may speake so confidently of His greate imj^ene-
trable counsels) for an eternal testimony of His
work in the confusion of Man's pride, and that
Arke of Nebuchadnezzar for as perpetual a mem-
ory of his greate idolatry and condigne punish-
ment."

" Nineve, that which God Himself calleth That
greate Citie, hath not one stone standing which
may give memory of the being of a towne. One
English mile from it is a place called Mosul, a

' Sir Anthony Sherley, Hh Relation of H'ls Travels hito Persia. London,
1613, p. 21.
"- Ibid.

EAELY EXPLORERS IN BABYLONIA. 93

small thing, rather to be a witnesse of the other's
mightinesse and God's judgment than of any
fashion of magnificence in it selfe." '

In these words is sounded for the first time the
note which would bring eager explorers to these
mounds. The former travelers had looked curi-
ously upon these mounds and then passed on;
this man saw in them facts which illustrated the
Hebrew prophets. In a later day expeditions
would go out from England for the very purpose
of seeking in them books which might confirm or
illustrate the history and the prophecy of the He-
brew people. The real force behind the large
contributions of money for these explorations was
this desire to know anything that had any possi-
ble bearing on the scriptures of the Old Testa-
ment. Anthony Shirley did not see that day, but
he belonged to it in spirit.

In all these notices of passing travelers ignorance
was mingled with credulity, and definite knowl-
edge was wanting. The most that had been ac-
complished was the perpetuation and the stimula-
tion of interest in these cities. The very small
amount of progress that had been made is indi-
cated by the publication in 1596, at Antwerp, of
the gre at Geographical Treasury of Ortelius,' an

' Ibid.

* Ahrahami Ortellii Antverpiani Thesauriis Geographicus Recognitiis et
Audus. Antwerp, Plantin, 1596. The copy which the writer used in the
Bodleian Library had belonged to Joseph Scaliger, and contained manu-
script notes of his. On Nineveh he had nothing to add, and on Babylon
merely wrote in the margins some Arabic words which had been transliter-
ated in the text of Ortelius.

lU HISTORY OF BABYLONIA AND ASSYRIA.

alphabetic list of places, with such descriptive geo-
graphical facts added as were then known. Or-
telius states that certain writers identified Nineveh
with Mosul, but as he had no definite information,
he had to let the matter rest at that. Of Babylon
even less was known. All the authorities quoted
by Ortelius, except Benjamin of Tudela, identity-
Babylon with Baghdad, and that position he ac-
cepts. It is clear from this that there was need
for more travelers who should see, and understand
as well what they saw.

A beginning is made by an English traveler,
John Cartwright, whose tone is very similar to
that of Sherley, though he makes more of a con-
tribution to the knowledge of the subject :

" Having passed over this river [the Choaspes]
we set forward toward Mosul, a very antient
towne in this countrey, sixe dayes journey from
Valdac, and so pitched on the bankes of the
river Tigris. Here in these plaines of Assiria,
and on the bankes of the Tigris, and in the re-
gion of Eden, was Ninevie built by Nimrod, but
finished by Ninus. It is agreed by all prophane
writers, and confirmed by the Scriptures that this
citty exceeded all other citties in circuit, and an-
swerable magnificence. For it seemes by the ruin-
ous foundation (which I thoroughly viewed) that
it was built with four sides, but not equall or
square ; for the two longer sides had each of
them (as we gesse) an hundredth and fifty fur-
longs, the two shorter sides, ninty furlongs, which

EARLY EXPLORERS IN BABYLONIA. 95

amounteth to foiire hundred and eighty furlongs
of ground, which makes thi'ee score miles, account-
ing eight furlongs to an Italian mile. The walls
whereof were an hundredth foote upright, and had
such a breadth, as three Chariots might passe on
the rampire in front : these walls were garnished
with a thousand and five hundreth towers, which
gave exceeding beauty to the rest, and a strength
no lesse admirable for the nature of those times." '

After these descriptions of the past and present
of Nineveh, Cartwright supplied some extracts
from its history and then concluded thus :

"Finally, that this city was farre greater than
Babilon, being the Lady of the East, the Queene of
Nations, and the riches of the world, hauing more
people within her wals, than are now in some one
kingdome : but now it is destroyed (as God foi'e-
told it should be by the Chaldseans) being nothing
else, then (sic) a sepulture of her self, a litle towne
of small trade, where the Patriarch of the Nesto-
rians keeps his seate, at the deuotion of the Turkes.
Sundry times had we conference with this Patri-
arch : and among many other speeches which past
from him, he wished us that before we departed,
to see the Hand of Eden, but twelue miles up the
riuer, which he affirmed was undovhtedly a part of
Paradise^

Keen as Cartwright was after historical and leg-
endary material, he continued the error of confusion

' The Preacher's Travels, penned by I. C. (preface signed lohn Cartwright).
London, 1611, pp. 89, 90.

96 HISTOEY OF BABYLONIA AND ASSYRIA.

of Baghdad and Babylon. His descriptions, how-
ever, contained some new matter :

" Two places of great antiquity did we thoroughly
view in the country : the one was the mines of the
old tower of Babely (as the inhabitants hold unto
this day) built by Nymrod, the nephew of Cham,
Noahs Sonne. . . .

"And now at this day that which remayneth,
is called, the remnant of the tower of Babel : there
standing as much, as is a quarter of mile in com-
passe, and as high as the stone-worke of Paules
steeple in London. It was built of burnt bricke
cimented and Joyned with bituminous mortar, to
the end, that it should not receiue any cleft in the
same. The brickes are three quarters of a yard in
length, and a quarter in thicknesse, and between
euery course of brickes, there lyeth a course of
mats made of Canes and Palme-tree leaves, so
fresh, as if they had beene layd within one yeere.

"The other place remarkable is, the mines of
old Babilon, because it was the first citie, which
was built after the Floud. . . . This city was built
upon the riuer Euphrates, as we found by experi-
ence, spending two dayes journey and better, on
the ruines thereof.

" Amongst the other stately buildings was the
temple of Bel, erected by Semiramis in the middle
of this citie. . . . Some do thinke, that the ruines
of Nimrods tower, is but the foundation of this
temple of Bel, & that therefore many trauellers
haue bin deceiued, who suppose they haue scene

EARLY EXPLORERS IN BABYLONIA. 97

a part of tliat tower which Nimrod biiilded. But
who can tell whether it be the one or the other ?
It may be that confused Chaos which we saw was
the mines of both, the Temple of Bel being founded
on that of Nimrod." '

There are not wanting indications in this narra-
tive that Cartwright knew the description of Sher-
ley, whom he almost seems to quote in the com-
parison with St. Paul's Cathedral.

The visiting of Babylon and Nineveh was now
becoming as much of an international matter as
was the observing of the ruins of Persepolis at a
slightly later time. Gasparo Balbi/ a Venetian,
Alexander Hamilton, an Englishman, and Don Gar-
cia de Silva y Figueroa, a Spaniard, followed soon
after Cartwright, but made no advance in their in-
vestigations beyond that which had been seen by
their predecessors. Following these came the great
traveler, Pietro della Valle, who has received so
much attention already in a former narrative con-
cerning Persepolis.' He made the same mistake of
confusing Baghdad with ancient Babylon, but he
visited Hillah, which probably few of his prede-
cessors had done. He also visited the great mound
near Hillah, called Babil by the natives. This, Pie-
tro della Valle believed, was the ruin of the Tower
of Babel. This mound he had sketched by an art-
ist, and from it he collected some bricks, which he

' IbU.^ pp. 99, 100.

^Viaggio nelle Indie Orientali, Venise, 1590. See also Recueil des Voy-
tiges aux Indes Orientales, par les fr^res de Bry. Francfort, 1660L
^Seep. 16.

98 HISTORY OF BABYLONIA AND ASSYRIA.

afterward took back to Kome. One of these was
presented to Athanasius Kircher, the Jesuit, who
wrote a learned treatise on the Tower of Babel.
Kircher believed that this brick had formed part
of the original Tower of Babel, wrecked by the hand
of God, a silent monitor from the great age of the
dispersion of tongues. He placed it in his museum,
and it is still preserved. This is probably the very
first Babylonian antiquity which came into Europe,
and must always have a great interest on that ac-
count. Though it was not what Pietro della Valle
and Kircher supposed, it was, nevertheless, a brick
from the glorious period of Babylonian history,
and to the world of letters had a meaning of tre-
mendous import. It was the harbinger of great
stores of tablets and of building bricks which were
soon to flow from that land. Far beyond the
dreams of the mediaeval student of the Tower of
Babel were this first brick and those which were
to follow, to cany the thoughts of men.

After these men of the world, others bent on
errands of religion passed up and down the valley
— Augustinians, Jesuits, Carmelites, and Francis-
cans — some of whom visited the sites covered with
ruins, while others were content to report what
they had heard. They were generally impressed
with the thought that they were in lands where
God had signally manifested his displeasure with
the sons of men, but none of them appear to have
felt any quickening of imagination at the thought
of the great deeds of human history which had

EARLY EXPLORERS IN BABYLONIA. 99

there been enacted. They naturally knew no more
of the meaning of the mounds than did those who
had preceded them.

So the end of the seventeenth century had come,
and no man knew more of the history of Babylon
or of Nineveh than could be gathered out of the
pages of the Greeks or the Latins, or from the
stirring words of the Old Testament. The day of
the traveler who went and saw, and no more, was
now nearly over, and the day of the scientific ex-
plorer was rapidly hastening on. Before men
should be led to dig up these great mounds they
must be roused to interest in them, and that the
traveler had done in some measure. The age of
the explorer and of the decipherer had come, and
the intellectual quickening of the times manifested
itself in a thorough study of the mounds of Nine-
veh and Babylon.

100 HISTORY OF BABYLONIA AND ASSYRIA.

CHAPTER IV.

EXPLORATIONS IN ASSTEIA AND BABYLONIA, 1734-1820.

The man who began the new age of exploration
was not himself an explorer, nor were several of
his immediate successors. He was, however, a
man of scientific spirit, and in that differed from
the men who had gone before him. He was not
seekiDg marvels, nor anxiously inquiring for evi-
dences of strange dealings in dark days. He was
a student of geography and history, and went
into the Orient specially charged to study them.
Jean Otter, member of the French Academy of
Inscriptions and Belles-Lettres, and afterward pro-
fessor of Arabic at the College de France, spent
ten years in western Asia, being sent thither for
the purpose of study by the Comte de Maurepas.
His notice of the city of Nineveh is very different
indeed from all that preceded it. Its tone of
criticism, of sifting out the false from the true, is
the tone of the new age that had now begun :

"Abulfeda [the Arabian Geographer] says that
Nineveh was on the eastern bank of the Tigris,
opposite the modern Mosul ; either he must have
been mistaken, or the inhabitants of the district
are greatly in error, for the latter place Nineveh
on the western bank of the Tigris, on the spot
which they call Eski-Mosul. If we attempt to

EXPLORATIONS, 1734-1820. 101

conciliate the two opinions by supposing that
Nineveh was built on both sides of the river,
nothing is gained, for Eski-Mosul is seven or eight
leagues higher up the stream. One point seems to
favor the belief of Abulfeda, and that is, that
opposite Mosul there is a place called Tell-i-Tou-
bah — that is to say, the Hill of Repentance —
where, they say, the Ninevites put on sackcloth
and ashes to turn away the wrath of God." '

Otter also visited the mounds at Hillah, and,
with a better know^ledge of the Arabian geog-
raphers than any of his predecessors, located the
ancient city of Babylon near Hillah. The true
location of the city even he did not make out, but
the site was almost determined. A scientifically
trained scholar, as Otter was, had not found it,
but the thoughts of men were at least pointed
away from the identification with Baghdad.

After Otter the land of Babylonia was visited by
a Carmelite missionary. Father Emmanuel de Saint
Albert. He saw the ruins at Hillah and made a
very important report upon them to the Duke of
Orleans. His account was not published, but in
manuscript form came into the hands of D'Anville,
who presented to the Academy of Inscriptions at
Paris a paper on the site of Babylon. This paper
was based, in its conclusive portions, upon the de-
scription of southern Babylonia given by Pietro
della Valle, and especially that now offered by the

' Voyage en Turqiiie et en Perse, par M. Otter, de TAcademie Royale des
Inscriptions et Belles-Lettres, Paris. 1748, pp. 133, 134.

102 HISTORY OF BABYLONIA AND ASSYRIA.

Carmelite missionary. The words of the latter
differ in important respects from the descriptions
of any travelers who had preceded him. He
says :

" Before reaching Hillah a hill is visible which
has been formed by the ruins of some great build-
ing. It may be between two and three miles in
circumference. I brought away from it some
S(juare bricks, on which were writing in certain un-
known characters. Opposite this hill, and distant
two leagues, another similar hill is visible, between
two reaches of the river at an equal distance. . . .
We went to the opposite hill, which I have already
mentioned ; this one is in Arabia, about an hour's
distance from the Euphrates, and the other is in
Mesopotamia, at the same distance from the Eu-
phrates, and both exactly opposite to each other.
I found it very like the other, and I brought
away some square bricks, which had the same im-
pressions as the first-mentioned ones. I remarked
upon this hill a fragment of thick wall, still stand-
ing on the summit, which, from a distance, looked
like a large tower. A similar mass was lying
overturned beside it ; and the cement was so solid
that it was quite impossible to detach one brick
whole. Both masses seemed as if they had been
vitrified, Avhich made me conclude that these ruins
were of the highest antiquity. Many people in-
sist that this latter hill is the remains of the real
Babylon ; but I know not what they will make
of the other, M'liich is opposite and exactly like

EXPLORATIONS, 1734-1820. 103

this one. The people of the country related to
me a thousand foolish stories about these two
mounds ; and the Jews call the latter the prison
of Nebuchadnezzar."*

Unlike the travelers who had preceded him,
this missionary cared nothing for the marvelous,
and would have none of the stories of the natives.
He had, however, so completely and accurately
described these ruins that the work of D'Anville
was comparatively easy. He decided that this
was really Babylon, and that Baghdad was not
its modern representative. The final word of
D'Anville is interesting, and opens up the new era
of study of this part of the Orient :

"The written characters which, as Father
Emmanuel says in his report, are impressed upon
the bricks which remain of buildings so ancient
that they may have foimed part of the original
Babylon would be for scholars who wish to pene-
trate into the most remote antiquity an entirely
new matter of meditation and study." '

These words were written in 1755, iu the very
middle of the eighteenth century. They show
how the study of the city of Babylon lagged be-
hind the investigation of the cities of Persia. At
this very time, as we have already seen, Europe
was stirring with interest in the great Achsemen-
ian dynasty, and not only was the site of Per-

* Memoire siir la Positioji de Babylone, par M. d'Anville. Memoires des
Inscriptions et des Belles-Lettres, t. xxviii, p. 256, annee 1755 [published
1761].

' Comp. trans. In Evetts, jhid.y p. 44.

104 HISTORY OF BABYLONIA AND ASSYRIA.

sepolis well known, its inscriptions had been sev-
eral times coj)ied, and men were eagerly trying to
decipher them. It was not yet time to turn from
the study of Persepolis to the study of Babylon,
but the hour was rapidly hastening on. Father
Emmanuel and his skillful interpreter before the
Academy had done much to bring the hour
nearer.

In December, 1765, Carsten Niebuhr, whose
name has already filled a large place in this story
in connection with the ruins of Persepolis, visited
Hillah. He was absolutely certain in his own
mind that these ruins belonged to the city of
Babylon.' He was deeply impressed by their vast
size, but still more by the evidences of a high
state of civilization which they indicated. He
found lying upon the ground and about the great
mounds numerous bricks covered with inscriptions.
Niebuhr could not read a line upon them, and no
man living could have done so ; but that they ex-
isted, and that the writing was the writing of the
ancient Babylonians, was now well known in
Europe. Europe had, however, entirely failed to
grasp the meaning of these important facts. Eu-
I'ope believed that a people who could only write
upon clay must have been a people in a low state
of civilization indeed, and must have possessed but
a small literature. Niebuhr quotes from Bryant

' " Dass Babylon in der Gegend von Helle [Hillah] gelegen habe, daran
ist gar kein Zweifel." — Reisebcschrelbung nach Arabien nnd andern utn-
liegenden Landern. Kopenhagen, 17*78, ii, p. 28*7.

EXPLORATIONS, 1734-1820. 105

these words, and they were fairly representative
of the general opinion entertained in Europe : " I
cannot help forming a judgment of the learning
of a people from the materials with which it is
expedited and carried on, and I should think that
literature must have been very scanty, or none at
all, where the means above mentioned were ap-
plied." To Niebuhr sucli reasoning appeared to
be folly. To his mind tlie presence of these in-
scribed bricks was evidence of a very high state
of civilization.* He lamented that he could not
remain longer at the site, the more thoroughly to
study its ruins, and calls earnestly for others to
continue the work which he had to leave un-
finished.

Niebuhr also visited the mounds near the Tigris
and opposite the city of Mosul. Here also he was
as clear and cogent in his reasoning as he had been
at Hillah. The site of Nineveh he identified with-
out difficulty,' but it appears to have impressed
him much less than the more ancient, and the
greater, mother city of Babylon.

The hope and wish of Niebuhr that others
would soon follow him to carry on researches at
Babylon were soon gratified. In 1781, on July 6,
M. de Beauchamp sailed away from Marseilles to
carry on astronomical observations at Baghdad
and to make historical and geographical studies

' " Man kann daraus vielraehr deu Schluss machen, dass die Babylonier
es in der Schreibkunst und den Wissenschaften schon sehr weit gebracht
haben miissen. — Ibid., pp. 290, 291.

» Ibid., p. 353.
9

106 HISTORY OF BABYLONIA AND ASSYRIA.

in the neighborhood. He visited Hillah, and con-
tributed further to its exact localization. His
knowledge of the languages and the archaeology
both of the past and the present of the Orient was
not equal to that of Niebuhr, and he therefore
made curious mistakes concerning the names which
the Arabs had given to certain portions of the
mounds, but withal he marks a fresh step of prog-
ress. The mound which had now long been known
to travelers as the mound of Babel he now desig-
nates under the name of Makloube. For the first
time he directs attention to a second mound close
by the first, which he considers the site of Baby-
lon; it is the mound called El-Kasr by the
Arabs.

Of the mound at Hillah he says: "Here are
found those large and thick bricks, imprinted with
unknown characters, specimens of which I have
presented to Abbe Bartholomy.' ... I was in-
formed by the master mason employed to dig for
bricks that the places from which he procured
them were large, thick walls, and sometimes
chambers. He has frequently found earthen ves-
sels, engraved marbles, and, about eight years ago,
a statue as large as life, which he threw amongst
the rubbish. On one wall of a chamber he
found the figures of a cow and of the sun and
moon formed of varnished bricks. Some idols of
clay are found representing human figures. I

' Afterward published in beautiful copies by Millin, Monuments Antiqiies
inedits. Paris, 1802, vol. ii, pp. 263, ff.

EXPLORATIONS, 1734-1820. 107

found one brick on wliich was a lion, and on
others a half moon in relief. The bricks are ce-
mented with bitumen, except in one place, which
is well preserved, where they are united by a very
thin stratum of white cement, which appears to be
made of lime and sand."

"Most of the bricks found at Makloube have
writing on them ; but it does not appear that it
was meant to be read, for it is as common on
bricks buried in the walls as on those on the out-
side. . . .

" The master mason led me along a valley which
he dug out a long while ago to get at the bricks
of a wall, that, from the marks he showed me, I
guess to have been sixty feet thick. It ran per-
pendicularly to the bed of the river, and was
probably the wall of the city. I found in it a
subterranean canal, which, instead of being arched
over, is covered with pieces of sandstone six or
seven feet long by three feet wide. These ruins
extend several leagues to the north of Hella, and
incontestably mark the situation of ancient Baby-
lon. . . .

"Besides the bricks with inscriptions, which I
have mentioned, there are solid cylinders, three
inches in diameter, of a white substance, covered
with very small writing, resembling the inscrip-
tions of Persepolis mentioned by Chardin. Four
years ago I saw one ; but I was not eager to pro-
cure it, as I was assured that they were very com-
mon. I mentioned them to the master mason, who

108 HISTORY OF BABYLONIA AND ASSYRIA.

told me that lie sometimes found such, but left
them among the rubbish as useless. Black stones
which have inscriptions engraved on them are also
met with." '

In these descriptions and narratives of the learned
and inquiring abbe are found the first notices of ex-
cavations and the first accounts of the finding of in-
scriptions beyond the mere building bricks stamped
with names and titles of kings. These had been
seen often before and several had been taken to
Europe. The period of description of mounds has
now come to an end and the period of excavation
has fully come. These little inscriptions which
at first awakened so slight an interest in Abbe
Beauchamp would soon be eagerly sought with
pick and shovel. Then would come the effort to
read them, and later the full knowledge of the
past history of the great valley. One observation
of the abbe is of great importance in this story.
The cylinders, he says, were "covered with veiy
small writing, resembling the inscriptions of Persep-
olis mentioned by Chardin." That showed, as by
prophetic instinct, the veiy line which would be
pursued for the decipherment of the literature of
Babylon.

As definite knowledge of the site of Nineveh, as

1 Abbe Beauchamp made at least two visits to Hillah. The description
of the first is found in Journal des Savants, Mai, 1785, pp. 852, ff. The
second is publislied in Journal des Savants, December, 1790, pp. 2403, ff.
The extracts given above are from the latter, pp. 2418, ff. This second
paper is translated into English in the £uropea7i Magazine, May, 1792,
pp. 338, ff ; for extracts see pp. 340, ff.

EXPLORATIONS, 1734-1820. 109

Abbe Beauchamp had achieved of the site of Baby-
lon, was now soon secured by a French physician,
Guillaume A. Olivier, who was sent into the East
for the purpose chiefly of scientific study. He had
no such knowledge of the ancient world as the
abbe, and therefore failed to make any independ-
ent contribution to the progress of knowledge re-
specting Nineveh. His references to the city are
scanty enough, and he does not appear to have seen
any inscriptions.' At this time the knowledge of
ancient Babylon very far exceeded the knowledge
of Nineveh. It is, however, proper to say that
both sites had been found, and excavations on a
very small scale had been begun at Babylon. These
excavations, it is true, were primarily made to ob-
tain building material which was to be used in the
construction of dwellings for the people about the
neighboring country. Incidentally, however, in-
scriptions were found, and these were recognized
as being pieces of writing from the ancient people
of Babylon. The words of Beauchamp produced an
uncommon impression in Europe, and were the sub-
ject of much discussion. In England especially were
men aroused by them to a sense of eager thirst for
a sight of these inscriptions — the books of the Baby-
lonians — and for an effort to read them. So soon
as this desire should crystallize it was certain to re-
sult in an attempt to secure some of them for an
English museum. The first move in this direction

' Voyage dans C Empire 0.,'ioiuan, i' Egypt e et la Perse, par G. A. Olivier.
Paris, an. 12, iv, pp. 283, 284 [published 18<tl-7J.

no HISTORY OF BABYLONIA AND ASSYRIA.

was made by the East India Company of London,
which forwarded, on October 18, 1797, a letter to
the governor of Bombay instructing him to give or-
ders to the company's resident at Bussorah to have
search made for some of these inscribed bricks. He
was then to have them carefully packed and sent
as soon as possible to London. Early in 1801 the
first case arrived at the East India House in Lon-
don. These inscriptions were the first that had
reached London. It was true, indeed, that no man
could read them. They stood, however, as silent
monuments of the past, and their very position in
London called upon men to attempt their decipher-
ment. Their resemblance to the inscriptions of
Persepolis had also been pointed out, and of that
there was now no doubt. At this time the work
was in progress which resulted in the reading of
ancient Persian. Here were now inscriptions in
ancient Babylonian, and they must also be read.
There were at last enthusiasm and real interest
in Babylon. This general interest was focused by
a remarkable book by Joseph Hager,' which was
the direct result of h'ls inspection of the Babylo-
nian inscriptions that were now in the East India
House. Hager's small book was epoch-making
both in its suggestions and in its conclusions. In
a few pages he reviewed the history of the obser-

' A Dissertation on the Newly Discovered Babylonian Inscriptions, hj
Joseph Hager, D.D. London, 1801. At the end this beautifully printed
little volume contains five plates reproducing the Babylonian inscriptions
which had been found on the East India House antiquities. The reproduc-
tions have probably never been surpassed for beauty or accuracy.

EXPLORATIONS, 1734-1820. Ill

vations made at Babylon, and then connected the
inscribed stones there found ^vith the Pei-sepolitan
inscriptions. His statements on these points well
deserve repetition :

" It is well known that for more than a century
past, about which time the Persepolitan inscrip-
tions were first discovered by European travellers,
the opinions have been much divided respecting
these characters. Some have believed them to be
talisrtians, and others the characters of the Chie-
hreSj or antient inhabitants of Persia / others held
them for mere hieroglyphics, and others for alpha-
hetic characters, like ours. Kaempfer supposed
them to express whole ideas, like the Chinese
charactei*s, but that they had been appropriated
solely for the palace of Istalchar. . . .

" By the Babylonian bricks here exhibited, the
whole difficulty in regard to their origin is re-
moved ; as it is evident that Babylon, in point of
cultivation, was much earlier than Persepolis, and
that the Chaldeans were a celebrated people, when
the name of the Pemans was scarcely knowTi." '

It must be remembered that this little book of
Hager was written before the Persepolis inscrip-
tions had been deciphered at all, and this makes
all the more remarkable the generalizations of this
gifted man, who seemed to foresee the very conclu-
sions to which men would come when both the
insciiptions of Persepolis and these new texts were
finally deciphered. Even beyond these deductions

' Ibid., pp. xvii, xviii.

112 HISTORY OF BABYLONIA AND ASSYRIA.

was Hager led to go, when he summed up his
conclusions at the end of his volume,^ for there he
claimed that even the Assyrians must have used
the same method of writing — and this before he
had even so much as seen an Assyrian inscription
of any kind.

Hager's little book had an influence out of all
proportion to its size. The great tomes of many
travelers had utterly failed to excite more than a
passing interest. His book was soon translated
into German and made a distinct impression upon
Grotefend, then deeply absorbed in his efforts to
decipher the records of the Achsemenian kings.
In its English form it became known in France,
there to inspire the archaeologist, A. L. Millin, to
publish in facsimile' a small inscribed stone
brought several years before from the neighbor-
hood of Baghdad to Paris by the botanist Michaux.
The article of Millin called this little inscription
a " Persepolitan monument," though his own state-
ments show that it came not from Persepolis, but
from Babylonia. His copy of this beautiful little
inscription was another added to the increasing
list of objects which awakened in men the belief
that beneath the mounds at and about Hillah must

' That these characters were the Chaldaic characters with which, ac-
cording to AthenjEus, the epitaphium of Sardanapalus at Nineveh was
engraved ; the Assyriac characters mentioned by Herodotus, Diodorus,
PoLYiENCs, and other ancient authors. — Ibid., p. 61,

' Monuments Antiques inedits on nouvellement expliques, par A. L. Millin.
Paris, 1802, tome i, pp. 58, sqq. Description dhm monument persepolitain,
qui appartient an Museum de la Bibliotheque Natioiiale, with two beautiful
plates.

EXPLORATIONS, 1734-1820. 113

lie buried great stores of monuments of the past of
Babylonia.

While these publications were appearing, and
while men were still curiously examining the
East India House inscriptions, a man was prepar-
ing for a work which would demonstrate the truth
of these hopes and astonish the world with un-
suspected discoveries.

Claudius James Kich, who had been born at
Dijon, France, in 1787, but spent his childhood at
Bristol, England, and there secured his earliest
education, went early in life to Bombay in the
service of the East India Company. Gifted ex-
traordinarily with a love for languages and with
a readiness in their acquiring, he there made him-
self acquainted w^ith Latin and Greek, and espe-
cially with Hebrew, Aramaean, Persian, Arabic,
and even somewhat with Chinese. Later, by for-
tunate accidents, he had found opportunity to con-
tinue his oriental studies at Constantinople and
at Smyrna, and then in Egypt ; while a sojourn in
Italy put the language of that people at his service.
Before he was twenty-four years of age he had
been appointed the resident of the East India
Company at Baghdad. Though he had not prob-
ably been consciously preparing for this particular
post, all that he had learned and much that he
had experienced now became of the greatest
service to him. In the beginning of his residence
at Baghdad he appears to have been most inter-
ested by the city itself and its immediately sur-

114 HISTORY OF BABYLONIA AND ASSYRIA.

rounding country, and began the collection of
materials for a history of its Pashalic. In 1811,
however, he was in some way led to visit the ruins
of ancient Babylon, and at once there was awak-
ened in him a new passion. On December 10,
1811, he saw for the first time the great mounds,
to which he was now to devote so much energy
and enthusiasm. His first impressions were dis-
tinctly disappointing. When he could secure
the first opportunity to write them down he
said:

"From the accounts of modern travelers I had
expected to have found on the site of Babylon
more, and less, than I actually did. Less, because
I could have formed no conception of the pro-
digious extent of the whole ruins, or of the size,
solidity, and perfect state of some of the particular
parts of them; and more, because I thought that
I should have distinguished some traces, however
imperfect, of many of the principal structures of
Babylon. I imagined, I should have said : ' Here
were the walls, and such must have been the ex-
tent of the area. There stood the palace, and this
most assuredly was the tower of Belus.' I was
completely deceived; instead of a few insulated
mounds, I found the whole face of the country
covered with the vestiges of building; in some
places consisting of brick walls surprisingly fresh,
in others merely of a vast succession of mounds of
rubbish of such indeterminate figures, variety, and
extent as to involve the pereon who should have

EXPLORATIONS, 1734-1820. 115

formed any theory in inextricable confusion and
contradiction." '

This first visit of Rich to Babylon was brief, for
he was back again in Baghdad on December 21.
In that shoii; time, however, he had planned all
the mounds, and had correctly located them by
astronomical observations. He also tested the
mounds by digging into them in several places, of
which the following words may serve as a suffi-
cient description :

" I went with ten men with pickaxes and shovels
to make experiments on the Mujelibe; they dug
into the heaps on the top, and found layers of
burnt bricks, with inscriptions laid in mortar. A
kind of parapet of unbui'nt bricks appears to have
surrounded the whole. On the western face the
mud bricks were not only laid on reeds, but mixed
up with them. In the northern face, where a part
is also still standing, the bricks are not mixed up
with reeds, but only laid on layers of them ; here
I found some beams of the date tree, specimens of
which I brought away. The part of the mud
wall standing on the west front is not thick ; that
on the northern side is more so, but none of them
are of any considerable thickness. On the north
front the height of the whole pile to the top of the
parapet is 132 feet. The southeast angle is higher." *

' Fundgraben des Orients, bearbeitet dureh eine Gesellschaft von Liebka-
bern. Wien, 1813, p. 129. The narrative of Rich extends pp. 129-162,
and also pp. 19*7-200. The pages 129-162 are reprinted in the volume
edited by his widow, Narrative of a Journey to the Site of Babylon in
1861, now frst published, etc. London, 1839. -Ibid., p. 20.

116 HISTORY OF BABYLONIA AND ASSYRIA.

From these walls lie took specimens of the in-
scribed building bricks, and likewise, when pos-
sible, purchased from the inhabitants various
smaller inscriptions, which were later to form a
part of the treasures of the British Museum. Rich's
work at that time seemed small in amount, but it
was the first serious survey of all the mounds, and
has formed from that day to this the basis for
every subsequent examination of them. So care-
fully had his work been done that he required,
upon later acquaintance, to change his conclusions
but slightly. His first account was, strangely
enough, published in Vienna, but it was eagerly
read and discussed in London. Free as it had
been from theorizing, it, nevertheless, called forth a
review and criticism from Major Rennell, who
argued that Rich had not properly considered the
allusions of classical historians and geographers,
and had therefore improperly identified some
ruins. Rennell's paper determined Rich to visit
the ruins again, to verify or to correct his first
statements. In his second visit he did find some
things to correct, but in the main confirmed and
established his former conclusions. The results of
this visit were written out at Baghdad in the
month of July, 1817, and, like the first publication
of Rich, carried forward very distinctly the in-
vestigation of the ancient city.

Rich had already achieved enough to gain fame,
but he was to do still more for oriental study, not,
indeed, at Babylon, but at the other chief center.

EXPLORATIONS, 1734-1820. 117

the city of Nineveli. In April, 1820, he set out
from Baghdad to escape its heat by a journey in
Kurdistan, and this was productive of valuable
results in the geography of a land then but little
visited by Europeans. In this journey Mr. Rich
reached Mosul on October 31, 1820, and there
spent four months. The experience which had
been gained in his work at Babylon was now
splendidly used. He visited and sketched with
plans every one of the great mounds which
might be considered as forming a part of the
ancient city of Nineveh. The first of these
mounds to be explored was that known among
the natives as Neby Yunus, because it was
supposed to contain the tomb of the prophet
Jonah. Here he learned that even a cursory ex-
amination by means of the spade would uncover
inscriptions, and some that had been found by the
natives were shown to him. They were written
in cuneiform characters, which Rich of course
could not read, but some were secured for the
British Museum, where their influence would soon
be felt. From Neby Yunus Rich transferred his
investigations to Kuyunjik, where he surveyed
the mound, drafted a plan of it, and conversed
with the natives, learning from them little more
than that most of the inscriptions were found at
Neby Yunus.

After the investigations at these two mounds
Rich went down the river and studied the
mound of Nimroud, where, as the natives said,

118 HISTORY OF BABYLONIA AND ASSYRIA.

Nimrod is buried. In every Arab village whicli
he visited Kich found inscriptions in tlie cunei-
form character. Some which were small enough
to be easily transported he purchased for his
collection. Many were, however, monumental
in character, being cut into stones, which the
Arabs had used in the erection of their miserable
hovels. Rich appeal's to have found no opposition
among the natives to his study of the mounds, but
he did find various suspicions of himself and of
his motives among the more ignorant of them.
In one of his tours about Mosul the remark was
overheard that he was probably seeking a suitable
place to plant guns and take the city. The cupid-
ity and fear which rendered miserable the lives
of later explorers did not trouble him, partly be-
cause he knew by long association the temper of
the natives, and so did not unnecessarily wound
their sensibilities, and partly because he did not
dig up the ground, as was necessary in the work
of his successors.

The inscriptions which Rich had secured soon
came to London, and there formed the nucleus of
the great Assyrian and Babylonian collections of
the British Museum. They showed at the very
first glance that the daring guess of Hager was
correct. They were indeed written in the same
kind of characters as those which had been sent
home to London from the ruins of Babylon. That
fact alone was of so great moment as to make dis-
tinguished all the work of Rich at Nineveh. He

EXPLORATIONS, 1734-1820. 119

had laid the basis for all future work in that
city, as he had previously done in Babylon. His
plans and drawings must be used by whoever
should next take up the work.

To all this work at Babylon and at Nineveh
Rich was to add useful labor at Persepolis, which
he visited in August, 1821. His approach to the
city was graphically described in these words :

"It was dark when we left the bridge of the
Araxes. My expectation was greatly excited.
Chardin, when I was a mere child, had inspired
me with a great desire to see these ruins, and the
desires excited in us in childhood are too vivid
ever to be effaced. Their gratification has a relish
which motives suggested by reason and judgment
are unable afterward to equal. My late antiqua-
rian researches had, however, also added their
interest to my other inducements; and as I rode
over the plain by the beautiful starlight, reflec-
tions innumerable on the great events that had
happened there crowded on my memory. I was
in the moment of enjoying what I had long waited
for ; and what a delightful moment that is ! At
last the pointed summit began to detach itself
from the line of the mountains to which we were
advancing. Mr. Tod pointed it out : 'Under that
lie the ruins.' At that moment the moon rose
with uncommon beauty behind it. Ages seemed
at once to present themselves to my fancy." '

' Narrative of a Residence in Koordistan and on the Site of Ancient
Nineveh, with Journal of a voyage down the Tigris to Baghdad, and an

120 HISTORY OF BABYLONIA AND ASSYRIA.

Here at Persepolis he made more exact copies
of the inscriptions to which already so much dis-
cussion had been given in Europe, and his copies
proved to be of great value to those who were
to engage in the criticism and the perfecting
of the work of Grotefend. On the way back
to Baghdad from this visit to Persepolis Rich
died of cholera, at Shiraz, while bravely serv-
ing others who were suffering from the dis-
ease. The man who had wrought so wonderfully
for the study of the ancient world now died a
hero in the humblest service for the poorest of
humanity.

The impulse which Claudius James Rich gave
to Babylonian and Assyrian study has never yet
lost its effect. Others had done much, indeed,
in awakening interest, and Rich's own testimony,
quoted above, shows that Chardin had done this
for him ; still others had made observations of
lasting value, while a very few had accurately deter-
mined ancient sites, and so had made possible his
work. All these things, and more. Rich had ac-
complished. None who preceded him had ex-
celled him in inspirational power, for even his
Journal, intended only as the basis of future care-
ful writing, possessed it, and none had equaled
him in the collecting of definite information con-
cerning the ruins both of Nineveh and of Babylon.

account of a visit to Shiraz and Persepolis, by the late Claudius James
Rich, Esq. Edited by his widow. Two volumes. London, 1836, vol. ii,
p. 218.

EXPLORATIONS, 1734-1820. 121

His quickening and informing influence worked
wonders in liis immediate successors.

While Rich was still living in Baghdad, sur-
rounded by a great retinue of servants and sol-
diers, in the almost regal state which was then
deemed necessary in order to overawe the impress-
ible natives, he received a visit from a fellow-
countrymen, Sir Robert Ker Porter. This was
October 14, 1818, and Rich had, as we have seen,
made his investigations at Babylon, and published
them in Europe. It was natural that he should
discuss them with this newcomer. Porter had
already visited Persepolis, and by the copying of
insci'iptions had added his name to the long
and worthy line of those who had made the
work of Grotefend possible. Of all those who
had yet been in Babylonia none were endowed
in the same manner as this new visitor. Others
had possessed greater experience in travel,
though even in this his experience was not
small. Others had had better scientific equip-
ment in knowledge of surveying and in acquaint-
ance with oriental languages. In these matters
Porter was far behind Rich and the former wan-
derers. But Porter was an artist, an artist who
had made his name famous in England by many a
canvas depicting the glory of England in war, and
the history of her people in Church and State. To
this he added the unique distinction of having
been court painter at St. Petersburg. A man of
talent, if not even a man of genius, a man of

122 HISTORY OF BABYLONIA AND ASSYRIA.

great social following in Great Britain and in
Russia, where lie had entered the highest circles
and even married a Russian princess — such
was Sir Robert Ker Porter. His skill as a painter
qualified him admirably to sketch the ruins of
Babylon, and his trained eye was ready to ob-
serve the lay of land and the external con-
ditions of the modern surroundings of ancient
sites. He had had experience in the copying
of texts at Persepolis, and could now copy
at Babylon with additional sureness. He had a
gift for striking description in words, and his
brush added vividness to his pen. Rich gave him
willing assistance, and Rich's admii'ably trained
secretary, Bellino, accompanied him to the ruins at
Hillah. Though Porter was lacking in many
things, his observations were useful and served
well in directing later workers bent on definite
work. Upon his return the account of his travels
was published in sumptuous style,' beautifully
illustrated by his own brush. The big book was
received with acclaim in England, and apparently
also on the continent. A man with greater scien-
tific equipment but with less social following
might have written a work more valuable scientif-
ically, which would, nevertheless, have completely
failed in influence on the age. Porter's work,
however, offered the needed supplement to the

' Travels in Georgia, Persia, Armenia, Ancient Babylonia, etc., etc., during
the years 1817, 8, 9, and 20, by Sir Robert Ker Porter. In two volumes.
London, 1821, 1822.

EXPLORATIONS, 1734-1820. 123

work of Rich. Kich liad written very little in-
deed, and that was concerned with details, and at
times was very dry indeed. It was, besides this,
not published in a complete form until after the
author's death. Porter saw his own book published,
and heard the popular plaudits. Here was at last a
description of Babylon as it now was, duly inter-
mingled with quotations from previous observers,
and fortified by the word of Mr. Rich and Mr.
Bellino. Here were pictures of mounds and ruined
walls and inscribed bricks, and here was the ex-
pressed opinion that they had not yet been fully
explored. What better thing could have been
done for the recovery of Babylon at this time
than the publication of just such a book as this
of Sir Robert Ker Porter! It was impossible
that its publication should not be followed by a
rekindling of zeal in the pursuit of oriental learn-
ing; or that its glowing and pictured pages
should fail to excite the wonder of even the ordi-
nary reader, who may to-morrow become an ex-
plorer himself or a patron of such pursuits in
others. Just as the book of Chardin had roused
the boyish enthusiasm of Rich and sent him in his
early manhood to the scenes which it described,
so would this new book exert a similar influence
upon others. Though its scientific contributions
are not to be named with those of Rich, its pop-
ular influence was great, and it is to be ranked
with the greatest of all the influences which con-
tributed to the recovery of Nineveh and Babylon.

124 HISTORY OF BABYLONIA AND ASSYRIA.

With tlie work of Sir Robert Ker Porter
another period of exploration in Babylonia and
in Assyria closes. The progress had been indeed
very slow. The whole story is a narrative of
description, rising at times to measurement and
survey, and very rarely to the summit of actually
recovering inscribed monuments. But all this was
absolutely indispensable work. It was foundation
work, preparatory and perhaps little more. But
it represented a clear step forward beyond that of
the days of the credulous seeker for marvels. It
was, further, an era of popularization, and before
governments or peoples, in monarchies or democra-
cies, would join heartily in costly excavations, the
people must get some promise of interesting re-
sult, some zeal for the learning of the past history
of humanity, and some taste for the color of the
Orient. In the greatest of the democracies, also, it
was well that the people should come to believe
that a study of the mounds of Babylon and Nin-
eveh might give results of value to the study of
their Bible, for the English people were then will-
ing to give much if there were promise of any such
result. Of that issue assurance was given in many
a word from Shirley to Rich, and that the people
had heard it was soon clearly shown. In France
there was probably less diffusion of popular biblical
knowledge ; yet from France was to come the first
real step which should prove that England's hesi-
tation had been unwise. In France that which
failed in the popular interest and enthusiasm was

EXPLORATIONS, 1734-1820. 125

supplied by the love of learning in the few and
by the great liberality of the government, in a
land where governments have always done mar-
vels for the pm'suit of learning. But the story of
this great work belongs to the new era, that now
follows the period closed by two Englishmen
whose names belong high up on the record — Clau-
dius James Rich and Sir Robert Ker Porter.

126 HISTORY OF BABYLONIA AND ASSYRIA.

CHAPTER V.

EXCAVATIONS IN" ASSYRIA AND BABYLOTilA,

1843-1854.

The period of exploration in Babylonia was
succeeded by the era of excavation, but the suc-
cession was not so rapid as might have been ex-
pected. The whole history of the progress was
slow, and there was now a pause before the really
culminating work was begun. But this pause was
full of preparation.

In 1823 Julius Mohl came from Tubingen, where
he had taken in the previous year the doctor's
degree, to Paris, to become the pupil of the
greatest Arabist of the day, Silvestre de Sacy,
whose name has already appeared in the story of
decipherment. In 1840 Mohl became one of the
secretaries of the Societe Asiatique, and thus be-
came permanently attached to the French capital.
Though his masters had taught him the Arabic
classics rather than the learning of the older
Orient, he was, nevertheless, full of a desire to
know of its history, language, and literature. At
about the time of the pause in the progress of
Babylonian exploration Mohl visited London, and
there saw the inscribed Babylonian bricks which
the East India Company had brought together.
He was filled with an overmastering belief that

EXCAVATIONS, 1843-1854. 127

these little bricks were the promise of an immense
literature which lay buried, awaiting the exca-
vator's spade. He returned to Paris to read of
mounds in Babylonia and Assyria, and to reflect
upon the untold treasures which must come to
light if j)rop6i'ly sought. There was no oppor-
tunity found for Mohl himself to go to Assyria or
Babylonia to seek these long-lost monuments, but
there soon came a time when he could arouse an-
other to this call.

In 1842 the French government created at Mosul
a vice consulate. French commerce with the dis-
trict did not warrant or demand this, and the new
departure was really made in the interest of archaeo-
logical study — to establish at this happily chosen
place a French archaeological mission. The man
selected to fill the new post was admirably suited
to it, Paul Emil Botta was now but thirty-seven
years of age, with the full ardor of youth and the
steadying influence of experience of the world. He
had had service as the French consul at Alexandria,
and must there have learned of the methods of
archaeological study in w^hich the French had al-
ready met with distinguished success. Before Botta
departed from Paris for his new post Mohl had
impressed strongly upon his mind that a great
opportunity was now his to dig^ and not merely
to describe, explore, and plot the mounds oppo-
site Mosul. The preliminary work of plotting
and examining these mounds had been well done,
and no more of it was needed. Rich had made it

128 HISTORY OF BABYLONIA AND ASSYRIA.

entirely unnecessary for any follower of his to
repeat more of that work. It was now Botta's
duty to dig beneath the surface of the oft-de-
scribed mounds, and determine finally whether
they covered any remains of the ancient city of
Nineveh. Botta was persuaded, and went out to
Mosul to occupy his consulate on May 25, 1842.
That was an historic day in the annals of Assyrian
study.

The French diplomat and archaeologist, whose
face bore the fine lines of the scholar rather than
the marks of a man of the world, found himself in
a place little suited to one who had lived in Paris,
or even in the comparative comfort of Alexandria.
Mosul was a mean little city, built more of mud
than of stone, lying upon the right or western
bank of the Tigris. It had once possessed an ex-
tensive commerce with the East, of which it still
retained the remnants. Botta seems to have cared
little for the town or its fanatical inhabitants, and
were it not for the comments of Layard, we should
know little of what it was at this time. Botta's
own letters give it scarcely more than a passing
reference. When he stood by the banks of the
river Tigris he could see the river Choser dis-
charging its sluggish and muddy waters into the
great river. The eye could follow the little river
back over a plain which melted away into the
mountains of Kurdistan upon the east and north-
east. Upon this plain there were a few squalid
villages, the homes of a peasantry more fearful of

EXCAVATIONS, 1843-1854. 129

the taxgatherer than of death. Over these the
pasha of Mosul exercised a sway, patriarchal only
in its severe authority. The land had once sup-
ported a vast population ; of that the history left
by Greeks, Romans, and Hebrews made no doubt
possible. Besides these wretched villages the
most noticeable objects were several vast mounds.
They had been often described before, and Botta
knew just what they were supj^osed to be. As
he swept his eyes over them, the first that was
noticeable was south of the Choser, on his right
hand as he looked across the river. It might
seem to the untrained eye at first glance merely a
hill, a bit of nature's own handiwork, but the top
was too flat, the sides unnaturally regular and
steep. Upon its top rose a mosque, and grouped
round this were several poor houses forming a
little village. The mound was called Neby Yunus
— that is. Prophet Jonah — and to his honor and
memory the mosque was dedicated. Beneath, in
the mound, lay the prophet's bones, according to
the tradition of the natives. As he looked farther
north on the opposite side of the Choser lay a
larger mound called Kuyunjik, where also there
were some human habitations. This mound was
larger than the other, and beyond them was a
raised line which seemed to unite these two
mounds, and might mark the remains of an ancient
line of wall which inclosed them both. Farther
back from the Tigris, upon the rising ground
along the upper Choser and distant about fourteen

130 HISTORY OP BABYLONIA AND ASSYRIA.

miles north-northeast from Mosul, was another
mound with a village called Khorsabad. Other
lesser mounds were either in sight or were known
from the descriptions of travelers or from native
residents. Botta looked the field over and doubted
where to begin. His first discouraging experience
resulted from a careful survey of the town of
Mosul itsell He had been led to believe that as
the towns about the ruins of Babylon had been
built of brick dug from the remains of the ancient
city, so he would find in Mosul huts erected of
bricks taken from the ancient city. His plan,
therefore, was to go over Mosul and seek for signs
of ancient-looking bricks, and especially for any
that were inscribed with cuneiform characters.
He would then ascertain from what mound these
had come. To his great sui'prise and discomfiture
he found no such memorials of the past, and was
therefore left without this hint as to the proper
place to begin excavations. The mounds were so
large as to discourage aimless seeking, and he began
a process of questioning the natives concerning
any finds that might be known. Gradually some
pieces of inscribed stone were brought forth from
hiding places, and these he bought from their own-
ers. This surprising news that a man had come
to Mosul who would buy old stones became noised
about the whole country, and he had numerous
offers of bits of stone and clay. But even vdth
all this advertising of his wishes the number of
antiquities offered was much less than that which

EXCAVATIONS, 1843-1854. 131

the passing traveler reported at Baghdad or at
Hillah. Furthermore, it was difficult to ascertain
where the natives had secured what was offered
him, for they naturally desired to work these mines
for their own gain and not pennit the Frank to
learn of their exact whereabouts. Botta's own
mind swerved gradually round to the notion that
the most promising mound was Neby Yunus, and
he carefully considered the possibility of digging
there. From this purpose he was finally dis-
suaded by the awkward fact that a village occu-
pied the better part of the top of the mound,
which would make digging almost impossible with-
out the utter collapse and ruin of the miserable
hovels. Besides this there were Mohammedan
graves in the mound, and, above all, was not Jonah
himself buried beneath its surface ? To disturb a
spot thus sacred would mean a revolution among
the natives which might set the whole region
ablaze with fanaticism. This plan was therefore
abandoned and the mound by Kuyunjik was
selected for the fii-st efforts. At the western edge
of this mound near the southern extremity a few
large bricks could be seen which were joined with
bitumen. These seemed to offer a hope that they
belonged to some ancient building. Here, there-
fore, Botta began to dig in December, 1842. His
funds were very limited and he could employ but a
few workmen, whose slow movements promised
little results. The workmen, however, discovered
some fi'agments of bas-reliefs and broken bits of

132 HISTORY OF BABYLONIA AND ASSYRIA.

clay inscriptions. For three months the work
went on and nothing large or valuable or beautiful
came out of the little ditches or wells. AVhat was
found was interesting indeed, for it offered proof
positive that this mound really did cover some
ancient building or buildings. It was, however,
discouraging to find only broken pieces, and not
complete monuments.

While this work was in progress the inhabitants
gathered round the ditches and watched curiously
the slow and careful work. They did not know
what it all meant, but it was perfectly clear that
this man was seeking inscriptions, whatever they
might be. Every little fragment found which
contained any of these strange little wedge-shaped
marks was carefully numbered and laid aside.
One of the bystanders whose home was at Khor-
sabad observed this proceeding, and within the
first month of the excavations brought down from
Khorsabad two large bricks with inscriptions,
which he offered to sell to Botta. This gave him
the hint that perhaps Khorsabad might be a more
profitable mound for excavations. He was, how-
ever, still hopeful of success at Kuyunjik, and
continued to work on. At last, on March 20,
1843, his faith in this mound gave out, and he
determined to send a few men to Khorsabad to try
the mound there. It was a fortunate resolve. In
three days word was brought to him at Mosul that
antiquities and inscriptions had already been found.
He was, however, skeptical, fearing lest the records

EXCAVATIONS, 1843-1854. 133

might be some late Arabic graffiti, and was there-
fore unwilling; to o^o himself lest those which had
been found should j^rove valuless. He sent a serv-
ant with instructions to copy a few of the inscrip-
tions and then report. The reply showed beyond
a doubt that the antiquities were really Assyrian.
Thereupon Botta went to the scene, to behold a
sight that thi-illed him.

His workmen had lighted upon a very well-pre-
served ancient wall, not of a city, but of a building.
This they had followed round and so uncovered
a large room, in which were lying fragments of
sculptures, calcined by fire, together with a num-
ber of well-preserved inscriptions. The full mean-
inoj of this new room was not ascertained until lonsr
after, but some appreciation of it was Botta's own,
as he looked down into the rude excavation. He
believed at once that this was but one room, per-
haps of a great palace, and proved the supposition
at once by causing wells to be driven near by in
several places, out of which came other bas-reliefs,
almost perfectly preserved. In these his eyes
looked upon a sight which no man had seen since
the great royal city fell before its enemies more
than two thousand four hundred years before.
Only one day could Botta remain at Khorsabad,
and then had to return to Mosul for other duties.
Thence he ^vrote on April 5, 1843, ' a quiet, digni-

• Lettres de M. Botta siir les Decmivertes d Kliorsabad, publiees par M.
J .Mohl. Paris, 1845. M. Botta's Letters on the Discoveries at Nineveh,
translated from the French by C. T. London, 1850.

134 HISTORY OF BABYLONIA AND ASSYRIA.

iied letter to tlie author of his first enthusiasm, M.
Mohl. There is scarcely a word of enthusiasm in
the letter, but it roused Mohl to contribute of his
own small purse and also sent him to the Academy
of Inscriptions with Botta's letter and the ac-
companying diagrams. Meanwhile the excava-
tions went slowly on, though with some opposition
on the part of the pasha. A month later a second
and more important letter moved the French gov-
ernment to its old line of generous assistance to
archaeological research, and three thousand francs
were placed at Botta's disposal for further re-
searches.

Thus supported by France, and cheered on by
the ever-active Mohl, Botta's course seemed clear
and his success certain. He was, however, sorely
pressed by great difficulties. The climate was
dangerous, and he almost fell a victim. The
natives were suspicious beyond measure, and ham-
pered his work at every turn. Some supposed that
he was digging for buried treasure, and that these
inscriptions which he copied were talismanic
guardians from which he would learn its exact
location. Yet others supposed that he was search-
ing for old title deeds by which to prove that all
this land had belonged to Europeans, who thus
might claim its restoration. These and similar
stories came to the ears of Mohammed Pasha, then
governing the pashalic of Mosul, and he entered
gradually upon a policy of oppression. He first
set guards over Botta's workmen, whose business it

EXCAVATIONS, 1843-3854. 135

was to seize any piece of metal that might be
found and dispatch it to him, that it might be
carefully examined to determine whether it was
gold. This caused so little inconvenience to Botta
that it was scarcely worth the trouble, and he soon
felt compelled to resort to more strenuous meas-
ures. He had given peiTnission to Botta to erect
for himself a small hut where he might find a resting
place when he came up on visits from Mosul. The
wily pasha now pretended that this was in reality
a fortress and that the trenches were its defenses.
It was evidently Botta's intention to overawe the
country by force of arms and detach it from the
sultan's dominions. Upon these representations
the Sublime Porte ordered that all the excava-
tions should at once cease. Botta was equal to
the painful emergency. On October 15, 1843, he
dispatched a courier to the French ambassador at
Constantinople, begging him to make such repre-
sentation to the Porte as might secure permission
for the continuance of the excavations.

While these petitions were pending amid the
usual delays at Constantinople the wily pasha was
pretending to Botta that all his difficulties were
due to the people of Khorsabad, and not to his
own machinations. "I told him one day," says
Botta, "that the first rains of the season had
caused a portion of the house erected at Khorsabad
to fall down. ' Can you imagine,' said he, laugh-
ing in the most natural manner, and turning to the
numerous officers by whom he was surrounded.

136 HISTORY OF BABYLONIA AND ASSYRIA.

' anything like the impudence of the inhabitants of
Khorsabad ? They pretend that the French consul
has constructed a redoubtable fortress, and a little
rain is sufficient to destroy it. I can assure you,
sir, that, were I not afraid of hurting your feelings,
I would have them all bastinadoed till they were
dead ; they would richly deserve it, for having dared
to accuse you.' It was in this manner that he
spoke, while he himself was the author of the lie,
and his menaces alone were the obstacles which
23revented the inhabitants from exposing it." '

At Constantinople difficulties innumerable and
delays uncounted were found, and not until May 4,
1844, did the firmans allowing the work to pro-
ceed reach Botta at Mosul. They were brought
from Constantinople by M. E. Flandin, who had
been sent from Paris to copy and sketch all the
antiquities which were too bulky or heavy to be
removed. It was already decided in Paris that
everything else should be carried thither.

When Botta attempted to begin excavations
again he found that it would be necessary to raze
the little village and thus be free to dig over the
whole mound. This was accomplished by paying
the inhabitants to remove to the level ground at
the foot of the mound and then entering into an
agreement to restore the mound's surface as it was
for their rebuilding. The work now went on apace.
Botta copied the inscriptions, while Flandin
planned all the rooms and buildings that were

' Quoted in Bonomi, Nineveh and Its Palaces. London, 1852, p. 15.

EXCAVATIONS, 1843-1854. 137

found, and three hundred native laborers worked
lustily with pick and shovel to lay bare this por-
tion of the ruined city. Scores of inscriptions,
chiefly upon stone and monumental in character,
were now found. Great winged bulls that once
had guarded palace doors came to light. Bas-re-
liefs of much beauty portraying scenes of peace
and war arose out of dust and dirt. The success
of the work passed all the hopes of Botta and all
the enthusiastic predictions of Mohl, and almost
exceeded the belief of the learned world in Paris.
In October, 1844, Botta stopped the work and
soon began to arrange for the transportation of
the antiquities to Paris. The difficulties were
great and the delays annoying, but at last, in De-
cember, 1846, the entire mass of material was suc-
cessfully landed at Havre, thence to be transported
to Paris and deposited in the Louvre.

To crown the work the French government
published all the drawings of Flandin, all the
copies of inscriptions, and all the descriptive
matter of Botta in five mao-nificent folio volumes,'
in a style ^vorthy of French traditions and of
French liberality to archaeological research.

So ended in a worthy publicity the first great
expedition to Assyria which had succeeded in
bringing to Europe the first Assyrian monuments

' Monument de Ninive decouvert et decrit, par M. P. E. Botta, mesure et
dessine par M. E. Flandin. Ouvrage public par ordre du gouvernemeut
sous les auspices de M. le Ministre de I'lnterieur, et sous la direction d'une
Commission de I'lnstitut. Tomes i-v. Paris, Imprimerie Nationale,
1849—.
11

138 HISTORY OF BABYLONIA AND ASSYRIA.

wliicli the Occident had ever seen. It was a noble
work of Botta, of Flandin, of Mohl, and of France.

Botta would probably have gone back to
Khorsabad or to some other mound in the district
of Nineveh after the publication of his discoveries
had he not been sent into government service
elsewhere. His work might well call him to re-
turn, but another would soon continue it.

On March 5, 1817, there was born in Paris an
English boy of Huguenot descent, whose early
training, gathered here and there in England,
France, and Italy,' awakened in him a love for the
fine arts, an interest in archaeology, and a passion
for travel. In the boyish days of Austen Henry
Layard his eager reading of the Arcthian Nights
was mixed with study of Fellowe's travels in Asia
Minor and with the perusal of Rich's accounts of
discovery at Babylon and Nineveh. Kich's jour-
nal filled him with desire to see these great
mounds beneath which lay ancient memorials of
untold interest. Herein again, as often before, is
seen the continuity of research in these lands, the
influence of enthusiasm carried over from man to
man.

Fortunately for science Layard's education had
been too uneven to fit him for the pursuit of a
profession, and the law, for which he was destined,
did not awake in him an enthusiasm sufficient to

' The early life of Layard is sketched very briefly by Lord Aberdare in
the introduction of the second edition of Layard, Early Adventures in
Persia^ Susiana, and Babylonia. London, 1894.

EXCAVATIONS, 1843-1854. 139

overcome the early defects. The restless fever
was in his blood, and the quiet ways of England
were too tame for the almost Gallic spirit within
him. He deteimined, therefore, to seek a career
in Ceylon, and in 1839, when a mere boy in ap-
pearance and but twenty-two years of age, he set
out to make the journey overland in company with
Edward Ledwich Mitford, who was bent upon the
same business. Mitford was nearly ten years older
than Layard and had had experience in Moroc-
co, where he had learned the Arabic dialect there
in use. Before setting out upon this journey Lay-
ard had learned a little Arabic and Persian, and
had tried to make other hasty preparations for
the dangerous voyage over lands almost unknown,
amid savage animals and even more savage men.
Upon reaching Hamadan, Persia, Layard aban-
doned the plan of seeking his fortune in Ceylon,
and therein archaeology triumphed over commerce.
Mitford pursued his way on to Ceylon, and Layard
returned into western Asia.'

It was upon May 10, 1840, that Layard and
Mitford first saw Mosul and examined somewhat
curiously the mounds on the opposite bank, which
Layard had learned from Rich to consider the re-

' The story of Layard's early wanderings is told in A Land March from
England to Ceylon, forty years ago, by Edward Ledwich Mitford, F. R. G. S.,
two volumes, London, 1884, which describes the European travels and the
oriental as far as Hamadan. The story is continued in Early Adventures
in Persia, Susiana, and Babylonia, by Sir Henry Layard, G. C. B., two
volumes, London, 1887. Mitford's book very curiously refrains from
mentioning Layard's name.

140 HISTORY OF BABYLONIA AND ASSYRIA.

mains of Nineveh. The mounds of Kuyunjik
and Neby Yunus did not make so great an im-
pression upon Layard as did the great mound of
Nimroud, farther south. But all aroused in him
a deep longing to learn their secrets. Even then
he could say, " These huge mounds of Assyria
made a deeper impression upon me, gave rise to
more serious thought and more earnest reflection,
than the temples of Baalbec or the theaters of
Ionia." This spell deepened as he saw more of
Nimroud by rafting down the Tigris toward Bagh-
dad. His words are a promise of the work that
was to follow :

" It was evening as we approached the spot.
The spring rains had clothed the mounds with the
richest verdure, and the fertile meadows, which
stretched around it, were covered with flowers of
every hue. Amidst this luxuriant vegetation
were partly concealed a few fragments of bricks,
pottery, and alabaster, uj)on which might be traced
the well-defined wedges of the cuneiform charac-
ter. Did not these remains mark the nature of
the ruin, it might have been confounded with
a natural eminence. A long line of consecutive
narrow mounds, still retaining the appearance
of walls or ramparts, stretched from its base,
and formed a vast quadrangle. The river flowed
at some distance from them, its waters, swollen
by the melting of the snows on the Armenian
hills, were broken into a thousand foaming whirl-
pools by an artificial barrier built across the

EXCAVATIONS, 1843-1854. 141

stream. On the eastern bank the soil had been
washed away by the current, but a solid mass of
masonry still withstood its impetuosity. The
Arab who guided my small raft gave himself up
to religious ejaculations as we approached this
formidable cataract, over which we were carried
with some violence. Once safely through the
danger, my companion explained to me that this
unusual change in the quiet face of the river was
caused by a great dam which had been built by
Nimrod, and that in the autumn, before the winter
rains, the huge stones of which it was constructed,
squared, and united by clamps of iron, were fre-
quently visible above the surface of the stream.
It was, in fact, one of those monuments of a great
people to be found in all the rivers of Mesopo-
tamia, which were undertaken to insure a con-
stant supply of water to the innumerable canals,
spreading like network over the surrounding
country, and which, even in the days of Alexan-
der, were looked upon as the works of an ancient
nation. No wonder that the traditions of the
present inhabitants of the land should assign them
to one of the founders of the human race ! The
Arab was telling me of the connection between
the dam and the city built by Athur, the lieuten-
ant of Mmrod, the vast ruins of which wei'e
now before us — of its purpose as a causeway for
the mighty hunter to cross to the opposite palace,
now represented by the mound of Hammum Ali —
and of the histories and fate of kings of a primi-

142 HISTORY OF BABYLONIA AND ASSYRIA.

tive race still the favorite theme of the inhabitants
of the plain of Shinar, when the last glow of
twilight faded away, and I fell alseep as we glided
onward to Baghdad.

"My curiosity had been greatly excited, and
from that time I formed the design of thoroughly
examining, whenever it might be in my power,
these singular ruins." '

The resolve expressed in this last sentence is
very striking when one remembers that it was
taken in April, 1840. This was more than two
years before Botta had even seen the mounds. At
least in the thought of excavation Layard antici-
pated Botta, though the good fortune of the latter
gave him the precedence in the field.

In May, 1842, Layard passed through Mosul on
his way to Constantinople, and found Botta estab-
lished as consular agent and already engaged in
carrying on excavations at Kuyunjik. Layard
was too much a man of dignity, even in his youth,
to feel any envy of the fortunate Frenchman, who
was now doing what he had been dreaming. In
the two years which had passed Layard had at-
tempted to secure aid to enable him to undertake
just such work as this, but in vain. His own
government was not as easily induced to aid
archaeologists as the government of France,
whether monarchical or republican, has always

' Nineveh and Its Remains ; with an account of a visit to the Chaldean
Christians of Kurdistan, and the Yezidis, or Devil-worshippers ; and an en-
quiry into the Manners and Arts of the Ancient Assyrians, by Austen
Henry Layard, Esq., D.C.L. Two volumes. London, 1849, i, pp. ^, 8.

EXCAVATIONS, 1843-1854. 143

been. Layard then formed terms of friendship
with Botta, and entered upon a corresjjondence.
"When Botta was discouraged at his small suc-
cess it was Layard who wrote urging him to per-
severe.

At the time of this second visit to Mosul, La-
yard was on his way home to England. At Con-
stantinople, however, he was detained and sent
thence to Salonica upon ser\^ce for the British
embassy. The British ambassador at Constantino-
ple was now Sir Stratford Canning, afterward
Lord Stratford de Redcliffe, who had secured for
the British Museum the marbles of Halicarnassus.
The skill, patience, and ardor with which he had
pursued the efforts required to obtain these had
increased his own interest in the monuments of
the past. To him Layard told the story of the
mounds, and described his eagerness to try exca-
vations in them. At last he had found the right
man, and Sir Stratford gave him £60, to which
Layard was to add an equal amount collected among
friends. With this small sum Layard left Con-
stantinople October, 1845, and traveled with all
haste to Mosul. Mohammed Pasha was now gov-
ernor of the province, and from him Layard could
expect no help, but every possible interference.
He therefore concealed the object of his mission,
but after a few days gave out that he was going
to hunt wild boars, and then left Mosul by a raft
to float down to Nimroud, where he had deter-
mined to besrin excavations. Here an Arab tent

144 HISTORY OF BABYLONIA AND ASSYRIA.

sheltered liim, and hearts more tender than the
pasha's watched over him. His record of the night
before the first spade was struck into the ground
reveals the enthusiasm of the man, and gives some
clue to his great success :

" I had slept little during the night. The hovel
in which we had taken shelter, and its inmates,
did not invite slumber ; but such scenes and com-
panions were not new to me; they could have
been forgotten had my brain been less excited.
Hopes long cherished were now to be realized or
were to end in disaj)pointment. Visions of pal-
aces underground, of gigantic monsters, of sculp-
tured figures, and endless inscriptions floated
before me. After forming plan after plan for re-
moving the earth and extricating these treasures,
I fancied myself wandering in a maze of chambers
from which I could find no outlet. Then, again,
all was reburied and I was standing on the grass-
covered mound. Exhausted, I was at length sink-
ing into sleep when, hearing the voice of Awad [his
Arab host], I rose from my carpet and joined him
outside the hovel. The day had already dawned ;
he had returned with six Arabs, who agreed for
a small sum to work under my direction." '

The excavations thus begun were carried on
until December amid constant difficulties set on
foot by the pasha. The plans pursued were ex-
actly the same as were followed against Botta.
When the excavations were resumed, after a visit

' Nineveh and Its Remains, i, p. 25.

EXCAVATIONS, 1843-1854. 145

to Baghdad, they were again interrupted by the
fanatacism of the Arabs, operating upon the new
governor of the province, Ismail Pasha. When
they were again resumed,in February, 1846, Layard
left the mound to visit a neighboring sheikh, and
was returning to the mound when he observed
two Arabs hastening to meet him with excited
faces. The narrative of what followed is best
told by Layard himself:

"On approaching me they stopped. ^Hasten,
O Bey,' exclaimed one of them — 'hasten to the
diggers, for they have found Nimrod himself.
AVallah, it is wonderful, but it is true ! we have
seen him with our eyes. There is no God but
God ; ' and both joining in this pious exclamation,
they galloped off, without further words, in the
direction of their tents.

" On reaching the ruins I descended into the
new trench, and found the workmen, who had
already seen me as I approached, standing near a
heap of baskets and cloaks. Whilst Awad ad-
vanced and asked for a present to celebrate the
occasion, the Arabs withdrew the screen they had
hastily constructed and disclosed an enormous
human head sculptured in full out of the alabaster
of the country. They had uncovered the upper
pai*t of a figure, the remainder of which was still
buried in the earth. I saw at once that the head
must belong to a winged lion or bull, similar to
those of Khorsabad and Persepolis. It was in
admirable preservation. The expression was calm^

146 HISTORY OF BABYLONIA AND ASSYRIA.

yet majestic, and the outline of the features
showed a freedom and knowledge of art scarcely
to be looked for in the works of so remote a
period. The cap had three horns, and, unlike
that of the human-headed bulls hitherto found in
Assyria, was rounded and without ornament at
the top.

" I was not surprised that the Arabs had been
amazed and terrified at this apparition. It re-
quired no stretch of imagination to conjure up the
most strange fancies. This gigantic head, blanched
with age, thus rising from the bowels of the earth,
might well have belonged to one of those fearful
beings which are pictured in the traditions of the
country as appearing to mortals, slowly ascend-
ing from the regions below. One of the workmen,
on catching the first glimpse of the monster, had
thrown dowTi his basket and run off toward
Mosul as fast as his legs could carry him. I
learned this with regret, as I anticipated the con-
sequences.

"While I was superintending the removal of
the earth, which still clung to the sculpture, and
giving directions for the continuation of the work,
a noise of horsemen was heard, and presently
Abd-ur-rahmar, followed by half his tribe, ap-
peared on the edge of the trench. As soon as the
two Arabs had reached the tents and published
the wonders they had seen everyone mounted his
mare and rode to the mound, to satisfy himself of
the truth of these inconceivable reports. When

EXCAVATIONS, 1843-1854. 147

they beheld the head they all cried together,
* There is no God but God, and Mohammed is his
prophet ! ' It was some time before the sheikh
could be prevailed upon to descend into the pit
and convince himself that the image he saw was
of stone. '■ This is not the work of men's hands,'
exclaimed he, ' but of those infidel giants of whom
the prophet, peace be with him! has said that
they were higher than the tallest date tree ; this
is one of the idols which Noah, peace be with
him ! cursed before the flood.' In this opinion,
the result of a careful examination, all the by-
standers concurred.

"I now ordered a trench to be dug due south
from the head, in the expectation of finding a cor-
responding figure, and before nightfall reached the
object of my search, about twelve feet distant.
Engaging two or three men to sleep near the
sculptures, I returned to the village and celebrated
the day's discovery by a slaughter of sheep, of
which all the Arabs near partook. As some wan-
dering musicians chanced to be at Selamiyah, I
sent for them, and dances were kept up during
the greater part of the night. On the following
morning Arabs from the other side of the Tigris
and the inhabitants of the surrounding villages con-
gregated on the mound. Even the women could
not repress their curiosity, and came in crowds,
with their children, from afar. My cawass was
stationed during the day in the trench, into which
I would not allow the multitude to descend.

148 HISTORY OF BABYLONIA AND ASSYRIA.

" As I had expected, the report of the discovery
of the gigantic head, carried by the terrified Arab
to Mosul, had thrown the town into commotion.
He had scarcely checked his speed before reach-
ing the bridge. Entering breathless into the
bazaars, he announced to everyone he met that
Nimrod had appeared. The news soon got to the
ears of the cadi, who, anxious for a fresh oppor-
tunity to annoy me, called the mufti and the
ulema together to consult upon this unexpected
occurrence. Their deliberations ended in a pro-
cession to the governor, and a formal protest on
the part of the Mussulmans of the town against
proceedings so directly contrary to the laws of
the Koran. The cadi had no distinct idea
whether the bones of the mighty hunter had been
uncovered or only his image; nor did Ismail
Pasha very clearly remember whether Nimrod
was a true believing prophet or an infidel. I
consequently received a somewhat unintelligible
message from his excellency to the effect that
the remains should be treated with respect, and
be by no means further disturbed, and that he
wished the excavations to be stopped at once, and
desired to confer with me on the subject.

" I called upon him accordingly, and had some
difficulty in making him understand the nature of
my discovery. As he requested me to discontinue
my operations until the sensation in the town had
somewhat subsided, I returned to Nimroud and
dismissed the workmen, retaining only two men

EXCAVATIONS, 1843-1854. 149

to dig leisurely along the walls without giving
cause for further interference. I ascertained by
the end of March the existence of a second pair
of winged human-headed lions, differing from those
previously discovered in form, the human shape
being continued to the waist and finished with
arms. In one hand each figure carried a goat or
stag, and in the other, which hung down by the
side, a branch with three flowers. They formed
a northern entrance into the chamber of which
the lions previously described were the southern
portal. I completely uncovered the latter, and
found them to be entire. They were about
twelve feet in height, and the same number in
length. The body and limbs were admirably por-
trayed; the muscles and bones, though strongly
developed to display the strength of the animal,
showed at the same time a correct knowledge of
its anatomy and form. Exj)anded wings sprung
from the shoulder and spread over the back; a
knotted girdle, ending in tassels, encircled the
loins. These sculptures, forming an entrance, were
partly in full and partly in relief. The head and
fore part, facing the chamber, were in full ; but
only one side of the rest of the slab was sculp-
tured, the back being placed against the wall of
sun-dried bricks. That the spectator might have
both a perfect front and side view of the figures
they were furnished with five legs; two were
carved on the end of the slab to face the chamber,
and three on the side. The relief of the body

150 HISTORY OF BABYLONIA AND ASSYRIA.

and three limbs was high and bold, and the slab
was covered in all parts not occupied by the
image with inscriptions in the cuneiform charac-
ter. These magnificent specimens of Assyrian art
were in perfect preservation; the most minute
lines in the details of the wings and in the or-
naments had been retained with their original
freshness. Not a character was wanting in the
inscriptions.

"I used to contemplate for houi^ these mys-
terious emblems, and muse over their intent and
history. What more noble forms could have ush-
ered the people into the temple of their gods ?
What more sublime images could have been bor-
rowed from nature by men who sought, unaided
by the light of revealed religion, to embody their
conception of the wisdom, power, and ubiquity of a
Supreme Being ? They could find no better type
of intellect and knowledge than the head of the
man ; of strength, than the body of the lion ; of ra-
pidity of motion, than the wings of the bird. These
winged human-headed lions were not idle crea-
tions, the offspring of mere fancy ; their meaning
was written upon them. They had awed and in-
structed races which flourished three thousand
yeai^ ago. Through the portals which they guarded
kings, priests, and warriors had borne sacrifices to
their altars long before the wisdom of the East
had penetrated to Greece, and had furnished its
mythology with symbols long recognized by the
Assyrian votaries. They may have been buried, and

EXCAVATIONS, 1843-1854. 151

their existence may have been unknown, before
the foundation of the Eternal City. For twenty-
five centuries they had been hidden from the eye
of man, and they now stood forth once more in
their ancient majesty. But how changed was the
scene around them ! The luxury and civilization
of a mighty nation had given place to the wretched-
ness and ignorance of a few half-barbarous tribes.
The wealth of temples and the riches of great
cities had been succeeded by ruins and shapeless
heaps of earth. Above the spacious hall in which
they stood the plow had passed and the corn now
waved. Egypt has monuments no less ancient
and no less wonderful, but they have stood forth
for ages to testify her early power and renown,
while those before me had but now appeared to
bear witness, in the words of the prophet, that
once Hhe Assyi'ian was a cedar in Lebanon with
fair branches, and with a shadowing shroud 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 were multiplied,
and his branches became long, because of the
multitude of waters when he shot forth. All the
fowls of heaven made their nests in his boughs,
and under his branches did all the beasts of the
field bring forth their young, and under his shadow
dwelt all great nations ; ' for now is ' Nineveh a
desolation and dry like a wilderness, and flocks lie
down in the midst of her: all the beasts of the
nations, both the cormorant and bittern, lodge in

152 HISTORY OF BABYLONIA AND ASSYRIA.

the upper liutels of it ; their voice sings in the
windows ; and desolation is in the thresholds.' " '

In one respect this narrative of Layard's far
excels all that had been written by the men who
before his day had seen or measured or worked in
these mounds. None before had ever told the
story of their experiences or of their discoveries
in words so full of color, life, and movement ; none
had ever displayed so much of enthusiasm and so
great a power of description. In another respect
Layard becomes a successor of one of the earliest
of English travelers and explorers. Like Shirley, he
knew how to make all that he saw bear upon the
words of the Bible. He could quote the very
words out of the Scriptures and make the dust-
covered monument reflect a bright light upon
them. These two powers — the power of descrip-
tion in color and the power of biblical comparison
— ranged all England at his back. They who
cared nothing for the Bible were moved by the
fire and the beauty of his description; they who
loved the Bible saw in him a man who was mak-
ing discoveries which promised to illustrate or
confirm records to them most dear. In due time,
also, these influences became so potent that the
British government was moved to lend a hand to
this work, and so that which had been begun up-
on slender private means became a great national
enterprise.

The colossal figures which so deeply moved

' Layard, Nineveh and Its Remains, i, 65, ff.

EXCAVATIONS, 1843-1854. 153

Layard were indeed a noble sight, but they were
not so important as the smaller inscriptions which
were later to be dug out of their resting places.
Layard had suj)posed that the winged lions had
guarded the entrance of some great temple, the
spade was later to show that they had stood at the
portals of the palace of Shalmaneser II.

The work which revealed these monuments had
been carried on under many difficulties and with a
constant dread of interruption from the suspicious
natives or their rulers. It was therefore a great
relief to Layard's anxieties when he received from
Constantinople a " vizirial letter, procured by Sir
Stratford Canning, authorizing the continuation of
the excavations and the removal of such objects
as might be discovered." This put another face
upon Layard's work, and enabled him to do
openly work which had hitherto been carried on
with as much concealment as possible. He now
made some small attempts upon the mound of
Kuyunjik, but his funds were extremely limited
and the results were not encouraging. He there-
fore resumed with fresh vio-or the work at Nim-
roud, from which he was shortly able to send a
large consignment of monuments on a raft to
Baghdad and thence to Bassorah, for transportation
to England. Soon after which his health, already
undermined by the enervating climate, compelled
him to cease work and make a mountain journey
for recuperation.

Upon his return to Mosul he found letters from

154 HISTORY OF BABYLONIA AND ASSYRLl.

England advising him that Sir Stratford Canning
had presented to the British Museum the antiqui-
ties which had been found, and that furthermore
the Museum had received from the government a
grant of funds for continuing the work. This was
good news indeed, though Layard had to lament
that it was so much smaller than Botta had en-
joyed, and that therefore he must stint and econo-
mize and strive to utilize every penny.

With such resources as he had the work was
resumed in October, 1846, and a winter campaign
was carefully planned. Huts were erected for
shelter from the storms; wandering Arabs were
induced to pitch their tents near by, and instead
of living by plunder draw wages for labor in the
trenches. Many a new plan of dealing with trouble-
some natives was tried and the better adopted.
In all this Layard had the valuable assistance of
Mr. Hormuzd Rassam, whose brother, Charles Ras-
sam, was British vice consul at Mosul. Hormuzd
Rassam was native born and understood the peo-
ple as no European could hope to do. He con-
ducted most of the dealings with them, and kept
the peace without use of force.

The excavations carried on under these auspices,
and with the powers which Layard then possessed,
were successful beyond his wildest dreams. As
the trenches followed round the walls of room
after room they uncovered great slabs of alabaster,
with which the chamber walls were wainscoted,
and these were found to be richly carved in relief

EXCAVATIONS, 1843-1854. 155

with scenes of hunting, of war, and of solemn
ceremony. The very life of palace, camp, and
field in Assyrian days came back again before the
astonished eyes of the explorer, while these re-
ceived an addition to their verisimilitude by the
discovery in some of the ruins of pieces of iron
which had once formed parts of the same kind of
armor as that portrayed on the reliefs, together
with iron and bronze helmets, while in others
were found vases and ornamentally carved pieces
of ivory. Here were the pictures and there were
the objects which they represented. As the
trenches were dug deeper or longer monuments
carved or inscribed were found daily. One trench
ten feet beneath the surface uncovered the edge of
a piece of black marble. It was the comer of " an
obelisk about seven feet high, lying on its side."
It was covered on three sides with inscriptions and
with twenty small bas-reliefs. The inscriptions
recorded and the bas-reliefs illustrated various
forms of gift and tribute which had been received
by Shalmaneser II, though when found these facts
were of course unknown. No inscription equal in
beauty and in the promise of valuable historical
material had yet been found in Assyria. Layard
was therefore particularly anxious to get it away
from the place lest some mishap should befall it.
He therefore set Arabs to sleep and watch by it
overnight and had it speedily packed for ship-
ment. Day after day the work went on with the
regular and constant discoveiy of stone slabs

156 HISTORY OF BABYLONIA AND ASSYRIA.

similar to those which had been found before, and
with the finding of inscribed bricks which, though
not so beautiful as the stone, contained much more
historical material.

When the trenches began to yield less material
Ijayard determined to try elsewhere. Had his
funds not been so severely limited, he would have
continued still further the excavations at Nimroud,
even though they did not appear to be immedi-
ately productive. This would have been the best
method of procedure, but the means would not
permit it, and Layard had to seek fresh soil.

For his next adventure he chose the mound of
Kalah Shergat, where he had before desired to
make excavations. Out of these ruins were taken
an interesting sitting figure and many small bricks
with inscriptions, some of which belong to the
earliest of the great Assyrian conquerors, Tiglath-
pileser I. But what ancient city this might be
Layard was unable to ascertain. That it was
none other than the city of Asshur,' first capital
of the kingdom, was a discovery made afterward.

A few days were also given to excavation in
the mound of Kuyunjik with similar good for-
tune, and then the work had to cease because of
the consumption of the means for its carrying on.
On June 24, 1847, Layard left Mosul for the land
journey to Constantinople, after having sent the
last of his discoveries down the Tigris.

After a few months' rest in England, devoted

* See infra, p. 29*7.

EXCAVATIONS, 1843-1854. 157

in considerable measure to the preparation of the
narrative of his expedition and of the copies of
the monuments which he had found, Layard was
ordered to Constantinople to service with the
British embassy. He had not been able to finish
for the press the work which he had written, and
went out to his duty not knowing whether his
story would awaken any interest or not. He does
not appear even to have dreamed that any special
call would come to him to resume the excava-
tions again. But the books' were published after
his departure, and at once all England rang with
his praise and with an eager expression that this
work must go on further. The British Museum
secured more funds for the work and he was di-
rected to set out for Assyria again. From Eng-
land Hormuzd Kassam, Mr. F. Cooper, an artist,
and Dr. Sandwith, a physician, were induced to
accompany him. They set sail from the Bos-
phorus on August 28, 1849, for Trebizond, and
landed there on the thirty-first day and began the
journey to Mosul.

In this expedition he laid the chief emphasis
upon the mound of Kuyunjik and Neby Yunus.
In the former he discovered the great palace of
Sennacherib, and so keen was he now become in
the examination of insci'iptions and tables of gene-
alogy that he recognized the fact that this edifice

' These books were Nineveh aitd Its Remains (see references above) and
The Monuments of Nineveh, by Austen Henry Layard, Esq., D.C.L.,
London, 1849. The latter contained one hundred plates, many well exe-
cuted, but far below the standard of beauty set by Botta's superb volumes.

138 HISTORY OF BABYLONIA AND ASSYRIA.

belonged to the king whose son was the builder of
the palace at Nimroud and whose father built the
palace discovered by Botta at Khorsabad. It is
to be remembered that he made this conjecture
without being able to read Assyrian at all. Later
study has determined that he had correctly ascer-
tained the facts. Sargon built the palace at
Khorsabad ; his son Sennacherib built the palace
at Kuyunjik, while his son Esar-haddon erected
the palace at Nimroud. Even greater than in the
first expedition were his discoveries at Kuyun-
jik both for the history, the literature, and the
art of ancient Assyria. But he also conducted
excavations at Kalali Shergat, Nimroud, and
Khorsabad. From Mosul he made excursions to
various sites in northern and southern Babylonia.
Upon these excursions he visited and for the first
time described the great mound of Niffer, where a
later expedition was to achieve unparalleled suc-
cesses. At Hillah he made some excavations, but
met with little success.

After another season he returned in April,
1852, to England. His first work was the writing
of his narrative and the preparing of his inscrip-
tions for publication.' He found that his pre-

' Discoveries In the Ruins of Nineveh and Babylon, with travels in
Armenia, Kurdistan, and the Desert : being the result of a second expedi-
tion undertaken for the trustees of the British Museum, by Austen H. Lay-
ard, M.P. London, 1853.

A Second Series of the Monuments of Nineveh, including bas-reliefs from
the palace of Sennacherib and bronzes from the ruins of Nimroud, from
drawings made on the spot during a second expedition to Assyria, by
Austen Henry Layard, M.P. Seventy-one plates. London, 1853.

EXCAVATIONS, 1843-1854. 159

vious books had made him famous, while the new
discoveries would be certain to add much to his
permutation. This secui'ed for him honored diplo-
matic posts, notably at Constantinople, where he
was able to serve Assyrian study by dealing w-iih
the Turkish government in the interest of explor-
ei's, as he had once served it by his own labors.

Layard's two expeditions to Assyria had been
fruitful indeed beyond those of Botta, and their
influence lived far beyond even Layard's own life.
His books had, as we have already seen, touched
the popular heart in many points, and, though he
laid the work down to take up diplomatic service,
in which he appears not to have been so happ}',
others were found to continue it.

Even while Layard was still at work in Nine-
veh the French government sent Victor Place, an
architect of great skill, to hold the post of consular
agent at Mosul and continue Botta's work. He
had not accomplished much when Layard's work
ended, but remained and made important discov-
eries in the department of Assyrian art, cooperat-
ing afterward with a French expedition, to which
attention must later be paid.

Meanwhile in Eno-land interest in the whole
of Babylonia and Assyria grew apace, manifest-
ing itself in many ways. The government had
been moved to assist Layard's investigations, and
it now joined in the work in still another way.
For a long time the frontier between Turkey and
Persia had been a bone of contention, each land

160 HISTORY OF BABYLONIA AND ASSYRIA.

gaining or losing as the fortune of war might be,
while predatory bands belonging neither to the
one nor the other made re}3risals upon both. In
1839 and 1840 war almost ensued between the
two nations, whereupon England and Kussia inter-
vened, and a commission was appointed to sit at
Erzerum to conduct negotiations for a peaceful
settlement of difficulties. This commission, after a
session lasting four years, agreed upon a treaty,
the basis of which lay in a survey of the doubtful
territory between the two states, and a proper de-
limitation of the border. This work was carried
on by representatives of England, Kussia, Turkey,
and Persia. The most prominent of these was
Colonel ^Y, F. AVilliams. In January, 1849, Mr.
William Kennett Loftus was sent out from Eng-
land to serve as geologist upon his staff. Loftus
found time amid other duties to visit large num-
bers of mounds in Babylonia, and the very sight
of them filled him with enthusiasm. Of one, the
mound of Hammam, he says :

" I know of nothing more exciting or impressive
than the first sight of one of these great Chaldean
piles looming in solitary grandeur from the sur-
rounding plains and marshes. A thousand thoughts
and surmises concerning its past eventful history
and origin — its gradual rise and rapid fall — natur-
ally present themselves to the mind of the spec-
tator. The hazy atmosphere of early morning
is peculiarly favorable to considerations and im-
pressions of this character, and the gray mist in-

EXCAVATIONS, 1843-1854. 161

tervening between the gazer and the object of
his reflections imparts to it a dreamy existence.
This fairylike effect is further heightened by mi-
rage, which strangely and fantastically magnifies
its form, elevating it from the ground, and caus-
ing it to dance and quiver in the rarefied air. No
wonder, therefore, that the beholder is lost in
pleasing doubt as to the actual reality of the
apparition before him." '

In the spring of 1850 Loftus carried on small
excavations at Warka, the ancient city of Erech,
but, though many interesting antiquities Avere
found, they were not to be compared with the re-
sults of Layard's work. This was due in chief
measure to the exceedingly meager means at the
disposal of Loftus, and further to the great diffi-
culties of excavating in Babylonia. Upon this
first expedition Loftus rendered distinguished
services by his long, and often dangerous, travels
over southern Babylonia. Upon these trips he
visited Niffer, Mukayyar (Mugheir), and a number
of lesser sites, most of which had never before
been visited by Europeans. These he carefully
described, and minutely located, rendering thereby
access easy for others. Even to this present some
of Loftus's work remains useful. He had also a
keen eye for the peculiarities of mounds, and ex-
pressed a longing to dig in some spots which have
since proved exceedingly productive. An oppor-

' Travels and Researches in Chaldcea and Susiana, by William Kennett
Loftus, RG.S. London, 1857.

162 HISTORY OF BABYLONIA AND ASSYRIA.

tunity to do some of the work lie had planned was
soon to come to him thi'ough private enterprise in
England.

While travelers and explorers were busy among
almost savage peoples English interest in the
mounds continued, and finally eventuated in the
organization of an Assyrian Excavation Fund,
which undertook to gather popular subscriptions
and to dii'ect excavations in Assyria and Babylonia
with the means thus acquired. At this time Sii'
Henry C. Rawlinson was British resident and con-
sul general at Baghdad, and to him was intrusted
the general oversight of such excavations as might
be planned and carried on. This direction could
hardly have been placed in better hands. His ex-
tensive travels, and long residence in the East
and his remarkable attainments in the decipher-
ment of ancient Persian had fitted him in the
fullest degree to take charge of efforts intended
to make the buried records of the great valley
accessible to the world.

Loftus was sent by the fund to conduct exca-
vations and caiTy on explorations in the southern
part of the country. His work was successful in
bringing to London considerable numbei's of in-
scribed tablets, with many vases, and a considera-
ble mass of mortuary remains. It attracted, how-
ever, little popular attention, not that it was
unimportant, though less in amount than Layard's,
but chiefly because Loftus did not possess Layard's
popular gifts, and was unable to set forth his dis-

EXCAVATIONS, 1843-1854. 163

coveries in such attractive fashion. Had it not
been for the notes which Rawlinson sent home,
he would have remained almost unknown.

Rawlinson's next move was to send J. E. Tay-
lor, British vice consul at Bassorah, to Mugheir,
probably the ancient Babylonian city of Ur.*
Taylor dug straight into the center of the mound,
finding almost nothing as a reward for his pains.
It was rather at the southwestern corner that his
great discovery was to be made. Of it he has
this story to tell :

*' I began excavating the southwest corner, clear
ing away large masses of rubbish formed of the
remains of burnt, mingled with sun-dried, bricks.
I worked along at a depth of 10 feet and a breadth
of 6 without finding anything. I then returned,
and worked a few feet north along the brick cas-
ing of the western wall; here, 6 feet below the
surface, I found a perfect inscribed cylinder. This
relic was in the solid masonry ; it had been placed
in a niche formed by the omission of one of the
bricks in the layer, and was found standing on
one end. I excavated some little distance further
without any success, and then relinquished this
corner for the northwest one. Here, also, I found
a second cylinder similar to the one above men-
tioned, but at 12 feet from the surface. At this
corner I sank a shaft 21 feet deep by 12 broad.
The sun-dried bricks, composing this solid mass
within were here of an amazing thickness ; their

' See infra, p. 290.

164 HISTORY OF BABYLONIA AND ASSYRIA.

size was 16 inches square and 7 inches thick. Just
below the cylinder were two rough logs of wood,,
apparently teak, which ran across the whole breadth
of the shaft. . . .

" Having thus found two cylinders in the solid
masonry in two corners, I naturally concluded
the same objects would be found in the two cor-
ners still remaining. I sank a shaft in each, and
found two other cylinders precisely in the same
position, and in the same kind of structure, one at
6 and the other at 2 feet from the surface. This
is easily accounted for w^hen looking at the ir-
regular surface of the ruin, which, at the south-
east corner and south side generally, has been
subject to greater ravages from rain than the
other sides, owing to the greater depression of the
surface toward these points." '

Taylor also conducted excavations at Abu
Sharein and Tel-el-Lahm, but without important
results.''

At this time expeditions were so numerous and
the work of different men in various places so
constantly in progress that it is impossible to fol-
low them in detail and almost impossible to ar-
I'ange them in chronological order.

While yet Loftus was still at work and Taylor
had not even begun his labors the French govern-
ment was taking steps to resume excavations upon

' " Notes on the Ruins of Muqeyer," by J. E. Taylor, Esq., Journal of the
Royal Asiatic Society, xv, p. 263, 264.
2 Ibid., pp. 404, ff.

EXCAVATIONS, 1843-1854. 165

a laroje scale. It was the indefati^cable Mohl who
kept governmeut and people in France ever in-
cited to good works in this matter. At last he
moved M. Leon Fancher, the minister of the in-
terior, to ask the assembly for a credit of 70,000
francs, and on October 9, 1851, an expedition set
out from Marseilles for Hill ah, which was reached
July 7, 1852. The members of this expedition
were MM. Fulgence Fresnel, formerly consul at
Jeddah, Jules Oppert, professor of German at the
Lycee, Keims, and F. Thomas, an architect.

Oppert had already done important work upon
old Persian and was a trained orientalist. He
made important reseai'ches at Babylon and visited
a large number of mounds, some of which Loftus
had already seen. This expedition excavated at
Birs Nimroud and found rich treasures of art and
of inscriptions. At the same time Place was con-
tinuing excavations at Khorsabad. The materials
found both by Place and by the expedition at
Birs Kimroud were loaded on rafts to be floated
down the river to Bassorah. Unhappily, and as
it is stated by " sheer carelessness and mismanage-
ment," the rafts were overturned and the whole
collection was lost in the river.' Though this sore
mishap had occurred, Oppert brought back to
Europe much fresh knowledge, and the published
results of the expedition were notable.*

• Journal of Sacred Literature, iii, p. 471 (July, 1856).
'^Expedition Scieiitijique en Mesopotamie, par Jules Oppert. 2 vols.
Paris, 1863-1 867.

166 HISTORY OF BABYLONIA AND ASSYRIA.

In the same year tliat the French expedition,
which ended so unhappily, was being planned the
trustees of the British Museum secured a grant
from Parliament to begin anew the work at Nine-
veh. Layard was now absorbed in the diplomatic
service, and would not go out to take up the work
again. His former assistant was,however, now study-
ing at Oxford, and to him the authorities appealed.
To his lasting honor Mr. Hormuzd Rassam accepted
the post, and set out at the end of 1852 to begin
excavations at Kuyunjik, under the general direc-
tion of Sir Henry Rawlinson. Rassam was fitted
for the work of excavator as few who had ever
dug in these mounds. He knew land and people
from his birth up ; he had served a long and use-
ful apprenticeship to Layard ; he was devoted to
the business he had in hand, and eager to give
every energy to its successful accomplishment. In
one respect he was unfortunately not so well
equipped as the brilliant Oppert, who was now
busy among the mounds of Babylon. Oppert
knew all that was then known of the cuneiform
writing, while Rassam knew nothing of the lan-
guage in which the ancient records of his country
were written.

When he reached Mosul he found that Sir
Henry Rawlinson had drawn a line across the
mound at Kuyunjik, assigning the northern half
of the mound to the French and retaining the re-
mainder for the " English sphere of influence."
Place had, however, not yet dug at all in this

EXCAVATIONS, 1843-1854. 167

mound, but was busy witli the continuing of ex-
cavations at Khorsabad. Kassam was endowed
beyond Place in a feeling for arcli:i3ological inves-
tigations, and believed that the northern part of
the mound was by far the most promising. From
the very beginning he desired most to try exca-
vations there, but felt himself prevented by the
ari'angement which Sir Henry Rawlinson had
made. He concealed from Place his feelins^s and
went sturdily to work upon other parts of the
mound. For nearly a year and a half his work
continued, and from his trenches and wells there
were constantly brought out inscribed records of
the past, now fragments of tablets, now obelisks,
now clay cylinders, and now beautifully preserved
tablets, with the fine, neat writing of the ancient
Assyrians. During all this time M. Place made
no move toward even the beginnings of excava-
tion at Kuyunjik, and Rassam finally concluded
that, after all, Sir Henry Kawlinson had exceeded
his authority in setting off a part of the mound
to the French, and therefore determined, "come
w^hat might," to move over to the top of the
mound and see what might be found. His first
essays were to be made at night so as to prevent
any possible interference by Place if it should be
attempted. The story is romantic, and Rassam's
own laconic sentences best describe it :

" After having waited a few days for a bright
moonlight night,' I selected a number of my old

' December 20, 18.5:!.

168 HISTORY OF BABYLONIA AND ASSYRIA.

and faithful Arab workmen who could be de-
pended on for secrecy, with a trustworthy over-
seer, and gave them orders to assemble at a cer-
tain spot on the mound about two hours after
sunset. When everything was ready I went and
marked them three different spots on which to
dig. There had been already a number of trenches
dug there on a former occasion, but at this time I
directed the workmen to dig across them and go
deeper down ; and having superintended the work
myself till midnight, I left them at work (after
telling them to stop work at dawn) and went to
bed.

"The next morning I examined the trenches,
and on seeing some good signs of Assyrian re-
mains I doubled the number of workmen the sec-
ond night and made them work hard all night.
As usual, I superintended the work till mid-
night, and then went to bed, but had not been
asleep two hours before my faithful Albanian over-
seer came running to give me the good tidings of
the discovery of some broken sculptures. I hur-
ried immediately to the spot, and on descending
one of the trenches I could just see in the moon-
light the lower part of two bas-reliefs, the upper
portion having been destroyed by the Sassanians
or other barbarous nations who occupied the
mound after the destruction of the Assyrian em-
pire. I could only find out this from experience,
by examining the foundation and the brick wall
which supported the bas-reliefs ; so I directed the

EXCAVATIONS, 1843-1834. 169

workmen to clear the lower part of the sculptures,
which clearly showed that the slabs belonged to
a new palace; but on digging around them we
came upon bones, ashes, and other rubbish, and no
trace whatever was left of any other sculptures.
On the third day the fact of my digging at night
oozed out in the town of Mosul, which did not
surprise me, seeing that all the families of the
workmen who w^ere employed in the nocturnal
work knew that they were digging clandestinely
somewhere ; and, moreover, the workmen who were
not employed at night must have seen their fellow-
laborers leaving their tents and not coming to
work the next day. Not only did I fear the
French consul hearing and coming to prevent me
from digging in what he would call his own
ground, but, worse than all, that it should be
thought I was digging for treasure by the Turkish
authorities and the people of Mosul, who had
always imagined that we were enriching ourselves
by the discovery of fabulous treasures; conse-
quently, on the third night, I increased the work-
men, and resolved to remain in the trenches till
the morning, superintending the work. It can be
well imagined how I longed for the close of the
day, as there was no doubt in my mind that some
Assp'ian structure was in existence near those
broken slabs which had been found the night be-
fore. I was not disappointed in my surmises, for
the men had not been at work three houi*s on the
third night before a bank under which they were

170 HISTORY OF BABYLONIA AND ASSYRIA.

digging fell and exposed a most perfect and beauti-
ful bas-relief, on which was represented an Assyrian
king (which proved afterward to be Assurbanipal
or Sardanapalus) in his chariot hunting hons.
The delight of the workmen was past all bounds ;
they all collected and began to dance and sing
from their inmost heart, and no entreaty or threat
of mine had any effect upon them. Indeed, I did
not know which was most pleasing, the discovery
of this new palace or to witness the joy of my
faithful and grateful workmen. We kept on
working till morning, and seeing that by this time
three perfect sculptures had been uncovered, I
had no doubt in my mind that this was quite a
new palace. The night workmen were changed,
and new hands put to work in the daytime, as I had
now no more fear of being thwarted by my rivals,
because, according to all rules, I had secured this
palace for the British nation. During the day we
cleared out all the lion-hunt room of Assurbani-
pal, which is now in the basement room of the
British Museum. In the center of this long room
or passage there were heaps of inscribed terra
cottas, among which I believe was discovered the
famous Deluge Tablet. Undoubtedly this was the
record chamber of Assurbanipal." '

The discovery thus made was the greatest which
had yet been made either in Assyria or Babylonia.

' Excavations and Discoveries in Assyria, by Hormuzd Kassam, Transac-
tions of the Society of Biblical Archceology, vii, pp. 39-41. Rassam has
told the story again in Asshur and the Land of Nimrod (New York, 1897),
pp. 24, ff.

EXCAVATIONS, 1843-1854. 171

Rassam, by the exercise of a skilled judgment and
tlie fortunate combination of circumstances, had
actually uncovered the long-buried library of the
royal city of Nineveh — the library which Assur-
banipal had gathered or caused to be copied for
the learning of his sages. Here was a royal store-
house of literature, science, history, and religion
brought to light, ready to be studied in the West,
when the method of its reading was fully made
out. Well might Rawlinson join with Layard in
applause over this happy and fortunate discovery,
which had linked Rassam's name forever with the
history of Assyrian research.

In March, 1854, Rassam returned to England,
and Loftus, who had finished his researches in the
south, was sent to Kuyunjik to complete Rassam's
Avork. This task he fulfilled vdth complete suc-
cess, recovering many more tablets, to be sent, as
Rassam's were, to the British Museum.

While these works were in progress the East
India Company again took part, in a most valuable
manner, in the work of Assyrian study. On the
request of the trustees of the British Museum
the company dispatched Commander Felix Jones,
assisted by Dr. J. M. Hyslop, from Baghdad to
Mosul to survey the whole Nineveh district. This
was accomplished in a masterly fashion during the
month of March, 1862, and three great maps were
published, which remain the standard records un-
til to-day.*

' " Topography of Nineveh," illustrative of the maps of the chief cities of

173 HISTORY OF BABYLONIA AND ASSYRIA.

And now the long and brilliant series of excava-
tions was drawing near to another period of rest.
But at the very end Sir Henry Rawlinson was the
author of a remarkable discovery. During the
months of August and September, 1854, he had
placed "an intelligent young man, M. Joseph Tonetti
by name," in charge of excavations at Birs Nimroud,
where the ill-fated French expedition had carried on
its work. For two months the work was not very
successful, and then Sir Henry Rawlinson visited the
works in person, and after some examination deter-
mined to break into the walls at the corners, in the
hope of finding commemorative cylinders, such as
Taylor had found at Mugheir. He first directed
the removal of bricks down to the tenth layer
above the plinth at the base, and while this was
being done busied himself elsewhere. When this
had been finished he was summoned back, and
thus describes the happy fortune which ensued:

" On reaching the spot I was first occupied for
a few minutes in adjusting a prismatic compass on
the lowest brick now remaining of the original
angle, which fortunately projected a little, so as to
afford a good point for obtaining the exact mag-
netic bearing of the two sides, and I then ordered
the work to be resumed. No sooner had the next
layer of bricks been removed than the workmen
called out there was a Khazeneh^ or 'treasui'e

Assyria ; and the general geography of the country intermediate between
the Tigris and the upper Tab, by Felix Jones, Commander Indian Navy,
and Surveyor in Mesopotamia. [With three large folded maps.] Journal
of the Royal Asiatic Society, xv, pp. 297, ff.

EXCAVATIONS, 1843-1854. 173

hole ' — that is, in the corner at the distance of two
bricks from the exterior surface there was a va-
cant space filled up with loose reddish sand.
' Clear away the sand,' I said, ' and bring out the
cylinder;' and as I spoke the words the Arab,
groping with his hand among the debris in the
hole, seized and held up in triumph a fine cylin-
der of baked clay, in as perfect a condition as
when it was deposited in the artificial cavity
above twenty-four centuries ago. The workmen
were perfectly bewildered. They could be heard
whispering to each other that it was sihr, or
* magic,' while the graybeard of the party signifi-
cantly observed to his companion that the com-
pa-sSy which, as I have mentioned, I had just be-
fore been using, and had accidentally placed imme-
diately above the cylinder, was certainly ' a won-
derful instrument.' " '

The cylinder thus recovered was one of four
originally set in four comers of the building, and
a little later a second was found. The remaining
two were not recovered, as the corners in which
they had presumably been placed had long before
been broken down. Nebuchadrezzar had taken
great pains to preserve the records of his great
works of building and restoration.

And now the long series of excavations was
ended. Men of learning in the history of the

' "On the Birs Nimroud; or, The Great Temple of Borsippa," by Sir Henry
Rawlinson, K.C.B., Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society, xviii (1860),
pp. 2, ff. [This paper was read January 13, 1855.]

174 HISTORY OF BABYLONIA AND ASSYRIA.

ancient Orient had been overwhelmed by the mass
no less than by the startling character of the
great discoveries. The spade and the pick might
now be suffered to lie idle and rust for several
years. There was great work to do in the reading
of these long-lost books. Europe waited for the
results before beginning new excavations.

THE DECIPHERMENT OF ASSYRIAN. 175

CHAPTER yi.

THE DECIPHERMENT OF ASSYRIAN.

When the masters of decipherment, Grotefend,
Rawlinson, and Hincks, had brought to happy
conclusion the reading of the ancient Persian in-
scriptions which had been copied at Persepohs,
Behistun, and other less important sites, they
were still confronted by a great series of prob-
lems.

Many of these inscriptions were threefold in
form, and, as has already been shown, it was now
generally believed that they represented three
separate languages. The first was now read, and
it was ancient Persian. The second called for at-
tempts at its decipherment. None knew what
people these were whose language appeared side
by side with ancient Persian, and opinion now
called them Scythians, and now Medes. But what-
ever their language might be named, some one
must essay its decipherment. In reality a number
of men in different places were at work simulta-
neously upon the fascinating problem. It was to
be expected that Grotefend would attempt the task,
and this he did, but, unfortunately, without com-
plete success. He was, indeed, hardly fitted by
his training for work of this kind. The great
achievement of really beginning this decipherment

176 HISTORY OF BABYLONIA AND ASSYRIA.

was reserved for Niels Louis Westergaard, whose
very first paper ' laid the foundations for the suc-
cessful reading of the second class of Persepolitan
writing. His method was very similar to that
used by Grotefend in the decipherment of Persian.
He selected the names for Darius, for Hystaspes,
for the Persians, and for other nationalities, and
compared them with their equivalents in the Per-
sian texts. By this means he learned a number
of the signs and sought by their use in other
words to spell out syllables or words, whose
meanings were then ascertained by conjecture and
by comparison. He estimated the number of
separate characters at eighty-two or eighty-seven,
and judged the writing to be partly alphabetical
and partly syllabic. The language he called Median,
and classified it in the " Scythian," rather than the
"Japhetic," family. But Westergaard's results
were tentative at the best, and needed the severe
criticism of another mind. These they obtained
in two papers by Dr. Hincks, read before the
Royal Irish Academy.* Hincks clearly advanced
upon Westergaard, and again, as before, showed
himself a master of all the processes of cuneiform
decipherment.

After Westergaard and Hincks the work was

^ " Zur Entzifferung der Achamenidischen Keilschrift zweiter Gattung,"
von N. L. Westergaard, Zeitschrift fur die Kunde des Morgenlandes, vi,
pp. 337, ff.

'On the first and second kinds of Persepolitan writing, by the Rev.
Edward Hincks, D.D., Transactio?is of the Royal Irish Academy^ xxi, 114, ff.
On the three kinds of Persepolitan writing, and on the Babylonian lapi-
dary characters, ibid., pp. 233-248.

THE DECIPHERMENT OF ASSYRIAN. 177

taken up by a French scholar, F. de Saulcy, who
was able to see farther than either. De Saulcy
looked back upon the decipherment of ancient
Persian and compared the signs of the Median
language, for so he also named this second lan-
guage. He observed that they were similar, then
he looked ahead and saw that they appeared
almost identical with the characters in the third
language, to which he gave the name Assyi'tan.
De Saulcy was not the fii'st to give this title to
the third form of writing found at Persepolis —
that designation was now becoming common — but
he was the first to point out the remarkable re-
semblance between the signs or characters in the
second and third groups of the texts. It was now
clearer than ever that if the second language,
whatever it was, whether Median or Scythian,
could be deciphered, the way would be open to
the reading of Assyrian. To this great end de
Saulcy contributed by his increased success in the
study of Median.

All three, Westergaard, Hincks, and de Saulcy,
had done their work with very defective materials.
It was very improbable that the study of the
Median or Scythian would get beyond de Saulcy's
attempts without the publication of fresh material.
This was soon forthcoming, through the generosity
of Sir Henry Rawlinson. At great personal cost
of money, time, and dangerous labor he had com-
pleted the copy of the inscription at Behistun.
The first column was in ancient Persian, and in

178 HISTORY OF BABYLONIA AND ASSYRIA.

tte decipherment of this he had won imperishable
fame. The second column he had not time to
publish at once himself, and therefore gave it over
to Mr. Edwin Nonis, with full permission to use
it as he wished. Norris, leaning in the beginning
strongly upon Westergaard, succeeded in decipher-
ing almost all of it. His paper, read before the
Royal Asiatic Society of London on July 3, 1852/
was almost epoch-making in the history of the
study, and it was long before it was superseded.

The work of Noms drew Westergaard" once
more into the arena with criticism, with fresh con-
jectures, and with several marked improvements.
Mordtmann' followed him in a paper too little
leaning upon the work of predecessors, and there-
fore containing useless combinations and repetitions,
but, nevertheless, making a few gains upon the
problems. He named the language Susian — and
the name was happily chosen. A. H. Sayce*

• "Memoir on the Scythic Version of the Behistun Inscription," by Mr.
E. Norris, Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society, xv, pp. 1-213; addenda,
pp. 431-433.

^ Westergaard, Om den anden eller den sakiske Art af Akhaemenidernes
Kileskrift, in '■'■ Det kongelike Danske Vedenskahernes Selskabs Skrifter."
Femte Raekke ; Historisk og philosophisk Af deling ; Andet Binds, f orste
Hefte, pp. 39-1 78. Kjobenhavn, 1856.

3"Erklarung der Keilinschriften zweiter Gattung," von A. D. Mordt-
mann, Zeitschrift der Deutschen Morgenliindischen Gesellschaft, xv, pp.
1-126. "Ueber die Keilinschriften zweiter Gattung," ibid., xxiv, pp.
1-84.

■'"The Languages of the Cuneiform Inscriptions of Elam and Media,"
by A. H. Sayce, Transactio7is of the Society of Biblical ArchcBology, iii, pp.
465-485. " The Inscriptions of Mai-Amir and the Language of the Second
Column of the Akhaemenian Inscriptions," by A. H. Sayce, Actes du
Vlieme Congres International des Orientalistes, tenu en 1883 a Leide,
2ieme partie.. section 1 : Semitique, pp. 637-756.

THE DECIPHERMENT OF ASSYRIAN. 179

attacked the problem next in two brilliant papers,
the first of which even went so far as to present
a transcription and partial translation of two small
inscriptions. The translation was necessarily frag-
mentary, but none of the former workers had
equaled it. He argued learnedly for the name
Amardian for the language, and returned again to
this matter in a second paper, which likewise reg-
istered progress in the decipherment. Oppert,'
who gave most of his great skill to other ques-
tions, also studied these texts shortly after Sayce,
and made contributions of importance to the
problem. The problem of the second form of
writing at Pereepolis and at Behistun was solved,
and in 1890 Weissbach' was able to gather up all
the loose threads and present clear and convinc-
ing translations of the long-puzzling inscriptions.

If now we pause for a moment and look back,
we cannot fail to be moved by the patience, skill,
and learning that had been employed in the un-
raveling of these tangled threads of ancient writ-
ing. It was a long and a hard hill, and many a
weary traveler had toiled up its slope. Persian
and Susian at last were read. The progress, slow
at first, had at last become very rapid. As yet,
however, the historical results had been compar-
atively meager. The inscriptions were not nu-
merous, and their words were few. But how

' See especially Jules Oppert, Le Peiqyle et la Langne des Medes. Paris,
1879.

* F. H. Weissbach, Die Achdmemdeninschriften Zweiter Art. Leipzig,
1890.

180 HISTORY OF BABYLONIA AND ASSYRIA.

different this would be if only tlie third language
could be deciphered. That third language at
Persepolis and at Behistun was undoubtedly As-
syrian or Babylonian. Here in Susian and in
Persian were the clews for its deciphering. If it
could be read, men would have before them all
the literatures of Assyria and Babylonia. What
that meant was even now daily becoming more
clear. While Norris was working quietly in
England Botta and Layard were unearthing in-
scriptions by the score in Assyria, and the first
fruits of Babylonian discovery were likewise find-
ing their way to Europe. With such a treasui'e-
trove it was not surprising that men almost jostled
each other in their passionate eagerness to leam
the meanings of the strange complicated signs
which stood third at Persepolis and at Behistun.

Grotefend had picked out among the Assyrian
transcripts of the Persepolis inscriptions the names
of the kings, just as he had in the old Persian
texts, but was able to go but little further. More
material was imperatively necessaiy before much
progress could possibly be made. As soon as the
letters from Botta to Mohl were published an-
nouncing the discoveries at Khorsabad a man was
found who plunged boldly into the attempt at
deciphering Assyrian. Isidore de Loewenstein
made his chief point of departure in a comparison
of the Assyrian and Egyptian inscriptions on the
Caylus vase. * It was hardly a good place to be-

1 £!ssai de dechiffremeiit de VEvriture Assyrienne pour servir a Vexplica-

THE DECIPHERMENT OF ASSYRIAN. 181

gin, and it is therefore surprising that his success
was so great as it really was. Loewenstein made the
exceedingly happy stroke of suggesting that the
Assyrian language belonged to the Semitic family
of speech, and was therefore sister to Hebrew,
Arabic, and Aramaean. * This suggestion would
alone dignify his work, for it became exceedingly
fruitful in the hands of later workers. He was,
however, not very successful in determining the
values of the signs, and in that there was the
greatest need for success. In the second memoir '
Loewenstein was much more successful, for his
point of departure was more happily chosen. He
now chose for comparison the proper names of Per-
sians, ' which were transliterated in the Assyrian
texts. With such comparisons a beginning might
well be made, and this beginning Loewenstein
made in happy fashion. To him, however, it was
not given to read an Assyrian text; that proved
to be a task much more difficult than anyone had
imagined.

But workers were increasing in numbers, and
all had hope that at last the way out to the light
must be found.

Of all these none was gifted with such marvel-
ous skill in decipherment as Edward Hincks. He

tion du Ifonument de Kkorsabad, par Isidore Lowenstein. Paris and Leip-
zig, 1845.

> Ibid., pp. 12, 13.

' Expose des elemetits constitutifs du si^steme de la troisieme ecriture cunei-
forme de Persepolis, par Isidore Lowenstein. Paris and Leipzig, 1847.

^ Ibid., p. 10, footnote 1, where a complete list of the names used is
siven.

182 HISTORY OF BABYLONIA AND ASSYRIA.

had already had a goodly share in the decipher-
ment of the first form of the Persepolis inscrip-
tions, and, as we have just seen, his work upon
the second was exceedingly important. Both these
services he was now to surpass, and apparently
with ease. Upon November 30, and again upon
December 14, 1846, he read before the Royal
Irish Academy two papers, afterward printed
as one,' in which he plunged boldly into the de-
cipherment of the Babylonian. In a third paper,
read on January 11, 1847," he modified somewhat
the views expressed in the two former papers, and
advanced a step farther. In the preparation of
these papers it seems quite clear that Hincks had
received no help from any other worker. Loewen-
stein's first paper he had not seen, and the second
paper was not yet published. The work of
Hincks was independent in every way. What he
accomplished in those three papers it would be
difficult to exaggerate. A number of Babylonian
signs were definitely determined in meaning, and
the meanings then assigned remain the standard
to this day. He even succeeded at this time in
determining coiTectly a large part of the numerals.
He was on the clear high road to a reading of the
texts, but he was too careful to venture to trans-
late. His method, even under the pressure of the

' On the three kinds of Persepolitan writing, and on the Babylonian lapi-
dary characters. Transactions of the Royal Irish Academy, xxi, " Polite
Literature," pp. 233, ff.

* On the third Persepolitan writing, and on the mode of expressing numerals
in cuneatic characters, ibid., pp. 249, ff.

THE DECIPHERMENT OF ASSYRIAN. 183

enthusiasm that must have tingled in his veins, re
mained rigidly scientific.

And now the inscriptions which Botta had un
earthed at Khorsabad began to come to Paris
From the heavy wooden cases came slabs of stone
covered with dust, but bearing strange wedge
shaped characters. Henri Adrien de Longperier
was now to arrange them in the same order in the
Museum of the Louvre. He could not do this
work without a longing to read these unknown
characters, and so, like others elsewhere, he began
to ponder over the hard problem. He was famil-
iar with Loewenstein's work, and so began his own
efforts standing upon Loewenstein's shoulders. It
is true that Loewenstein could not give him much
help with individual signs, but he had at least
selected a group of signs, after comparison with old
Persian, which he believed represented the word
" great," and was probably to be pronounced rahoii.
Loewenstein had learned this from the Persepolis
inscriptions. Longperier found the same group in
the inscriptions from Khorsabad. He assumed its
correctness and pushed on a bit further. In these
texts of Botta a little inscription was often re-
peated, and after long comparison A. de Longperier
translated the whole inscription in this way :

" Glorious is Sargon, the great king, the [ . . . ]
king, king of kings, king of the land of Assyria." '

' Journal Asiatique, x, pp. 532, ff. Comp. also Revue Archeologique,
1847, pp. 501, ff., " Lettre a M. Isidore Lowenstern sur les inscriptions
cuneiformes de I'Assyrie" (20 Septembre, 1847).

184 HISTORY OF BABYLONIA AND ASSYRIA.

But the strange thing about this translation was
this, that he could not name or pronounce a single
word in it all except the one word, raboic " great."
Yet the researches that were to follow showed
that the translation was almost a full and correct
representation of the original. If de Longperier
had had before him the list of signs and meanings
which Hincks had already proposed, he might have
gone further. As it was, he made out the name
of Sargon, and there paused. When one looks
back upon all this work in France, England, and
Ireland, and sees the little gain here and another
there, he cannot but think that the slow progress
was chiefly due to lack of communication. If, by
some means, each worker might have known at
once the move of his friendly rival, the progress
must inevitably have been more rapid. It is in-
deed true that the men who worked in France
managed through published paper or letter or
society meeting to keep fairly well in touch. But
the much more brilliant Irishman beyond two
stormy channels found no way of learning promptly
what they were thinking, and, still worse, was not
readily able to make known his work to them.
So much was this latter fact painfully true that
the keen Frenchmen worked steadily on without
his invaluable aid. This lack of ready communi-
cation of hypotheses and of results still continues
in a measure, in spite of all improvements in
printing and in dissemination of documents, and
appeal's to be increased rather than diminished by

THE DECIPHERMENT OF ASSYRIAN. 185

the vast number of societies and of journals de-
voted to the pursuit of science.

Botta was now back again in Paris and was
publishing in parts a memoir ' upon the language of
the inscriptions which he had brought back to the
world. He made but little effort to decipher
or to translate, but he collated all the inscriptions
which he had found, and made elaborate lists of
the signs which he found upon them. He differ-
entiated no less than 642 separate signs — enough
to make the stoutest heart of the decipherers quail.
For every one of these signs a value, or a meaning,
or both, must be found. This at once and forever
settled all dispute about an alphabet. If there
were 642 characters, some of them certainly must
represent syllables. But how could there possi-
bly be so many syllables ? Botta looked over the
Persepolis inscriptions, comparing inscription No. 1,
that is Persian, with inscription No. 3, that is
Babylonian. In No. 1 he sometimes found the
name of a country represented by several signs,
whereas in No. 3, in the proper place, he found
the same country represented by only one sign.
It now became clear that this Babylonian lan-
guage was partly at least written in ideograms.
Here was another added difficulty, for even if

• This memoir of Botta began in the Journal Asiatlgue, Mai, 1847, and
continued until Mars, 1848. It was published entire under the title Me-
moire srir Vecriture mneiforme Assyrienne, par M. Botta, Consul de France
k Mossul. Paris, 1848. For a rather more detailed account of Botta'3
method in this investigation see Hommel, Oeschichte, pp. 94, 95, and
Kaulen, Assyrien und Babylonien, 5te Aufl., pp. 137, 138.
14

186 HISTOEY OF BABYLONIA AND ASSYEIA.

one should learn the meaning of these ideograms,
how would it ever be possible to learn the word
itself, or, to speak loosely for the moment, its
pronunciation? That was a problem, surely, and
the means for its solution did not appear at that
time, nor for many days. Botta's work went on,
however, without this most desirable knowledge,
and he finally picked out the words for king,
land, people, and a few others of less importance,
but still could not spell the words out in Roman
characters. He could set down a sign and
say, "There, that means ^land^ but I absolutely
do not know how the Assyrians read it." With
knowledge so defective as this Botta naturally did
not attempt any complete translations. He had,
however, made a useful contribution in positive
directions, and a still more useful one negatively
by sho^^dng how untenable were some of the old
alphabetic theories.

Meantime de Saulcy went on with his struggles
over the Persepolis and other inscriptions of the
Achsemenian kings. He published some papei-s
which unhappily reached no successful result.
This has brought him somewhat under the ban of
the unthinking, who themselves never dare make
a mistake, and hence never accomplish anything.
De Saulcy made the mistakes, soon perceived
them, and went on cheerfully to repair them. He
had also been working at Egyptian, and had
learned much in that school of the processes of
decipherment. In this he was like Hincks, and

THE DECIPHERMENT OF ASSYRIAN. 187

de Longperier seems also to have gained useful
hints in the same school. Now de Saulcy was
ready to take the daring step of attempting to
decipher and translate an entire inscription. This
was the first publication of an entire Assyrian
inscription, with a commentary justifying and ex-
plaining the method word by word. In this
paper de Saulcy set down one hundred and
twenty signs the meaning of which he thought he
knew, but the uncertainty was great, and even he
could hardly claim that he had resolved fairly the
difficulties which hung around the repetition of
signs for the same consonant.

What de Saulcy could not accomplish was
achieved by Hincks. In a remarkable paper on
the Khorsabad inscriptions, read June 25, 1849,'
Hincks showed how vowels were expressed along
with their consonants in the same sign. There
was, for example, a sign for RA, and another for
m, and still another for RU. Then there was a
sign for AR, and presumably also for UR and
IR, though he did not fully and perfectly define
the last tw^o. Here was an enormous gain, for to
all these separate signs de Saulcy had assigned
the meaning R. This paper was not fully com-
pleted until January 19, 1850, up to which time
Hincks continued to make additions and correc-
tions to it. At its very end he added a few lines
of translation from Assyrian. This was indeed a

' Transactions of the Royal Irish Academy, vol. xxii, " Polite Literature,"
pp. 1, ff.

188 HISTORY OF BABYLONIA AND ASSYRIA.

translation in a sense attained by no other inter-
preter. It gave fii'st tlie Assyrian cliaractei-s, then
an attempted transcription into Roman charac-
ters, and finally the almost complete and very
nearly correct translation. It is impossible to
read this paper at this late date without astonish-
ment at its grasj) of fundamental principles, its
keen insight into linguistic form and life, and its
amazing display of powers of combination.

The year 1849 had ended well, and the year
1850 had begun with every sign of hope. Now
were even greater things in store. Layard's dis-
coveries at Nineveh had begun to reach London,
where they could not fail to rouse afresh Assyrian
study, just as Botta's had done in France. It
was natural that the first man to avail himself of
the fresh material thus made accessible should be
Sir Henry Rawlinson. No man had suffered so
much in his efforts to secure copies of inscrip-
tions, and now that he was again in London it is
not surprising that he should at once seize upon
the beautiful obelisk which Layard had brought
from the mound of Nimroud. In two papers
read January 19 and February 16 ' Rawlinson gave
an elaborate and an acute handling of this great
inscription, concluding mth a tentative translation
of those parts of it which appeared to his study to
give a reasonable sense. If we compare this work
of Rawlinson with the work of Hincks, it suffers
considerably by the comparison. Rawlinson, it is

^Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society, xii, pp. 401, ff.

THE DECIPHERMENT OF ASSYRIAN, 189

true, has often hit the true sense of a passage,
more often he has even presented a smooth trans-
lation which late study has gone far to justify.
On the other hand, he did not give text, tran-
scription, and translation together, as Hincks had
done, and it was therefore impossible for students
who could not examine the original to criticise,
verify, or disprove the values he assigned to the
characters. It is clear that without this there can
never be definite, determined progress in any work
of interpretation. Nevertheless, though the means
for this had not been given by Rawlinson in his
translation, he had discussed a number of words,
printing the sign with its transcription and trans-
lation, and thereby supplying full material for the
use of later workers.

But even after this Rawlinson's great con-
tribution to the decipherment was still to be
given. AVhile scholars in Europe had been strug-
gling over the Persepolis inscriptions he was liv-
ing alone in Baghdad, seeking every opportunity
to study the rocks at Behistun, and so obtain a
complete copy of the great trilingual inscription
of Darius. He had already published the Persian
part of this text ; and Edwin Norris, with his per-
mission, had issued the second (then called Median)
part. The most important part was the Baby-
lonian, and the copy of this Rawlinson still held
in his own possession, laboriously working it over,
and trying to wring the last secret from the com-
plex signs before he ventured upon its issue to

190 HISTORY OF BABYLONIA AND ASSYRIA.

the world. For the length of this delay Rawlin-
son has been most unjustly blamed and criticised.*
That he was jealous of his fame is made clear
enough by the controversial letters of later years,
but in this he was well enough justified. Others
were at work in the effort to decipher these long-
lost records of old world peoples. They were
eager for the phantom of fame for themselves, and
few would be likely to take pains to conserve to
Rawlinson the fame which was justly due his
achievements, as some little compensation for the
loss of ease and for the privations and toils which
he had endured.

At last in 1851 appeared the long-expected,
eagerly-awaited Memoir^ Rawlinson published
one hundred and twelve lines of inscription in
cuneiform type, accompanied with an interlinear
transcription into Roman characters and a transla-
tion into Latin. To this was added a body of
notes in which many principles of grammar and of
interj^retation were discussed, together with brief
lists of signs.

This Memoir of Rawlinson is justly to be con-
sidered an epoch-making production. Here at
last was a long and difficult inscription almost
completely translated, and here was the subject
of the Assyiian language carried even to the point

' See the allusions made to the subject by F. Max Miiller in his Bio-
graphical Essays^ pp. 284, 287, and elsewhere. These and other allu-
sions in the same paper which seemed to reflect upon Rawlinson led to an
animated controversy in the Athenceum in 1884.

^Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society, vol. xiv, entire (1851).

THE DECIPHERMENT OF ASSYRIAN. 191

of close disputing about grammatical niceties. It
was indeed tlie completion of a gigantic task pur-
sued amid great difficulties, with a single eye.
Science and society have too little honored the
man who dared and executed this great task.

But great as was the result of Rawlinson's work
there was a sense in which it brought new diffi-
culties and trials to the patient interpreters of
the texts. It became perfectly clear from his
studies that in Assyrian or Babylonian the same
sign did not always possess the same meaning.
Such signs as these Rawlinson called polyphones.
This was added difficulty upon difficulty. Here,
for example, was a sign which had the syllabic
values Kcd^ Mih, Dan, etc. This principle seemed
to some of Rawlinson's critics perfectly absurd.
In the popular mind, also, it did very much to
destroy all faith in the proposed interpretation of
the Babylonian inscriptions. "How," one man
would say, " do you know when this sign is to be
read Kal, or when Mih, or how do you know that
it does not mean Dan ? " " Yes," adds another,
" how do you expect us to believe that a great peo-
ple like the Assyrians and Babylonians ever could
have kept record with such a language, or with
such a system of writing as that ? The whole thing
is impossible on the face of it." Of course such
criticism could make no impression upon Rawlin-
son himself; his knowledge had come to him by
painful steps and slow, and was not thus easy to
overthrow. It did, however, have weight in popii-

192 HISTOKY OF BABYLONIA AND ASSYRIA.

lar estimation, and the popular estimate cannot be
despised or cast aside even by scholars. It had
to be reckoned with, as Rawlinson knew well
enough. It would be easy after a while to prove
that his interpretation was correct — for that day
he could wait patiently. It was, however, un-
fortunate that Kawlinson could not have set foj'th
all his reasons and all his processes, together with
all the critical apparatus. In this particular one
must feel some disappointment over the great
Memoir — in this at least it was not equal to the
papers of Hincks.

While Rawlinson was now thought by many to
have solved the problem in the main points, Hincks
never relaxed for a moment his energetic pursuit
of interpretation.

In July and August, 1850, he appears to have
attended the meeting of the British Association at
Edinburgh, where he circulated among the mem-
bers a lithographed plate containing a number of
signs registering forms of verbs. This paper, of
which only a brief sketch was published,' has been
almost overlooked in the history of the progress in
Assyrian research. It is, however, of great im-
portance. It shows that Hincks had gone beyond
the point of mere guessing at the meanings of
sentences, and had reached the point of studying
the grammar of the language which was in his

' Report of the Twentieth Meeting of the British Association for the Ad-
vancement of Science, held at Edinburgh in July and August, 1850.
London, 1851, p. 140, with plate at the end.

THE DECIPHERMENT OF ASSYRIAN. 193

hands. In this field he was soon to excel all
others, and lay deep and solid foundations of
Assyrian grammar.

During the year 1851 Hincks appears to have
published nothing, and was then probably engaged
in a study of all the material that was accessible. In
the next year he published a list of two hundred and
fifty-two Assyrian characters, the rules of which he
discussed separately.' This paper marks an extraor-
dinary advance over all that had gone before. He
now applies no longer the old methods of decipher-
ment alone, but adds to this method a new and
far more delicate one. He analyzes grammatical
forms, and shows how a root appears in different
forms according to its use in different conjugations.
By this means he is able to test the values proposed
and to verify them. In this paper, also, he showed
that Assyrian possessed a most elaborate system
of writing. There were first signs for single
vowels, such as a, i, u. Secondly there were simple
syllabic characters, such as ab, ib, ub, ba, bi, bu;
thirdly there were complex syllabic characters, such
as bar, ban, rab, etc.

Meantime Jules Oppert had returned from
Babylonia and soon after visited England to see
the British Museum collections. He was present
at the meeting of the British Association at Glas-
gow in 1855, and there heard Sir Henry Kawlin-

' On the Assyrio- Babylonian Phonetic Characters, by the Rev. Edward
Hincks, D.D. Transactions of the Royal Irish Academy^ vol. xxii, part ii,
" Polite Literature," pp. 29.3, ff.

194 HISTORY OF BABYLONIA AND ASSYRIA.

son's account of the excavations at Birs Nimroud,
and himself spoke upon the results of his own
work in Babylonia.'

The workers were now increasing in numbers,
for Oppert was a great accession in Paris, after
his two years of absence, and in England there
was a new accession in the person of Fox Talbot,
a remarkably gifted man. But with all the new
workers in Ireland, France, and England, who
gave in their adhesion to the principles and the
results of decipherment, there were many who de-
rided or who doubted the whole matter. Often
before had doubts been expressed about the
translations, and the investigators passed quietly
on and paid no attention. H. Fox Talbot was,
however, in the fresh enthusiasm of his scholastic
life, unwilling longer to hear these doubts without
some effort to dissipate them. He therefore de-
vised a novel and striking plan. Rawlinson was
now about to publish for the trustees of the Brit-
ish Museum lithographic cojpies of selected As-
syrian inscriptions. He had already copied and
had lithographed the contents of a cylinder, which
he asserted contained the name Tiglath-pileser.
An advance copy of this lithograph was sent to
Fox Talbot, who at once made a translation of the
parts which he could readily make out. This
translation he put in a packet, carefully sealed, and

' Report of the Tioenty-fifth greeting of the British Association for the
Advancement of Science, held at Glasgow in September, 1855. London,
185G, pp. Ixxii, 148, 149.

THE DECIPHERMENT OF ASSYRIAN. 195

sent to the Eoyal Asiatic Society, accompanied
by a letter tlie purpose of which appears clearly in
the following extracts :

" Having been favored with an early copy of
the lithograph of this inscription by the liberality
of the trustees of the British Museum and of Sir
H. Rawlinson, I have made from it the translation
which I now offer to the society. A few words
will explain my object in doing so :

" Many persons have hitherto refused to believe
in the truth of the system by which Dr. Hincks
and Sir H. Rawlinson have interpreted the As-
syrian writings, because it contains many things
entirely contrary to their preconceived opinions.
For example, each cuneiform group represents a
syllable, but not always the same syllable ; some-
times one and sometimes another. To which it
is replied that such a license would open the door
to all manner of uncertainty ; that the ancient As.
Syrians themselves, the natives of the country,
could never have read such a kind of writing, and
that, therefore, the system cannot be true, and
the interpretations based upon it must be falla-
cious." '

This was the situation as Talbot apprehended it,
and he suggested that his translation be kept sealed
until Sir Henry Rawlinson's should be published,
and then that the two versions be compared. If
then the two were found in substantial agreement,
it would go far to convince the doubting, as each

■ Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society, xviii, p. 150.

196 HISTORY OF BABYLONIA AND ASSYRIA.

translatiou would have been made entirely inde-
pendently of the other. When this communication
was read before the Society Sir Henry Rawlinson
moved that measures be taken to carry out Mr.
Talbot's plan upon even a greater scale than he
had purposed. It was determined to request Sir
Henry Rawlinson, Edward Hincks, and Jules Op-
pert to send to the society, under sealed covers,
translations of this same inscription. These trans-
lations were then to be opened and compared in
the presence of the following committee; The
Very Rev. the Dean of St. Paul's (Dr. Milman),
Dr. AVhewell, Sir Gardner Wilkinson, Mr. Grote,
the Rev. W. Cureton, and Prof. H. H. Wilson.

Sir Henry Rawlinson furnished an almost com-
plete version, but neither Dr. Hincks nor Dr.
Oppert had had time to complete theirs. They
sent in, however, enough for effective comparison.
The versions were found indeed to be in closest
correspondence, and the committee reported that :

"The coincidences between the translations,
both as to the general sense and verbal rendering,
were very remarkable. In most parts there was
a strong correspondence in the meaning assigned,
and occasionally a curious identity of expression as
to particular words. Where the versions differed
very materially each translator had in many
cases marked the passage as one of doubtful or
unascertained signification. In the interpretation
of numbers there was throughout a singular cor-
respondence."

THE DECIPHERMENT OF ASSYRIAN. 197

The examiners theu drew up tables of coin-
cidences and of variations, and the Royal Asiatic
Society published all four translations side by
side.

The effect in Great Britain of this demonstra-
tion was great and "widespread. It gradually be-
came clear to the popular mind that the Assyrian
inscriptions had really been read, and the popular
mind in Great Britain is a force in science as in
politics. The results of its influence would soon
appear.

With this popular demonstration the task of
interpreting the Assyrian and Babylonian inscrip-
tions may properly be regarded as having reached
an assured position. It was indeed necessary that
all the work from the very beginning of Grotefend's
first attempts at decipherment of the Persepolis
inscriptions should be tested by fresh minds.
This testing it secured as man after man came to
the fore as a student of Assyriology. The ground
was, however, fully gained and completely held.
Assyrian study was able to take its j^lace by the
side of older sisters in the universities of the
world. The material which Botta had sent to
Paris was being quickly read, and papers dealing
with its historic results were appearing almost
weekly. In England the inscriptions which had
been sent home from the excavations of Layard,
Loftus, Taylor, and especially Rassam, were yield-
ing up their secrets. It could not be long until
popular opinion would demand that the excava-

198 HISTORY OF BABYLONIA AND ASSYRIA.

tions be resumed. At this time, however, workei-s
were busy securing the results of previous expe-
ditions.

In the midst of all these efforts at decipherment
there began a movement destined to influence
greatly the progress of Assyrian studies in Eng-
land. On the 18th of November, 1870, there met
in the rooms of Mr. Joseph Bonomi, Lincoln's Inn
Fields, a company of men summoned by him and
by Dr. Samuel Birch, of the British Museum.
They were bidden " to take into consideration the
present state of archaeological research, and, if it
appeared desirable, to institute an association for
directing the course of future investigations, and
to preserve a record of materials already obtained,
an association whose special objects should be
to collect from the fast-perishing monuments of
the Semitic and cognate races illustrations of their
histoiy and peculiarities; to investigate and sys-
tematize the antiquities of the ancient and mighty
empires and primeval peoples, whose records are
centered around the venerable pages of the Bible."
As the result of this preliminary conference a
public meeting was convened at the rooms of the
Royal Society of Literature on the 9th of Decem-
ber, 1870, at which time the Society of Biblical
Ai'chseology was formed. Dr. Samuel Birch was
chosen president, and Mr. W. R. Cooper, secretary,
while Sir Henry Rawlinson, the Right Hon. W. E.
Gladstone, and Dean R. Payne Smith were vice
presidents. Among the earliest list of membei-s

THE DECIPHERMENT OF ASSYRIAN. 199

were found Edwin Norris, Hormuzd Rassam, W.
H. Fox Talbot, Rev. A. H. Sayce, and George
Smith. The society was successful from the very
beginning of its existence, its influence upon As-
syrian and Babylonian study being particularly
noticeable. The first volume of Transactions was
issued in December, 1871, and in it Fox Talbot
wi'ote on " An Ancient Eclipse " (in Assyria), and
George Smith conti'ibuted an elaborate paper on
"The Early History of Babylonia." In a short
time the society's publications became the chief
depository of investigations made by English
scholars in the books of the Assyrians and Baby-
lonians.

200 HISTORY OF BABYLONIA AND ASSYRIA.

CHAPTER VIL

THE DECIPHERMENT OF SUMERIAN ' AND OF VANNIC.

The first students who attempted to decipher
the ancient Persian inscriptions made much of the
difficulty of the cuneiform characters. They were
so totally unlike any other form of writing that
even while men were busy in the effort to find
out their meaning disputes began as to their
origin. If the signs had looked like rude pictures
of objects, as did Egyptian hieroglyphics, there
would have been some clue to their origin, but
during the decipherment process no one could
discern any such resemblance. When the decipher-
ment of Assyrian began men wondered still more
as to the inventors or discoverers of the strangely
complicated signs. When Assyrian was finally
read it became clear to several investigators almost
simultaneously that it belonged to the Semitic

' The history of the Sumerian discoveries and disputes has been written
by Weissbach {Die Sumerische Frage, von F. H. Weissbaeh, Leipzig, 1898)
in so masterly fashion that all who now study this interesting and im-
portant episode in cuneiform research can hope for nothing more than
the position of gleaners, and may be pardoned if they sometimes doubt
whether even a single full head of grain remains. It were pedantic to at-
tempt to do the work all over again without drawing upon his unrivaled
collection of materials, and this chapter therefore depends very much upon
him, and hearty acknowledgment is here made of the fact. It attempts to
seize upon the salient points and emphasize them, but students who wish
to follow the minute discussions, unsuitable for a book of this character,
must have recourse to Weissbaeh.

SUMERIAN AND TANNIC DECIPHERMENT. 201

family of languages. That discovery intensified
the difficulty concerning its method of writing.
In 1850 Edward Hincks called attention' to the
fact that, though Assyrian was a Semitic tongue,
yet was its script totally unlike that used by any
of the related languages. He suggested that the
script was related to the Egyptian, and put forth
the hypothesis that it was invented by an Indo-
European people, who had been in contact ^vith
Egyptians and had borrowed something from
their method of writins^.

Shortly afterward (1853) Rawlinson wrote to
the Roj^al Asiatic Society' announcing the dis-
covery of a number of inscriptions "in the
Scythian language," which he thought were re-
lated to the Median texts of the Persepolis in-
scriptions. He pronounced these new inscriptions
to be older than the Pereepolis inscriptions, and
also older than the dynasty of Nebuchadrezzar,
and argued that the Scythians were in possession
of the w^estern country before the Semites ap-
peared. He was clearly of the opinion that he
had found inscriptions written in cuneiform char-
acters, but in a non-Semitic language. He seems,
in a word, to be moving toward the idea that
these Scythians had invented the cuneiform meth-
od of writing. This view was propounded in the

' Report of the Twentieth Meeting of the British Association for the Ad-
vancement of Science^ 1850. Transactions of the Sections, p. 140. See also
Transactions of the Rotjal Irish Academy, vol. xxii, " Polite Literature,"
p. 295 (dated November 24, 1852).

- Athenceum, 1853, p. 228.
1.1

202 HISTORY OF BABYLONIA AND ASSYRIA.

very next year by Oppert,' who attempted to
show how this assumed Scythian script had passed
over into the hands of the Assyrians.

Rawlinson was now busily engaged in the in-
vestigation of the new problem, and on December
1, 1855, was able to report substantial progress to
the Royal Asiatic Society." He had been study-
ing so-called " Scythian " inscriptions as old as the
thirteenth century B. C, and he found the same
language in the left columns of the Assyi'ian syl-
labaries. These syllabaries he explained as con-
sisting of comparative alphabets, grammars, and
vocabularies of the Scythian and Assyrian lan-
guages. His theory now was that these Babylo-
nian Scythians were known as Accadians. They
were the people who had built the cities and
founded the civilization of Babylonia. The Sem-
ites had merely entered into their labors, and had
adopted from them the cuneiform system of writ-
ing. The language of the Accadians he thought
more closely related to the Mongolian and Man-
chu type than to any others of the Turanian lan-
guages.

Hincks had meantime been studying some small
bilingual texts and was prepared to state some of
the peculiarities of the newly found Accadian
language.' He observed, in the first place, that

^ Atheneeum franr;ais, 3, p. 991, ff., October 21, 1854.
^Athenceum, 1855, p. 1438.

^ Zeitschrift der Deutschen Morgenldndischen Gesellschaft, x, p. 516, ff.
(1856).

SUMEEIAN AND VANNIC DECIPHERMENT. 203

verbs were entirely unchangecl in all persons and
numbers, while the substantives formed a plural
by the addition of ua or \oa. He found also
postpositions where we should use prepositions^
and this was a resemblance to the Turanian lan-
guages, though he would not go so far as Rawlin-
son in saying to which one of them Accadian
seemed most nearly related. A year later Hincks '
abandoned the name Accadian, preferring to call
it by some such name as Old Chaldean. This
was his last contribution to the investigation of
the inscriptions and the languages which they ex-
pressed. On December 3, 1866, he died, leaving
behind an imperishable record of painstaking
labor, accurate scholarship, and amazing fertility
and resourcefulness of mind. To the new science
of Assyriology he had made more contributions of
permanent value than perhaps any other among
the early decipherers. The death of Hincks left
Jules Oppert as the leader in the work of unravel-
ing the tangled threads of the new language.

In 1869 Oppert read a learned paper' on the
origin of the Chaldeans, in which he gave the
name Chaldean or Sumerian as the name of
the language which Kawlinson had called Acca-
dian. The name Sumerian was judged by many
to be more suitable and gradually came into use,
though Accadian is even yet used by some schol-

■ Atlantis, iv, 67, ff.

* Comptes rendus de la Societe fran^aise de tiumismatiqice et d''arch€ologie,
i, 73, ff.

204 HISTORY OF BABYLONIA AND ASSYRIA.

ars, while for a short time the phrase Sumero-
Accadian was in vogue.

Up to this time the study of Accadian or Su-
merian had been carried on very largely along
historical and geographical Hues. No single text
had been studied, expounded, and translated until
1870, when Professor A. H. Sayce' devoted to a
small inscription of Duugi the most elaborate
philological exegesis. The words in Accadian
were here compared one by one with words of
similar phonetic value in more than a score of
languages and dialects, and for the first time Ac-
cadian loan words were recognized in Assyrian.
This paper marked a distinct advance in the study
of Sumerian, at the same time that it indicated
the position attained by his predecessors in the
new study. Sayce had proved a worthy sue-
cessor of Hincks in philological insight, and had
contributed much to the grammatical study of
Sumerian. He was speedily followed in this by
Opi^ert, who contributed more grammatical ma-
terial in two excellent papers.'

Up to this time none had dared to compile a
Sumerian grammar, though material was rapidly
accumulating. But in 1873 Lenormant began to
issue the second series of his Lettres assyrio-
logiques,^ the first part of which contained a com-

' " On an Akkadian Seal," Journal of Philology, iii, 1, ff., 1871.

^Jou7-nal Asiatiqiie, ser. i, 113, fif., and Memoh-es du I Congres intern, des
Orientalistes, ii, 216, ff. Paris, 1876.

^ Lettres assyriologiqnes, II Serie : Etudes accadiennes, T. i, en 4 parties.
Paris, 1874.

SUMERIAN AND VANNIC DECIPHERMENT. 205

plete and systematic grammar of Sumerian. lu
the section relating to phonetics Lenormant noted
the correspondence between ng and m, and iden-
tified Burner ( == Sungiri) with Senndr, Shinar
(Gen. X, 10), Smiarrah (Abu '1-farag, Hist, dyn,, ed.
Pococke, p. 18), Sumere (Amm. Marc. 25, 6). The
second part of this book was wholly given up to
paradigms, while the third contained an extensive
list of cuneiform signs. The fourth and last part
was given over to a long discussion of the name of
the language, in which Lenormant learnedly op-
posed Oppert's name of Sumerian, and contended
for the older name Accadian. The whole book
would in itself make a considerable scholarly repu-
tation, and it was followed by another in an aston-
ishing brief space of time. In this ' Lenormant was
not directly concerned with the Sumerian language,
but in two chapters, entitled " The People of Ac-
cacV and " TAe Turanians in Chaldea and in
Westeini Asia,'''' he again entered upon the difficult
subject. He had now advanced to the view that
the Accadian language, as he still insisted upon
calling it, must be classified in the Ural-altaic
family and considered as the type of a special
group. In certain particulars he judged it to
have most affinity with the Ugro-finnic, in others
with the Turkish languages.

In spite of all that has been achieved by the
English and French investigators the subject was

' Lenormant, La Magie chez les Chaldiens et les origines aceadiennes.
Paris, 1874-75.

206 HISTORY OF BABYLONIA AND ASSYRIA.

still filled with difliculty, and when Eberhard
Schrader, later justly called "the father of Assyri-
ology in Germany," -wTote his important book on
the Assyro-Babylonian inscriptions' he almost
avoided it. In this book he must needs refer to
the language which appeared in the left column
of the syllabaries, but he did not enter into the
vexed questions in dispute between Lenormant
and Oppert. Two years later, however, in a re-
view ^ of Lenormant he definitely took sides with
him against Oppert and adopted Accadian instead
of Sumerian. In this he was followed by his dis-
tinguished pupil, Friedrich Delitzsch,' who con-
tributed some further explanations of the sylla-
baries.

When the year 1873 drew to its close scholars
had reason to feel that the question which had
puzzled Hincks in 1850 was settled. They were
able to say that all scholai-s were agreed upon two
propositions,* namely, 1. The cuneiform method
of writing was not invented by the Semitic Baby-
lonians or Assyrians. 2. It was invented by a
people who spoke a language which belonged to
the agglutinative forms of human speech. There

^ Schrader,Eberhard, Die assyrisch-bahylonischen KeiUnschriften. Kritische
Untersuchung der Orundlagen ihrer Entzifferung. Zeitschrift der Deutschen
Morgeydiindischen Oesellschaft, xxvi, pp. 1-392, 1872; also separately.
Leipzig, 18Y2.

^ Jenaer Literahir-Zeitting, 1, Rec. No. 200, 18Y4, quoted by Weissbach.

^ Assyrische Studien, Heft 1. Assyrische Thiernamen mit vielen Ex-
cur sen und einem assyrischemmd ak/cadischen Olossar. Leipzig, 1874,

* So formulated by Weissbacli, oj). cit., p. 24.

SUMERIAN AND VANNIC DECIPHERMENT. 207

was indeed still a dispute about the name of the
new language whether it should be called Acca-
dian or Sumerian, and there were numerous ques-
tions concerning its character, age, literature, and
history which might occupy the skill and patience
of investigators for a long time, but the main
question was settled.

But alas for the danger of overassurance ! While
Oppert and Lenormant were disputing concerning
the name of this ancient language, there lived in
Paris an orientalist, Joseph Halevy, who held dis-
tinguished rank as a scholar in the difficult field
of Semitic epigraphy. Halevy was not known as
an Assyriologist at all, but he had followed every
detail of the process of deciphering Sumerian, had
watched every discussion of its grammatical pecul-
iarities, and had never from the beginning believed
in its existence ! On July 10, 1874, the Academic
des Inscriptions listened to the first of a series of
papers on the Sumerian question from him. Other
papers followed on July 24 and August 14.' In
these Halevy discussed three questions : ' 1. Grant-
ing its existence, does the Accadian language be-
long to the Turanian family ? 2. May the ex-
istence of a Turanian people in Babylonia be
conceded ? 3. Do these so-called Accadian texts
present a real language distinct from Assyrian, or

' Comptes rendus de VAcad. des hiscr., iv, ser. 2, 201, 209, 215 ; see also
pp. 261-264, The entire paper is published in Journal Asiatique, vii,
ser. 3. 461, ff., 1874.

' So stated by Weissbach, op. c/<., p. 25.

208 HISTORY OF BABYLONIA AND ASSYRIA.

merely an ideographic system of writing invented
by tlie Assyrians ? As Weissbach has pointed out,*
the order of these questions is strange and un-
methodical. Halevy should have begun with the
third question, and then passed on to the other
two. But, whatever may be said of the method,
there cannot be two opinions as to the consummate
ability of the discussion. Halevy's mind was stored
with learning philological, historical, and ethno-
logical; he was a dialectician superior to Lenor-
mant or Oppert ; he had the keenness of a ready
debater in searching out the weakest places in the
arguments of his opponents and the skill of an ex-
pert swordsman in puncturing them. It was a most
daring act for a man not yet known as an Assyri-
ologist to oppose single-handed the united forces
of scholarship in the department. Halevy had
sought to prove no less a thesis than that all
scholars from the beginning of the investigation
by Hincks and Rawlinson had been deceived.
The signs which they had supposed represented
the syllables or words of a language spoken in
Babylonia in the very beginning of recorded time
w^ere to him but the fanciful product of the fertile
minds of Assyrian priests. The cuneiform writing
was the invention of Semites, long used by
Semites, and the Sumerian w^ords so called were
only cryptic signs, invented for mystification
and especially used in incantations or religions
formulae.

' Ibid., p. 25.

SUMERIAN AND VANNIC DECIPHERMENT. 209

When Halevy's papers were published not a
single Assyriologist was convinced by them, and
only one anonymous writer' ventured to accept
his conclusions. On the other hand, every Assyri-
ologist of note who had had any share in the pre-
vious discussions was soon in the field with papers
attacking Halevy's positions or defending the
ground which but a short time before had seemed
so sure as to ueed no defense. In a few months
Lenormant ' had written a large volume in oppo-
sition, while Schrader was content with an able
and much briefer paper.' Delitzsch, in a review*
of Leuormaut's book, also ranged himself with
them, while Oppert,' opposing Halevy with all his
learning and acuteness, nevertheless continued t-o
argue for his own peculiar tenets against Lenor-
mant, Schrader, and Delitzsch.

The issue was now squarely joined, and earnest
and able though the replies to Halevy had un-
doubtedly been, nevertheless, it must be said in
justice that they had not driven him from the

' This unknown writer wrote in Anskuul, Jhg. 47, 941, ff., 1874. I have
not succeeded in finding tliis paper, and quote it on the authoritj' of Weiss-
bach, op. cit., p. 27, footnote 1.

^ La Langue primitive de la Chaldee el les idiomes touraniens. £tude de
philologie et d^histoire, suivie d\m glossaire accadien, pp. vii, 455. Paris,
1875.

^ M das Akkadische der Keilinschriften eine Sprache oder dne Schrift ?
Zeitschrift der Dcutscheu Morgenldndischeu Gesellschaft, xxix, pp. 1, ff.,
1876.

*Lit. Ceiitralblatt, 1875, column 1075, ff.

^ Etudes sumeriennes. 1. Sumerien ou accadien ? 2. Sammen ou rien ?
Joiinial Asiatique, vii, stir. 5, 267, ff., 442, ff., 1875.

210 HISTORY OF BABYLONIA AND ASSYRIA.

field. To Lenormant Halevy* had replied promptly,
and had done much to diminish the effect of that
scholar's attack upon his position. The defenders
of the existence of the Sumerian language did not
agree among themselves on many points, and
wherever they differed Halevy skillfully opposed
the one to the other in his argument. In 1876 he
read before the Academie des Inscriptions, and
afterward published, a paper on the Assyrian origin
of the cuneiform writing,* in which he modified his
views somewhat, yet strenuously insisting that the
entire system was Semitic. This paper was then
reprinted, along with the former publication of
1874, in book form,' and with this he began to
win some adherents to his views, the earliest
being W. Deecke * and Moritz Grlinwald.' That
was at least a slight gain, and he was encour-
aged to press on with fresh arguments.

Meanwhile the lines of those who still believed
in the existence of the ancient tongue were closing
up. Gradually Oj^pert's name, Sumerian, was ac-
cepted by scholars, foremost among whom were
the pupils of Delitzsch, Fritz Hommel, and Paul

• Za pretendue Langue d^Accad est-elle touranienne ? Reponse h. M. F.
Lenormant, 31 pp. Paris, 18*75. Read before the Academie des Inscrip-
tions November 26, 1876.

* Nouvelle Considerations sur le syllahaire cuneiforme, Journal Asiatique,
vii, ser. 1, 201, ff., 1876.

^ Recherches critiques sur Vorigine de la civilisation habylonienne, 268 pp.
Paris, 1876.

*Lit. Centralblatt, 1877, 456, ff.

^ Ausland, Jhg. 49, 584, ff., 1876. Quoted from Weissbach, op. cit., p.
39, footnote 3.

SUMERIAN AND TANNIC DECIPHERMENT. 211

Haupt, while Lenormant conceded a poiiit and
called it tlie language of Suiner and Accad.' In
1879 there appeared a small book" by Paul Haupt
which may truly be said to open a new era in the
whole discussion. Haupt was then a young man
of extraordinary gifts, and his handling of the
Sumerian family laws showed how to treat a
bilingual text in a thoroughly scientific manner.
There can be no doubt that Haupt had done much
to stem the tide which was threatening to set
toward Halevy's position. Nevertheless, in 1880,
Stanislas Guyard' came over to Halevy, and in
1884 Henri Pognon,' these being the first Assyri-
ologists to embrace his vie^vs. Between these two
dates De Sarzec ' had been carrying on his exca-
vations at Tello, in southern Babylonia, and had
been sending to the Louvre most interesting speci-
mens of his discoveries. In 1884 the first part of
his book' containing copies of the newly found
insciiptions appeared. To Sumerian scholars there
seemed no doubt whatever that these inscriptions
were written in the Sumerian language. Halevy
at once began to explain their strangely sounding

^ Jour7ial Asiaiique, vii, ser. 12, 378, f.

' Die Sumerischen Familiengesetze in Keilschrift, Transcription, tend
Uehersetzwig, nebst aus/ilhrlichem Commentar und zahlreichen Excursen.
Eine Assyrtoloffische Stndie, von Dr. Paul Haupt, pp. viii, 15. Leipzig,
1879.

^ Revue critique, nouv., ser. ix, 425, ff. (31 Mai, 1880).

* Journal Asiatique, viii, ser. 2, 413, ff. Revve crif., 1884, ii, 47.

5 See below, pp. 236, ff.

8 Decoitvertes en Chaldee. Publ. par les soias de Leon Heuzey. 1. Paris,
1884.

212 HISTORY OF BABYLONIA AND ASSYRIA.

words as iu reality Semitic, and in 1883, at the
International Congress of Orientalists in Leiden,
presented a most elaborate paper in which he pre-
sented his theory in its fullest and most scientific
form.' Halevy was not convinced that his views
were incorrect by any of the arguments already
advanced, neither did the appearance of the De
Sarzec monuments and inscriptions move him.
His efforts became more earnest, and Guyard's
support was likewise full of vigor. Nevertheless,
the cause was not gaining, but in the larger view
really losing. It was significant that the younger
school of Assyriologists were strongly supporting
the Sumerian view. Jensen, who was later to be
known as one of the most eminent Assyriologists
of his time, opposed Halevy's view in his very
first work,' as did also Henrich Zimmern * whose
first paper was of even greater importance. Carl
Bezold * likewise joined with the older school.

But encouragement of the very highest kind
was even now almost in Halevy's hands. In
some notes added to Zimmern's first book"*

' Actes du 6^me Congres international des orientalistes, teuu en 1883 d
Leide, ii, 535, ff. Leide, 1885. Halevy's paper is entitled ^^ Aperpi gram-
matical de rallograjMe assyro-babylonienne.''''

'^ De incantamentorum sumerico-assyriorum sei'iei quae dicitur shurbu
tabula VI. Zeitschrift fiir Keilschriftforschung^ i, 2*79-322; ii, 15-61;
ii, 306-311 ; 416-425. Zeitschrift fur Assyriologie, i, 52-68, Also partly
reprinted as dissertation. Monachii, 1885.

^ Babylonische Busajisalmen. Leipzig, 1885.

^ Knrzgefasste UeberbUck iiher die Babylonisch-Assyrische Literatur.
Leipzig, 1886.

^ Bnb. Bfisspn, pp. 113, ff.

SUMERIAN AND VANNIC DECIPHERMENT. 213

Delitzsch took occasion to speak in warm terms
of Halev^y's very important contributions to the
subject, and while not yet ranging himself at his
side, declared that his view deserved very close
examination. AVell might the great French orien-
talist rejoice over such a promised accession.
When the first part of Delitzsch's Assyrian dic-
tionary' appeared every page contained proof
that in his case Halevy's long and courageous
fight had won. Delitzsch had joined the still
slender ranks of the anti-Accadians, and when
his Assyrian grammar appeared a whole para-
graph* was devoted to a most incisive attack upon
the Sumerian theory. The accession of Delitzsch
is the high-water mark of Halevy's theory. The
morrow would bring a great change.

Delitzsch's grammar was received with enthusi-
asm, as it well deserved to be, but the anti-
Sumerian paragraph was severely handled by its
critics. In like manner the anti-Sumerian position
of the dictionary met with a criticism which indi-
cated that even the great name of Delitzsch was
not sufficient to increase confidence in Halevy's
cause. Sayce, in a review no less remarkable for
the range of its learning than for its scientific
spirit, protested against Delitzsch's method. Leli-
mann, in a big book devoted to the inscriptions of

' Assp'isches Worterbuch zur (/emirinden b'lsher veruffeiUlicheu Keilschrift-
litcratur, u. s. w. 1st part. Leipzig, 1887.

^ Assyrische Grammatik. Leipzig, 1889, § 25. English edition same
(late.

214 HISTOEY OF BABYLONIA AND ASSYRIA.

a late Assyrian king ' devoted an entire chapter ' to
the Sumerian question. In it the whole subject was
treated with a freshness and an ability that left
little to be desired. Though some minor criticism
was passed upon it, none but Halevy dared deny
that it marked a step forward in the process of
tearing down his elaborate theories.

In the very same year in which Delitzsch's
grammar appeared Bezold made a brilliant dis-
covery in finding upon an Assyrian tablet the
Sumerian language mentioned.* In his announce-
ment of this new fact Bezold writes banteringly,
asking Halevy to permit the language to live, as
the Assyrians had mentioned it by name. Beneath
this humorous phrase there lies, however, a quiet
note of recognition that the mention was im-
portant, though not conclusive as to the main
question.

Almost every month after the year 1892
brought some new material to be considered and
related to the ever-debated question. The newer
discoveries of De Sarzec, the wonderful results of
the American expedition to Nippur, the editing of
texts found by previous explorers — all these had
some link with the Sumerian question. In 1897
Professor Delitzsch, borne down by the weight of
fresh evidence, abandoned Halevy's side and once
more allied himseK to the Sumeriologists. As he

' Shamashshunmk 171 Konig von Babylon, von C. F. Lehmarm. Leip-
zig, 1892.

^Ibid., chap, iv, pp. 57-173.

^ Zeltschrift fiir Assyriohgie, iv, pp. 434, f.

SUMERIAN AND VANNIC DECIPHERMENT. 215

Lad been a great gain, so was lie now even a
greater loss. Halevy indeed gained others to his
side, but none bore so famous a name. The school
which he had founded was waning. Though the
debate still continues, it has no longer the same
intensity. Year by year the question is less and
less, " AVas there a Sumerian language — were there
Sumerians ? " and is more and more, " What was
the Sumerian language — who were the Sumeri-
ans ? " Every year seems to justify Hincks, Raw-
linson, and Oppert, the great mastei*s who laid the
foundations in this increasingly fruitful field.

The history of the study of cuneiform inscrip-
tions is complicated by the number of different
languages which used the wedge-shaped charac-
ters. We have already shown that the cuneiform
inscriptions at Persepolis and Behistun were in
the Persian, Susian, and Assyrian languages, and
we have also set forth at length the long discus-
sion over the question of Sumerian, another lan-
guage likewise written in the cuneiform characters.
The use by four different peoples of wedge-shaped
characters may well dispose the mind to accept
the statement that still another people wrote their
language in similar fashion.

The Armenians have preserved for us among
their traditions of Semiramis the statement that
she had at one time determined to build a new city
in Armenia as the place of summer residence.
" When she had seen the beauty of the country,
the pureness of the air, the clearness of the foun-

216 HISTORY OF BABYLONIA AND ASSYRIA.

tains of water, and tlie murmuring of the swift-
flowing rivers, she said: 'In such a bahny air,
amid such beauty of water and of land, we must
build a city and a royal residence that we may
spend the one quarter of the year, which is
summer, in the comfort of Armenia, and the other
three quarters, during the cold weather, iu As-
syria.' " ' Even so late as this present century
scholars found the name Semiramis full of mystery
and attraction, and ^vere anxious to learn more
about her great deeds. About the end of June,
1827 Fr. Ed. Schulz departed from Erzeroum de-
termined to suffer any loss in the effort to find the
summer city of Semiramis. There is no need to
say that he did not find it, but, like many an-
other searcher, found something far more impor-
tant. As he went alonoj the borders of Lake
Van, then almost unknown to Europeans, he
turned in at the gates of the fascinating city of
Van and began a search through the remains of
its former greatness. Beneath the great citadel
of Van was found a small chamber approached by
a flight of twenty steps. Above these steps he
found inscriptions in the cuneiform character
carved in the face of the solid rock. When these
had been carefullv copied he soua:ht elsewhere
and was rewarded with the discovery of still

' Des Moses von Chorene, Geschichte Gross- Arme7u ens, aus dem Armen-
ischen ubersetzt, von Dr. M. Lauer. Regensburg, 1869, pp. 31, 32. There
is an English translation of the History of Armenia, or rather the Genea-
logical Account of Great Armenia, of Moses of Chorene (about 430 A. D.),
by Winston, London. 1736 4to, but it is not accessible to me.

SUMERIAN AND YANNIC DECIPHERMENT. 217

others. Iq other places in the neighborhood he
found more, until lie had copied no less than
forty-two inscriptions. Schulz was murdered, and
when his papers were recovered and brought to
Paris the inscriptions were splendidly reproduced
by lithography, and published in 1840.' At this
time the Persian decipherment had indeed been
well begun, as had also Assyrian, but none were
able to read the new inscrij^tions for which Schulz
had given his life. They were exceedingly well
copied, when the difficulties are considered, but
so soon as an attempt was made to decipher
them doubts arose as to their accuracy. It was
soon found that three of the inscriptions were
written by Xerxes, and were in Persian, Susian, and
Babylonian, but tlie remaining thirty-nine were
in some unknown language. In 1840 an inscrip-
tion in this same language was found by Captain
von Miihlbach near Isoglu, on the Euphrates,
two hundred and fifty miles west of Van. The
copies by Schulz as well as this new text came
before the eyes of Grotefend in due course, and
he was quick to discern that they did not belong
to Assyrian kings. This negative conclusion was
of some importance as a guidepost, but Grotefend
was able to go no further. In 1847 Sir A. H.
Layard found another inscription of the same

^Journal Asiatique, 3eme serie, tome ix, 1840, pp. 257-323.

^ Monatsberkhte ilber die Verhandlungen der Gesellschaft fur Erdknnde
zn Berlin, i, pp. 70-75 ; also in Original Papers read before the Syro-
Egyptian Society of London, i, 1, pp. 131, £P.
16

218 HISTORY OF BABYLONIA AND ASSYRIA.

kind at Palu,' on the eastern bank of the Eu-
phrates about one hundred and eighty miles from
Van. It was now clear enough that this new-
language belonged to a people of some impor-
tance in the ancient world, whose civilization or
dominion extended over a considerable territory.

There was in these facts an urgent call for some
man able to decipher and translate the records
and construct a grammar of the language in which
they were written. Who should attempt this new
problem but that marvelous decipherer of strange
tongues, Dr. Edward Hincks ? And two papers by
him were read before the Eoyal Asiatic Society,
December 4, 1847, and March 4, 1848.'

In these papers Hincks determined correctly
the meaning of a large number of the characters ;
found the meaning of such ideographs as "people,"
" city," and the signification of several words. He
further was able to show that the termination of
the nominative singular and plural of substantives
was "<?," while the accusative ended in "?z." He
had thus perceived that the language was inflec-
tional, and went on to argue erroneously that it
was Indo-European, or Aiyan, as he called it.
He read the names of the kings as Niriduris,
Skuina, Kinuas, and Arrasnis, but very shortly
corrected them into Milidduris, Ishpuinish, Minnas,
and Argistis, in which the error, chiefly in the

' Sayce, in Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society, new series, xiv, p. 378
(1882).

' Both papers are published in the Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society,
ix, pp. 387-449(1848).

SUMERIAN AND TANNIC DECIPHERMENT. 219

first name, is very slight. It is difficult to exagger-
ate the impoi-tance of this work, but we may gain
some idea of its value by comparing with it Raw-
linson's note on the subject published two years
later. " There are," says Rawlinson, ' " it is well
known, a series of inscriptions found at Van and
in the vicinity. These inscriptions I name Ar-
menian. They are written in the same alphabet
that was used in Assyria, but are composed in
a different language — a language, indeed, which,
although it has adopted numerous words from the
Assyrian, I believe to belong radically to another
family, the Scythic. There are six kings of the
Armenian line following in a line of direct descent.
I read their names as: 1. Alti-bari; 2. Ari-mena;
3. Isbuin ; 4. Manua ; 5. Artsen ; 6. Ariduri (?)."
In the reading of these names Rawlinson is dis-
tinctly behind Hincks, as he was always less keen
in the treatment of philological niceties.

For a long series of years Hincks had no suc-
cessor in the work of decipherment. But every
few years new inscriptions" were found written in
the same language, and each one naturally in-
creased the probability of a successful outcome of
the efforts after decipherment.

In 1871 Lenormant' took up the task where
Hincks and Rawlinson had laid it down. His

' Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society, xii, p. 475 (1850).
* A list is given by Sayce, Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society, new
series, xiv, pp. 380, 381.

^Lettres assyrlohgiques, i, pp. 113-164 (1871).

230 HISTORY OF BABYLONIA AND ASSYRIA.

method was scientific, and, like all his work,
learned and searching. He first sketched the
early history of Armenia, as he had learned its
outlines from the Assyrian inscriptions. That was
to be the historical basis of his work, and from it
he hoped to extract useful geographical material
which might help in the securing of names in the
Vannic inscriptions. He proposed to call the lan-
guage Alarodian (Herodotus, iii, 94 ; vii, 79), and
argued that it was non- Aryan, and that its closest
modern representative was Georgian. He pointed
out that " hi " was the termination of the first per-
son singular of the verb, and that paruhi signified
" I carried away."

In the next year Dr. A. D. Mordtmann' at-
tacked the question and five years later returned
to it again. He determined the meaning of twelve
new words, and supplied a most valuable analysis
of all the inscriptions, but did not succeed in the
translation of a single one of them. Nevertheless,
he had made a gain.

The next decipherer was Dr. Louis de
Robert' (1876), who deliberately cast away all
that had been gained by Hincks, Rawlinson, Le-
normant, and Mordtmann, and set out afresh upon
a totally wrong road. He tried to show that the

' Entzi.fferung und Erklarung der armemschen Keilinschriften von Van
nnd der Umgegend, von Dr. A. D. Mordtmann. Zeitschrift der Deutschen
Morgenldndischen Gesellscha/t, xxvi, pp. 465-696 (1872). Ueber die Keilin-
schriften von Armenien. Ibid., xxxi, pp. 406-438 (1877).

^ £tiide philologique snr les inscriptions cuneiformes de VArrnenie. Pari3,
1876.

SUMERIAN AND VANNIC DECIPHERMENT. 221

inscriptions were written in the language of
Assyria. The result was nothing, and the next
worker must return to the methods of the old
masters.

Meantime new inscriptions were constantly com-
ing to light. Bronze shields with the name of
Eusas were found by Sir A. H. Layard, and exca-
vations near Lake Van by Hormuzd Rassam un-
earthed still more inscribed objects in bronze.
Layard also laid a firmer foundation for future
work by recopying more accurately all the inscrip-
tions for which Schulz had given his life.'

On the 9th of April, 1880, M. Stanislas Guyard
presented to the Societe Asiatique in Paris" "some
observations upon the cuneiform inscriptions of
Van." He had noticed at the end of a good many
of the inscriptions a phrase in which occurred the
word "tablet." He remembered that Assyrian
inscriptions frequently ended with an imprecatory
formula, heaping curses upon whomsoever should
destroy this tablet, and he suggested that here
was a formula exactly the same. AVhen he had
tested this new clew he found that the words
thus secured seemed to fit exceedingly well into
other passages, and his guess seemed thereby con-
firmed.

It is curious that the very same clew as that
followed by Guyard had also independently been
discovered by Professor A. H. Sayce, who had

' Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society, xiv, p. 384.

''Journal Asiatique, 7 ser., torn, xv, pp. 540-543, Mai-Juin, 1880.

222 HISTORY OF BABYLONIA AND ASSYRIA.

been working for several years upon these texts.
He had fortunately found out a few more words than
Gruyard and was able to push on farther as well as
more rapidly. The words in which he began to
explain his method to the Royal Asiatic Society
were strong, but every one was justified by the
issue. He says: "The ideographs so freely em-
ployed by the Yannic scribes had already showed
me that not only the characters but the style and
phraseology of the inscriptions were those of the
Assyrian texts of the time of Asshur-natsir-pal and
Shalmaneser II. I believe, therefore, that I have
at last solved the problem of the Tannic inscrip-
tions and succeeded in deciphering them, thereby
compiling both a grammar and vocabulary of the
language in which they are written. Owing to the
number of the texts, their close adherence to their
Assyrian models, and the plentiful use of ideo-
graphs, it will be found that the passages and
words which still resist translation are but few,
and that in some instances their obscurity really
results from the untrustworthiness of the copies of
them which we possess.'"

The long paper which followed these words
began with a survey of the geography, history,
and theology of the Yannic people, derived very
largely from Assyrian sources, but tested and ex-
panded from the native sources which he had just
deciphered. After this followed an account of
the method of writing, an outline of the grammar,

^Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society, new series, xiv, pp. 377-732.

SUMERIAN AND VANNIC DECIPHERMENT. 223

an analysis, and a translation of the inscriptions.
It was a most remarkable piece of work, as sur-
prising because of its learning as because of its
proof of a perfect genius for linguistic combina-
tion. It reminds the reader continually of Hincks
at his best. The effect of its publication was in-
stantaneous. Guyard * reviewed it at length, offer-
ing corrections and additions, yet showing plainly
enough that the work was successful. Further
contributions to the subject were made by Profess-
or D. H. Miiller, of Vienna, who had been study-
ing the texts independently both of Sayce and
Guyard. More inscriptions also came to light,
and in 1888 Professor Saj^ce was able to review
the whole subject, accepting heartily some of the
many emendations of his work which had been
proposed, rejecting others, and so putting the cap-
stone upon his work. The mystery of the inscrip-
tions at Van was solv^ed. When new texts in the
same language should appear men might indeed
dispute as to the name of the language whether to
call it Vannic or Alarodian or Urartian or Chal-
dian, but they would at least be able to read it.

So rested the matter of the language of Van
until 1892, when Dr. C. F. Lehmann " began a
series of studies in the inscriptions which Sayce
had deciphered, seeking to determine more closely
a host of historical and geographical questions
which grew out of them. He first demonstrated

' Melmiges d^ Assyriologie. Paris, 1883.

^ Zeitschrifl f!h- Ethnolor/h, 1892, pp. 131, ff.

224 HISTORY OF BABYLONIA AND ASSYRIA.

that the people who had written many of these
texts were the same as the Chaldians (XdXdoi, not
Chaldeans^ who are y^akdaioi) of the Greeks. The
language was therefore to be called Chaldian, and
another difficulty was cleared up. Beginning in
1895, Dr. Waldemar Belck and Dr. C. F. Lehmann '
published a series of papers of great acuteness,
working out the life history of this old people, who
had thus been restored to present knowledge,
clearing up many points previously obscurely or
incorrectly set forth by Sayce.

In further pursuit of the studies thus begun
Drs. Belck and Lehmann ' departed from Berlin in
the summer of 1898 for a journey through Persian
and Russian Armenia. They visited Van and care-
fully collated all the inscriptions previously found
by Schulz and others, and found new texts which
had been overlooked by all their predecessors.
New inscriptions of Assyrian kings, especially of
Tiglath-pileser I and Shalmaneser II, were found,
and by these, also, our knowledge of Chaldian his-
tory was increased. The results of this valuable
expedition are now being made known, and it
may be regarded as the concluding event in the
history of the decipherment of the Vannic inscrip-
tions.

^ Ihid., 1895, pp. 678-616; 1896, pp. 302-308.

"^ SitzungsbericJitfi der Koniglich Preussischen Akademie der Wissen-
schaften zu Berlin^ 1899, pp. 116-120.

Zeltschrift fur Ethnologie, 1898, pp. 227, 414-416, 522-627, 568-592;
1899, pp. 411-420.

EXPLORATIONS, 1872-1900. 225

CHAPTER VIII.

EXPLORATIONS IN ASSYRIA AND BABYLONIA,

1872-1900.

The first impulse to excavations in Assyria was
given by a German scholar who had established
himself in Paris. Julius Mohl cheered on Botta
to the work of excavation, and kept him encour-
aged while it dragged along. During all the time
that Layard, Loftus, and their coadjutors worked
in the field Mohl watched them from afar, and
carefully noted their successes. He was now sec-
retary of the Societe Asiatique of Paris, and in
his annual reports he told the society of all that
had gone on in the great valley amid the graves
of ancient cities. In his report for the year 1855
his note was distinctively sad. He recorded the
fact that every single expedition which had been
sent out to dig had laid down the work or had
been recalled. That seemed to him a lamentable
circumstance, for to his discerning eye the soil was
underlaid with monuments recording the whole
life of the vast empires which had held sway in
Nineveh or in Babylon. He was impatient to
have the excavations resumed, and he called on
the governments to take steps to this end.

The future was to confirm Mohl's view fully,
and even more than confirm it, of the vast treas-
ures that lay buried. The time, however, for their

226 HISTORY OF BABYLONIA AND ASSYRIA.

excavation had not come in the year 1855. Nei-
ther governments nor free peoples would carry on
excavations for antiquities that were mere un-
meaning curiosities when they were found. That
work must wait until the decipherment had reached
a sure result, and until the work of translation
had been so far popularized that the results should
be generally known. As a former chapter has
shown, the period of doubtful translations ended
and the period of surely known results began
in 1857. It was only necessary that these matters
should be popularized, and that would require
some time. This popularization was, fortunately,
carried on chiefly, at least in England, by the
great masters themselves. Rawlinson, Hincks,
Talbot, Norris — a remarkable list of names, surely —
these were the men who made known in popular
papers or by lectures and addresses the great dis-
coveries in Assyria. Some of these papers struck
the old note of Shirley, and revealed the im-
portance of Assyrian studies for the light they
were sure to shed upon the Bible. That would
be certain to arouse interest in Great Britain and,
as before, might result in the beginning of more
excavations. The sequel will show how wonder-
fully this very zeal for biblical study operated in
the stimulating of Asspian research.

A boy, George Smith by name, destined for the
work of an engraver, read in the short spaces of
his crowded days the magic words of Rawlinson
and the other pioneers, and was moved to begin

EXPLORATIONS, 1872-1900. 227

the study of Assyrian himself. As he himself
witnessess/ he was first roused to definite study
by the interest of biblical history, and with the
purpose of doing something for it, he applied in
1866 to Sir Henry Kawlinson for permission to
study the original copies, casts, or fragments of in-
scriptions belonging to the reign of Tiglathpileser.
Rawlinson gladly gave the permission, and Smith
went earnestly to work. His success was not
great with these, but his industry was rewarded
by the discovery of a new inscription of Shalman-
eser with the name of Jehu upon it, by which he
ascertained the year of Shalmaneser's reign in
which Jehu had paid his tribute.' In this discov-
ery, the first original work which Smith had done,
there was one little hint of use to the Old Testa-
ment student. Smith had begun as he was to go
on. After this discovery Sir Henry Rawlinson
was so struck by the young man's success that he
suggested his employment by the British Museum
for work in the new Assyrian department. There
he was established in the beginning of 1867, and

' Assyrian Discoveries, by George Smith. London, 1875, p. 9.

^ Smith's report of his first discovery is so interesting in the history of
Assyrian study that it is here reproduced entire :

'■'■Assyrian Inscription. While examining part of the Assyrian collection
in the British Museum I lately discovered a short inscription of Shalman-
eser II, king of Assyria, in which it is stated that Jehu, king of Israel, sent
him tribute in the eighteenth year of his reign. That he received tribute
from Jehu is well known from the black obelisk inscription, but the date
of the event has not been previously ascertained. This fact is of chrono-
logical interest. I may add that Jehu in this inscription is styled ' Son
of Omri,' the same as on the black obelisk." George Smith. — Athenceum,
No. 2031, September 29, 1866, p. 410.

228 HISTOEY OF BABYLONIA AND ASSYRIA.

his success was immediate. In his own survey of
his work in the museum Smith remembered most
vividly the biblical discoveries, and these were
they which gave him his first popular reputation
and the opportunities of his life. He found on
the texts names and notices of Azariah, king of
Judah, Pekah, king of Israel, and Hoshea, king of
Israel. These stirred his pulses and drove him on
even at the peril of his health. The depletion of
vital force through constant and difficult work
was probably the ultimate cause of his early
death, after the brilliant series of discoveries and
explorations which were now before him. Smith
possessed in unusual degree a gift for decipher-
ment. AVhile still feeling his way along the intri-
cate mazes of cuneiform decipherment there came
to the Bi'itish Museum some copies of the then un-
deciphered Cypriote texts. Dr. Birch called his at-
tention to them, and soon he was engaged in an at-
tempt to read them. On November 7, 1 871, he read
a paper before the Society of Biblical Archaeology
" On the Reading of Cypi'iote Inscriptions." ' The
method which he used was similar to the plan of
Grotefend, and it was applied with wonderful skill
and with surprising results. He had picked out
the word for king, though he knew no Greek with
which to make comparisons, and had identified
forty out of fifty odd characters. A man possessing
genius of such order was sure to win fame in the
new field of Assyriology.

' Transactioiis of the Society of Biblical Archaology, i, pp. 129, ff.

EXPLORATIONS, 1872-1900. 229

From 1867 to 1871 discovery followed discov-
ery until Smith's edition of the Asshiirbanapal in-
scriptions appeared. This volume made clear the
immense gain to history fi-om the discovery and
decipherment of the Assyrian inscriptions, for it
contained the accounts of the campaigns and of
the building operations of Asshurbanapal. Yet,
gi'eat as all this was, its influence fell far short
of that of a discovery which Smith made in
1872. In that year, while working among some
fragments brought home by Rassam, Smith
picked out a broken clay tablet, upon which he
soon read unmistakable parallels to the biblical
account of the deluge. The piece thus found was
soon followed by three duplicates and other lesser
fragments. From these he ascertained that the
part first found was the eleventh in a series of
twelve tablets, and that it gave the history of
a great hero whom Smith called Izdubar. He
published the announcement of his discovery,
and Asshurbanapal was forgotten, few probably
thinking of the great king who had made the
library out of which these newly found tablets had
come. But England did not know how to be calm
in the presence of such a discovery as this. When
Smith had translated enough of the tablets to
make a somewhat connected story of the deluge,
as the Babylonians told it, he read a paper on the
subject before the Society of Biblical Archaeology
on December 8, 1872. The meeting was large
and enthusiastic. Sir Henry C. Rawlinson pre-

230 HISTORY OF BABYLONIA AND ASSYRIA.

sided, Smith presented his trauslation, and then
enthusiasm had sway when it was pointed out by
Dr. Birch that this had immense importance for
the study of the Bible. Again was struck the old
note of Shirley, and again that audience responded.
Then Mr. Gladstone spoke, showing how valuable
all these discoveries were for the study of the ori-
gins of Greek culture, which he said had come
from the East by way of Phoenicia. This was ap-
preciated, but it was not exactly what the com-
pany most desired to hear, and to that phase Mr.
Gladstone's last sentence returned, concluding with
the magic word " religion." ' The cheers broke
forth then with a good will, and at a late hour
the company went away to spread abroad this
marvelous story of the discovery of an early nar-
rative which all thought illustrated, and many
believed confirmed and corroborated, the biblical
story in Genesis.

The government was urged at once to resume
excavations on the site of Nineveh to find more
material which might illustrate or confirm the
biblical narrative. It did not or could not move
instantly, and the public would not wait. The

' The Times (London), December 4, 1872, p. 1. The account of the
meeting given above rests chiefly upon the report in The Times published
the following day. Professor Sayce, however, is inclined to think that the
order of addresses in the meeting was somewhat different. Though not
present himself at the meeting, he had spent the afternoon with Mr.
Smith, and later had a full account of the meeting from Dr. Birch. He
believes that it was Mr. Gladstone who emphasized the importance of
these discoveries in their bearing upon the Bible, and that Dr. Birch spoke
last and not first.

EXPLORATIONS, 1872-1900. 231

proprietors of the Daily Telegraphy a widely circu-
lated journal, moved by the editor, Edwin Ar-
nold, perceived the opportunity and seized it.
They offered a thousand guineas to pay the ex-
penses of an expedition to Nineveh on condition
that Smith should lead it, and send letters to the
paper describing his experience and discoveries.
On January 20, 1873, a month after Norris's
death. Smith set out upon his enterprise, and on
March 2 he reached Mosul, ready to begin exca-
vations. He soon found that delays were the
order of the day, and that the firman had not ar-
rived. He therefore made a trip to Babylon, and
on his return began small excavations at Nimroud,
April 9. The discoveries made were few, and
comparatively unimportant, and this mound was
therefore abandoned, and excavations undertaken
at Kuyunjik on May 7. On May 14 Smith se-
cured from the same room in which Rassam had
found Asshurbanapal's library a new fragment of
the Deluge story which fitted into the ones pre-
viously found. This fact was considered of sufii-
cient moment to be telegraphed to London for
publication in the paper. Smith was naturally
much pleased with the discovery, but was also in
the highest degree gratified by the finding of in-
scriptions of Esarhaddon, Asshurbanapal, and Sen-
nacherib. Two more fragments of the Deluge
tablet were shortly afterward found, and then on
June 9 the excavations were stopped, as the pro-
prietors of the Daily Telegra'ph were satisfied

233 HISTORY OF BABYLONIA AND ASSYRIA.

with tlie discovery of the Deluge fragments and
did not wish to continue farther the work. Smith
was much disappointed at this decision, and re-
luctantly left for England at once with his treas-
ures.

He was, however, sent out again from London on
November 25, 1873, by the trustees of the British
Museum, who had set apart one thousand pounds
for further excavations at Nineveh. Smith reached
Mosul on January 1, 1874, and immediately began
excavations at Kuyunjik. These were produc-
tive of many inscriptions and of interesting archae-
ological materials, but nothing of startling im-
portance as regards the Bible was found. Smith
ceased work and left Mosul on April 4.

"When compared with the explorations of Lay-
ard and Rassam the work of Smith was compara-
tively small in amount, but it was valuable in the
recovery of much historical material, and its influ-
ence upon public feeling and opinion in England
was very great. Men were moved by his spirit,
no less than by his words and works, to desire
that new excavations should be undertaken. With-
out such inspiration, it is well to remember, the
work might have ceased altogether. The British
Museum again determined to avail itself of Smith's
services, and in October, 1875, he set out for
Oonstantinople to seek to obtain a firman which
should permit the resumption of his excavations.
He was harried w4th petty annoyances by Turk-
ish officialdom, but at last secured the coveted

EXPLORATIONS, 1872-1900. 233

permission and returned to England to prepare
for his third expedition. In March, 1876, he
again set out for the East, and proceeded to Bagh-
dad to inspect some antiquities which were of-
fered for sale. It was then his purpose to begin
excavations, but the plague had appeared, the
country was unsettled, and there was every pos-
sible interference made by natives and by Turk-
ish officials. In previous expeditious he had not
learned how to deal with orientals, and alienated
their sympathies without impressing them by his
power. He was also disturbed more or less by a
quarrel with Rassam and his family. Ignorant of
the laws of health, by which Europeans are so
closely bound in the Orient, he worked too much,
rested too little, and was careless in the provid-
ing of good food suitable for the climate. At
times he rode for days eating only crusts of bread.
Beset behind and before with difficulties, and
not permitted to excavate, he had to content
himself with visits to numerous mounds, which he
sketched or planned. On his way back he fell ill
of fever, and died at Aleppo, August 19, 1876.
Smith's death came to the little world of Assyrian
students as a thunderclap out of a clear sky.' In
England he was looked upon by scholars and
people alike almost as a prophet; in Germany,'

' See notices of his life in The Academy, x, pp. 265, 266 (by Boscawen).
The Athenceum, No. 2550, September 9, 18Y6, p. 338. See also Transac-
tions of the Society of Biblical Archceology, vi, p. 574. The Times, Septem-
ber 5, 1876, p. 4 c. ; September 7, 1876, pp. 10, f.

'^ Professor Delitzsch, who was on very intimate terms with Smith, has
17

234 HISTORY OF BABYLONIA AND ASSYEIA.

where a new and vigorous school of Assyriologists
had begun its work, men were thrown into con-
fusion by the severity of the loss which they felt.
It was indeed a sore blow to the new study ; but
science dare not linger. The ranks closed up at
the British Museum by the appointment of Mr.
W. St. Chad Boscawen, and the trustees sought
a man to begin again the excavations which Smith
had laid down.

It was natural that they should turn at once to
Rassam. It was indeed a long time since he had
worked in the field, for he had been absorbed in
diplomatic service. He was now living in retire-
ment in England, but responded immediately to
the call for service in the same field as that in
which his earliest fame had been won.

In November, 1876, Rassam set out for Con-
stantinople to seek a firman — the same errand
which had cost Smith so many pangs. After a
fruitless wait of four months he returned to Eng-
land, but went out again when Sir Austen Henry
Layard became British ambassador at Constanti-
nople. This was indeed a fortunate appointment
for Assyrian studies. Layard would be justly
expected to exert himself to secure opportunities
for further excavation if that was possible. His
representations to the Porte were successful, and
in November, 1877, Rassam was back in Mosul,

indicated with suflScient clearness his own sense of loss in the reprinting
of portions of Smith's last diary in his great geographical treatise {Wo lag
das Parodies ? pp. 266, 267).

EXPLORATIONS, 1872-1900. 235

where he receiv^ed by telegraph the news that the
jBrman was granted. His choice of a site for ex-
cavations was most happy. The natives had been
finding at the hitherto unexplored mound of Bala-
wat, about fifteen miles east of Mosul, fragments
of bronze plates, some specimens of which had
been sent to him in England. These he had
shown to Professor Sayce, who found the name of
Shalmaneser upon them, discovered their impor-
tance, and advised Rassam to begin diggings at
that site. Sayce had thus come into a relation to
Rassam similar to that held b}'- Mohl in earlier
days to Botta. The result was most successful.
Kassam discovered in this mound, from which the
fragments had come, the beautifully inscribed and
adorned bronze plates which had covered at one
time the palace gates of Shalmaneser.

He also, however, began excavations at Kuyun-
jik and at Nimroud, where small numbers of inter-
esting inscriptions were found. Rassam further
made extensive journeys over portions of Baby-
lonia, and among other results identified the site
of Sippara. He visited Babylon and made some
small excavations there, returning then by w^ay of
Van to England. Though not so rich in results
as his former expedition, this last venture of Ras-
sam helped on the national collections of the Brit-
ish Museum, and thereby added to the knowledge
of ancient history.

While Rassam was busy a new discoverer ap-
peared in the East and very quietly began his

236 HISTORY OF BABYLONIA AND ASSYRIA.

work. M. Ernest de Sarzec was appointed Frencli
consul at Bassorali, on tlie Persian Gulf, and en-
tered upon his duties in January, 1877. He had
been in Abyssinia and had served in Egypt. He
knew the desert and its people, and he carried to
his new post strong enthusiasm for archaeological
work. Two months after he entered Bassorah
de Sarzec had bes^un excavations at Telloh —
a mound four miles in length, lying in the
great alluvial plain of southern Babylonia, about
five miles from the banks of the Schatt-el-Hai,
and sixty miles north of Mugheir. On this mound
de Sarzec worked from March 5 to June 11, 1877,
and again from February 18 to June 9, 1878. In
July, 1878, he returned to Paris and found himself
famous. He went again and worked in the mound
from January to March, 1880, and also November
12, 1880, to March 15, 1881. His work was thus
prolonged over a considerable period, and instead
of merely running trenches hither and thither, he
dug systematically over a large part of the mound.
The results were full of surprises to the guild of
Assyrian students, and were indeed almost revolu-.
tionary. He uncovered a fine temple, whose outer
walls were one hundred and seventy-five feet long
and one hundred feet broad, erected upon a vast
mound from sixteen to twenty feet high. The
outer wall was five feet thick, built of great baked
bricks one foot square, bearing the name Goudea.
These bricks were tightly fastened together by
bitumen. In the interior he found thirty-six

EXPLORATIONS, 1872-1900. 237

rooms, chiefly small in size, though one was fifty-
five by sixty-five feet. In almost every room there
were found objects of interest or of instruction
for the study of the history of early Babylonia.
In one room alone there were found no less than
eight diorite statues, from an early period of
Babylonian art, which had been unfortunately
mutilated by some later barbarians, for all were
headless. The valuable inscriptions were, how-
ever, in perfect preservation. In another part of
the mound during the very first season there
were found two beautiful terra cotta cylinders,
each twenty-four inches in lengtli by twelve in
diameter. Each of these contained no less than
two thousand lines of inscription, forming thus
the longest inscriptions from an early period then
known. De Sarzec's work was done in masterly
fashion, and when the inscriptions and objects of
art were brought to Paris and deposited in the
Louvre, it was felt that indeed a new era had
opened for French archaeological study. Quarters
were fitted up in the Louvre, and these objects
found a place beneath the great roof, together
with the discoveries of Botta, the pioneer. They
did not receive the same acclaim as Botta's dis-
coveries had done in France, or Layard's in Eng-
land, but they were even of greater value scien-
tifically. From the inscriptions the early language
of the Sumerians was more perfectly learned, and
from the statues and reliefs some faint idea was
first conceived of the appearance of the great

238 HISTORY OF BABYLONIA AND ASSYRIA.

people who had laid the foundations of civiliza-
tion in southern Babylonia. That was a distin-
guished service which de Sarzec had rendered.
It alone was sufficient to give him high place on
the roll of those who had made Babylonia live
again.

Again and again since 1881 has de Sarzec re-
sumed his work at Telloh, and every year has he
brought forth from the same mounds fresh discov-
eries of moving interest. In 1894 the spades of
his workmen struck into a chamber from which
were taken no less than thirty thousand tablets —
a vast hoard of archives mostly of a business
character and relating to trade, commerce, agricul-
ture, and industry, with a goodly number of tem-
ple documents and religious notices. The mass of
tablets was so great that it was not possible to
j)rotect them from the thieving propensities of the
natives, and many thousands were stolen, to be
sold and scattered all over the world both in pub-
lic museums and in private hands. While this is
to be deplored, it is perhaps safe to expect that in
the end very few of them will be lost to science.
With this exception de Sarzec has been success-
ful in securing for the Louvre an important part
of the brilliant results of his explorations, and the
end of his work is not yet.

During all this long period of exploration and
excavation, carried on by almost all the nations of
Europe, there have been developing in America
schools of students of the languages, history, and

EXPLORATIONS, 1872-1900. 239

religions of the ancient Orient. It was natural
that in America, also, men should begin to talk of
efforts to assist in the great work of recovering
the remains of Babylonian and Assyrian civiliza-
tion. In 1884, at meetings of the American Ori-
ental Society and of the Society of Biblical
Literature and Exegesis, conferences were held
upon this subject in which Prof essor John P. Peters,
of Philadelphia, the Rev. Dr. "William Hayes AVard,
Professor Francis Brown, and Professor Isaac H.
Hall, of New York, and Professors C. H. Toy and
D. G. Lyon, of Harvard University, were partic-
ipants. These and other gentlemen finally formed
an organization, afterward connected with the
Archseological Institute of America, for the pur-
pose of raising funds to send out to Babylonia an
expedition to explore the country and see where
excavations might profitably be undertaken. Miss
Catherine Lorillard Wolfe, of New York, gave
five thousand dollai's to defray the expenses of this
preliminary exploration, and on September 6, 1884,
the Wolfe expedition to Babylonia departed from
New York.' The personnel of this expedition
consisted of Dr. William Hayes Ward, Mr. J. H.
Haynes, then an instructor in Robert College, Con-
stantinople, and Dr. J. R. S. Sterrett. They trav-

JSee "Report on the Wolfe Expedition to Babylonia, 1884-85," by
William Hayes Ward, Papers of the Archceological Institicte of America,
Boston, 1886, and also "The Wolfe Expedition," by Rev. W. H. Ward,
D.D., LL.D., Journal of the Society of Biblical Literature and Exegesis,
June to December, 1885, pp. 56-60. The diary of Dr. Ward is pub-
lished in part by Dr. Peters in Nippur, vol. i, Appendix F, pp. 318-375.

240 HISTORY OF BABYLONIA AND ASSYRIA.

eled over rnucli of the land of Babylonia, visiting
sites where excavations had previously been made,
as well as scores of mounds that had not yet been
examined by archaeologists. Upon his return, in
June, 1885, Dr. AVard earnestly recommended
that an expedition be placed in the field to en-
gage in the actual work of excavation. He ad-
vised that Anbar be the site chosen for this
purpose,' but spoke with enthusiasm of the op-
portunities in other places, among them at Niffer,
then erroneously identified with ancient Calneh, of
which he said, " There nothing has been done ;
it is a most promising site of a most famous
city." ■

The report of Dr. Ward bore no immediate
fruit, but the leaven was steadily working, and
efforts were proceeding in several directions to
secure funds to undertake excavations. The labors
of Dr. John P. Peters at last bore fruit, and
an expedition was sent out by the University of
Pennsylvania which departed from New York
June 23, 1888. Of this company Dr. Peters was
director, and Professors Hermann V. Hilprecht,
of the University of Pennsylvania, and Robei"t F.
Harper, of the University of Chicago, were Assyri-
ologists, Mr. Perez Hastings Field, architect, and J.

' Journal of the Society of Biblical Literature, p. 60. On this mound
of Anbar compare a most interesting note by Sir Henry Rawlinson quoted
in Nippur by John P. Peters. New York, 1897, vol. i, pp. 178, 179.
Eawlinson reached the negative result that Anbar could not be identified
with any Assyrian or Babylonian site.

' Papers of the Archceological Institute, Report of Dr. Ward, p. 29.

EXPLORATIONS, 1872-1900. 241

H. Haynes, business manager, commissary, and
photographer. It Avas, however, long ere the ex-
pedition could come to its work. There were the
usual delays in securing permission from the Im-
perial Ottoman government ; there were difficulties
in the gathering of equipment and in the assem-
bling of the staff; there was a shipwreck of part
of the expedition on the island of Samos, and per-
ils of health and of life during the long journey
overland to southern Babylonia.'

At last, on February 6, 1889, excavations were
begun on the mount of Nuifar, or Niifer, the site
of ancient Nippur, and continued until April 15,
with a maximum force of two hundred Arabs.
The difficulties were enormous, for there were
constant struggles with some of the native tribes,
with many individuals among them, and with
sundry Turkish officials. But in spite of all this
the expedition made a trigonometrical survey of
all the mounds and won from them more than
"two thousand cuneiform tablets and fragments
(among them three dated in the reign of King
Ashuretililani of Assyria), a number of inscribed
bricks, teri*a cotta brick stamp of Nardm-Sin, frag-
ment of a barrel cylinder of Sargon of Assyria,
inscribed stone tablet, several fragments of in-
scribed vases (among them two of King Lugalzag-
gisi of Erech), door socket of Kurigalzu, about
twenty-five Hebrew bowls, a large number of
stone and terra cotta vases of various sizes and

' See the lively narrative of Peters, Xippur, vol. i, pp. 1-241.

242 HISTORY OF BABYLONIA AND ASSYRIA.

shapes, terra cotta images of gods and their an-
cient moulds, reliefs, figurines, and toys in terra
cotta, weapons and utensils in stone and metal,
jewelry in gold, silver, copper, bronze, and various
precious stones, a number of weights, seals, and
seal cylinders." ' It is an excellent record, yet
to Dr. Peters it seemed that the first year's work
"was more or less of a failure, so far at least
as Nippur was concerned." * This judgment is
probably influenced by the great difficulties with
the Arabs which embittered the last days of the
work.' It was successful, though far surpassed in
importance by that which was to follow.

From January 14 to May 3, 1890, the Univer-
sity of Pennsylvania expedition was again at work
at Nippur, with Dr. Peters as director, and Mr.
Haynes as business manager, and with a maxi-
mum force of four hundred Arabs. During this
season about eight thousand inscribed tablets
were taken from the ruins as well as antiquities of
other kinds in large numbers.* It was a brilliantly
successful year in every particular, being also less
disturbed by troubles with the Arabs than the
former. All these antiquities were sent to Con-
stantinople for the Imperial Museum, though later

' This summary of the year's operation is quoted from Hilprecht, Old
Babylonian Inscriptions, Chiefly from Nippur, vol. i, part ii. Philadelphia,
1896, p. 8.

' Peters, Nippur, vol. i, p. vii.

^ See Peters, ibid., vol. i, chap, xii ; The Catastrophe, pp. 279, ff.

* See the summary by Hilprecht in Old Babylonian Inscriptions, vol. i,
part ii, p. 8, and compare the full and entertaining narrative of Peters,
Nippur, vol. ii, passim.

EXPLORATIONS, 1872-1900. 243

considerable portions of them were presented to the
museum of the University of Pennsylvania as a
personal gift of the sultan. This gracious act
arose directly out of the dignified and generous
course pursued by the authorities of the Univer-
sity of Pennsylvania. They had honestly handed
over the antiquities to the Constantinople author-
ities, as indeed they had promised to do, but had
gone much further than this. Professor Hilprecht
was sent to Constantinople to catalogue these
same collections for the Imperial Museum. This
work was done with great skill, but also with
such tact as to call forth expressions of gratitude
from all who were connected with the museum.
By gifts of antiquities to the museum in Phila-
delphia, of which Professor Hilprecht was himself
a curator, the sultan aimed to repay the Uni-
versity of Pennsylvania for this free gift of his
services.

For a time excavations at Nippur were inter-
mitted, but on April 11, 1893, the University of
Pennsylvania had another expedition in the field
under the directorship of Mr. J. H. Haynes. Then
began one of the most important of all the long
series of expeditions in Babylonia or in Assyria.
Haynes remained steadily on the ground at work
until February 15, 1896, with a short break from
April 4 to June 4, 1894. Never before had a
European ventured to carry on excavations through
a hot season. Professor Hilprecht has not spoken
too cordially in saying that " the crowning success

244 HISTOEY OF BABYLONIA AND ASSYRIA.

was reserved for the unselfish devotion and untir-
ing efforts of Haynes, the ideal Babylonian ex-
plorer. Before he accomplished his memorable
task, even such men as were entitled to an inde-
pendent opinion, and who themselves had ex-
hibited unusual courage and energy, had regarded
it as practically impossible to excavate continu-
ously in the lower regions of Mesopotamia. On
the very same ruins of Nippur, situated in the
neighborhood of extensive malarial marshes, and
' among the most wild and ignorant Arabs that can
be found in this part of Asia,' ' where Layard him-
self nearly sacrificed his life in excavating several
weeks without success/ Haynes has spent almost
three years continuously, isolated from all civilized
men, and most of the time without the comfort of
a single companion. It was indeed no easy task
for any European or American to dwell thirty-
four months near these insect-breeding and pestif-
erous Affej swamps, where the temperature in
perfect shade rises to the enormous height of
120^ Fahrenheit (== c. 39° Reaumur), where the
stifling sandstorms from the desert rob the tent
of its shadow and parch the human skin with the
heat of a furnace ; while the ever-present insects
bite and sting and buzz through day and night;
while cholera is lurking at the threshold of the
camp and treacherous Arabs are planning robbery

' Layard, Nineveh and Babylon, p. 565.

* Layard, I. c, pp. 556-562. "On the whole I am much inclined to
question whether extensive excavations carried on at Niffer would produce
any very important or interesting results " (p. 562).

EXPLORATIONS, 1873-1900. 245

and murder — and yet during all these wearisome
hours to fulfill the duties of three ordinary men.
Truly a splendid victory, achieved at innumerable
sacrifices, and under a burden of labors enough for
a giant ; in the full significance of the word a
7nonumentum aere perenniusy '

During the thii-d campaign of the University of
Pennsylvania about twenty-one thousand cunei-
form tablets and fragments were taken out of the
mound, and besides these there were found large
numbers of antiquities of other kinds, all of great
importance in the reconstruction of the past his-
tory of Babylonia. Among these were large num-
bers of vases and fragments of vases from the
very earliest period of history, drain tiles, water
cocks, brick stamps, beautiful clay coffins glazed
in tile fashion and finely preserved, and diorite
statues and fragments.'

After a brief and necessary interruption, the
Philadelphia expedition began work again in
February, 1899, with Dr. J. H. Haynes as man-
ager and Messrs. Geere and Fisher as architects.
In January, 1900, Professor Hilprecht reached
Nippur and took charge as scientific director.
Under his direction "an extensive group of hills
to the southwest of the temple of Bel " were sys-
tematically excavated. From the same location
about twenty-five hundred tablets were taken in

' Hilprecht, Old Bahyloyiian Inscriptions, vol. i, part ii, p. 10.

"Compare the summary in Hilprecht, ibid., p. 9. An account of this
expedition by Mr. Haynes himself has not yet appeared, though it is un-
derstood that one is in contemplation.

246 HISTORY OF BABYLONIA AND ASSYRIA.

the first campaign, and later excavations had in-
creased the number to about fifteen thousand.
Within six weeks " a series of rooms was exposed
which furnished not less than sixteen thousand
cuneiform documents, forming part of the temple
library during the latter half of the third mil-
lennium B. C." '

From these four campaigns had come a vast
store of literature of all kinds; here were letters
and dispatches, chronological lists, historical
fragments, syllabaries, building and business in-
scriptions, astronomical and religious texts, votive
tablets, inventories, tax lists, and plans of estates.
No expedition had ever been more successful and
none had ever been more warmly supported at
home. Fortunate in its directors at home, rich in
the scientific directorate of Professor Hilprecht,
the results attained have been worthy of all the
expenditure of energy, life, and treasure.

Alone among the greatest of the modern nations
Germany had done very little in the field of ex-
ploration while other peoples had been so busy.
German scholarship had made the highest contri-
butions to decipherment and to the scientific
treatment of texts unearthed by the patient ex-
plorers sent out by others. It were strange if
Germany should not also seek to find new tablets as
well as to read them. Professor Friedrich Delitzsch,
long an exponent of the science of Assyriology

' Hilprecht, " Latest Research in Bible Lands," Sunday School Times,
May 5, 1900, p. 276.

EXPLORATIONS, 1872-1900. 247

and one of the most eminent scholars of modern
times, urged the formation of the German Orient
Society,' which was finally constituted early in
1898.

Even before the proposed society was organ-
ized a "commission for the archaeological in-
vestigation of the lands of the Euphrates and
Tigris " prepared to secure direct information con-
cerning the various sites which seemed to prom-
ise the best results when excavated. To this end
Professor Eduard Sachau, of the University of
Berlin, accompanied by Dr. Robert Koldewey, de-
parted for the East October 23, 1897. They
thoroughly explored Babylonia and Assyria,' and
brought back abundant information for the use of
the new society, which was now fairly started.
To it scholars gave their aid, the German Em-
peror made a grant of funds, and in the end of
the year an expedition was sent to the East with
Dr. Koldewey as director and Dr. Bruno Meissner,
of Halle, as Assyriologist. The latter, after very
useful service, retired and was succeeded by Dr.
E. Lindl, of Munich. In the spring of 1899 work
was commenced in the great mound of El-Kasr,
Babylon, beneath which were the remains of the
palace of Nebuchadrezzar. Success was had in
a measurable degree from the very beginning in

' See Friedrich Delitzsch, Ez Oriente Luz ! Ein Wort zur Forderung
der Deutschen Orient-Gesellschaft. Leipzig, 1898.

"^ Am Euphrat und Tigris. Reisenotizen aus dem winter 1897-1898,
von Eduard Sachau, mit 5 Kartenskizzen und 32 Abbildungen. Leipzig,
1900, pp. 160.

248 HISTORY OF BABYLONIA AND ASSYRIA.

the discovery of a new Hittite inscription' and
of many tablets of the neo-Babylonian period.
The future work, which must continue for a num-
ber of years, is in good hands, for German patience
and persistence will be certain to continue it to
the end.

In 1888 there was made in Egypt a most sur-
prising discovery of letters and dispatches written
for the most part in the Babylonian script and
language. A peasant woman, living in the
wretched little mud village of Tell-el-Amarna,^
on the Nile, about one hundred and eighty miles
south of Memphis, was searching for antiquities
among the sand and stones by the mountain side
some distance back from the river. Little did she
know that beneath this rubbish lay all that re-
mained of the temple and palace of the great
heretic king of Egypt, Amenophis IV, or, as he
called himself, Akh-en-Aten. Her concern was
only to find some bits of anteeka^ which might be
sold to those strange people from Europe and
America, who buy things simply because they are

' Wisseiischaftliche Veroffentlichungen der Deufschen Orient GesellscJiaff.
1 Heft. Die Hettitische Inschrift gefunden in der Konigsburg von Baby-
lon am 22. Aiigust 1899 tmd veroffentlicht vou Dr. Rob. Koldewey.
Vorwort von Prof. Dr. Friedrich Delitzsch. Leipzig 1900.

* There is a dispute as to whether the name of the place should be Tell-
el-Amarna or simply El-Amarna. Winckler has adopted the latter on the
basis of a private communication from Professor Maspero, who asserts
that El-Amarna is alone heard from the lips of the natives on the spot.
To this view also SteindorfiP is inclined, for he writes " Tell el-'Amarna (or
better, El- 'Amarna) " (Baedeker's Egypt, Leipzig, 1898, p. 193). On the
other hand, Petrie {History of Egypt, ii, p. 205), Budge {The TeU-El-

EXPLORATIONS, 1873-1900. 249

old. Out of the mouud she took over three hun-
dred pieces of inscribed tablets, some of them
only 2i inches by Iji inches, while others are 8f
inches by 41- inches and even larger. One hun-
dred and sixty of these, many of them fragments,
were acquired by Herr Theodore Graf, of Vienna,
and were purchased from him by Herr J. Simon,
of Berlin, and presented to the Royal Museum in
the latter city. Eighty-two were bought for the
trustees of the British Museum by Dr. E. A.
Wallis Budge ; sixty came into the possession of
the Gizeh Museum in Cairo, and a few into pri-
vate hands.

The documents thus restored to the world are
to be reckoned with the most important of cunei-
form discoveries. They consist of letters and
dispatches which passed between Amenophis III
and Amenophis IV on the one hand, and on
the other various monarchs, princes, and govern-
ors of western Asia, among whom were Kadash-
man-Bel of Babylonia, Asshur-uballit of Assyria,
Dushratta of Mitanni, Rib-Adda of Byblos, Abi-
milki of Tyre, Abdi-Kheba of Jerusalem, and
many others. Their historical value is great not
only because of the chronological material deduci-
ble from them, but also because they give a note-

Amarna Tablets in (he British Museum, passim), and Sayce, all of whom
know the place well, unite in reading Tell-el-Araarna. Professor Sayce
says in a personal note to the wiiter : " There is no place called El-Amarna,
which is the Egyptian name of a Bedawin tribe (El-Amaran). But there is
a Tel el-Amarna and a Der el-Amarna, some miles to the south of the Tel."
18

250 HISTORY OF BABYLONIA AND ASSYRIA.

worthy side light upon the entire social relations
of the time.*

During the long series of years that excavation
had been earned on in the East by Europe and
America but little interest in the subject was
aroused in Turkey, in whose great empire all these
finds were made. But during the latter part of
the period there came a great revival of enthusi-
asm for antiquity in Turkey itself, due almost
entirely to the wisdom, patience, and learning of
one man. Trained in Europe, a man of fine
natural taste and of great personal enthusiasm,
Hamdy Bey was admirably fitted for the post of
director-general of the Imperial Ottoman Museum.
He has transformed it and all its arrangements
and made certain a great future for it. Ably
seconded by his brother, Halil Bey, he gave great
and continued help to the Philadelphia expedi-
tion, and magnificently has his museum profited
thereby. It remained only that this museum, the
best situated in all the world to gain thereby,
should itself undertake excavations. Hamdy Bey
succeeded in interesting the sultan himself in the
matter and inducing him to provide a sum of
money from his private purse to undertake exca-
vations at Abu-Habba, the site of ancient Sippar.

' On the Tell-el-Amarna discoveries in general consult the valuable bibli-
ography in The TelUel-Amariia Tablets in the British Museum with Auto-
type Facsimiles, London, 1892, pp. Ixxxvii, ff., and add to that especially
Winckler, Ler Thontafelfund von El-Amarna, Berlin, 1889, seq., and also
Keilinschriftliche Bibliothek, vol. v. A useful summary of the general
historical results is given by Carl Niebuhr, Lie Amarna Zeit. Liepzig, 1899.

EXPLORATIONS, 1873-1900. 251

The director of the expedition was the French
Dominican, Father Scheil, a distinguished Assyri-
ologist, who was accompanied by Bedry Bey, who
had been Turkish commissioner to the Philadel-
phia expedition, and therefore knew by experience
the best method of exploration. The expedition
was completely successful, and in the short space
of two months, at a cost of only three thousand
francs, gathered a fine store of over six hundred
and seventy-nine tablets and fragments, mostly
letters and contracts dated in the reign of Samsu-
iluna, the son and successor of Hammurabi, as well
as many vases and other objects similar to those
found by the expedition at Nippur.' Scheil was
naturally supported by all government officials in
the most loyal fashiou, and his success is an interest-
ing promise for the future. The Turkish govern-
ment is able to control its own representatives in
the neighborhood of the mounds, and if it is once
thoroughly aroused to the interest and importance
of excavating its untold buried treasures of art,
science, and literature, scarcely any limits may be
set to the great results that may be expected for
our knowledge of ancient Babylonia.

Besides these great expeditions other smaller
and less conspicuous undertakings have frequently
been made to secure the archaeological treasures

' On this expedition and its results see Notes by Scheil in Recueil de
Travauz relafi/s a la Philologie et a Varcheologie Egyptieimes et Assyriennes,
vol. xvi, and especially Extrait d'une lettre du P. Scheil, ibid., p. 184, and
compare the survey by Hilprecht, Recent Research in Bible Lands. Phila-
delphia, 1897, pp. 81, ff.

252 HISTORY OF BABYLONIA AND ASSYRIA.

of Babylonia and Assyria. The most successful
among these are doubtless the repeated oriental
visits of Dr. E. A. Wallis Budge, of the British
Museum. He has gone quietly into various parts
of the East and, with a thorough understanding
of the natives, has been able year by year to in-
crease the collections of the museum. No public
account of his work has been made, and no narra-
tive of his labors can therefore be given here.

Here rests for a time tlie story of expeditions to
uncover the buried cities of Babylonia and AssjTia.
For a short time only in all probability, for the
gain has been so large, the rewards so great, that
new expeditions must ever seek an opportunity to
labor in the same fields.

While great expeditions have tkeir periods of
labor and their periods of rest one form of ex-
ploration goes on all the time in spite of many
eftbrts to prevent it. The natives of the district
have learned that antiquities may be sold to
Europeans and Americans for gold. The traffic in
them in Turkey is forbidden by law, and their ex-
port from the country is interdicted. But the
native digs on surreptitiously and smuggles the
results into the hands of merchants, who market
them in Baghdad, London, and elsewhere. This
practice brings into the possession of museums and
so into the hands of scholars hundreds of tablets
that otherwise might long remain hidden. Yet it
is greatly to be deplored, for much is thus broken
by careless and ignorant handling, and the source

EXPLORATIONS, 1872-1900. 253

or origin, a point of great importance, is unknown
or concealed from fear of the government. It is
therefore on many accounts to be hoped that the
Turkish government may ultimately succeed in
preventing it, and may secure for its own rapidly
growing museum more of the objects that are
found by chance.

All that has been found yet is but a small part
of that which doubtless lies buried beneath the
mounds. Therein is an urgent call to men of
Avealth, to learned societies, and to governments to
continue the work that has already been so mar-
velously successful. The gaps that yet remain in
our knowledge of ancient Assyria and Babylonia
may in large measure be easily filled up by the
same methods that have given us our present
acquaintance with that mighty past.

254 HISTORY OF BABYLONIA AND ASSYRIA.

CHAPTER IX.

THE SOURCES.

The sources for tlie history of the Babylonians
and Assyrians may be grouped under four main
heads : I. The monumental remains of the Assyri-
ans and Babylonians themselves; II. The Egyp-
tian hieroglyphic texts ; III. The Old Testament ;
IV. The Greek and Latin writers.

Of these four by far the most important in
every particular are the monumental remains of
the Babylonians and Assyrians.

I. The Monuments of Babylonia and Assyria.
From the mounds that cover the ancient cities of
Babylonia and Assyria there has come a vast
store of tablets, which now number certainly not
less than one hundred and sixty thousand in the
various museums of the world. These tablets
contain the literature of the two peoples, a litera-
ture as varied in form and content as it is vast in
extent. In the end all of this literature may be
considered as sources for history. Every business
tablet is dated, and from these dates much may
be learned for chronology, while even in the tab-
lets themselves there is matter relating to the
daily life of the people, all of which must ulti-
mately be valuable in the reconstruction of the so-

THE SOURCES. 255

cial history. So also are all religious texts, all
omens and incantations, sources for the study of
the history of religious development. But as we
are here concerned chiefly with political history,
the primary sources are the so-called royal inscrip-
tions. These royal inscriptions begin veiy early
in Babylonian history, and then chiefly as mere
records of names and titles. These early kings
caused their names and titles to be written in
some way upon all their constructions. Even
little statuettes and vases bear the royal mark,
while the bricks used in the erection of large
buildings were stamped with the king's name and
the names of the lands over which he ruled. Sim-
ple and uninteresting though these often are, they
give the political relations of lands and, in con-
nection with other materials, enable us to trace
out the line of political development. This style
of name and title writing continues down to the
fall of the Babylonian empire. Alongside of it,
however, there was early developed a narrative
form of royal inscription, giving an account of the
campaigns and conquests of the royal arms. These
narrative inscriptions are of three kinds : 1. Annals ;
2. Campaign inscriptions ; 3. General votive in-
scriptions.

In the annalistic inscriptions the deeds of the
king are an-anged in chronological order by years
of reign. Of all the ancient sources these are by
far the most important, for from them we learn
the exact order of events, often a matter of first-

256 HISTORY OF BABYLONIA AND ASSYRIA.

rate importance. Besides these texts tlie kings
have left many inscriptions in which the events
are arranged in campaigns. While this second
class is just as important as the first for the mere
statement of events, it is, nevertheless, much less
valuable to us. From the arrangement of cam-
paigns it is sometimes difficult to ascertain the ex-
act order of events in time, and hence the sequence
of conquests or of defeats. The general or votive
inscriptions begin usually v^ith a most elaborate
ascription of titles, and with all manner of boasting
phrases concerning the king's prowess. They
then set forth the king's conquests, arranged in
groups, and usually after a geographical plan.
The order often widely departs from a chronologi-
cal one, and as some kings have left us only texts
of this kind, it is impossible to understand the
sequence of events during certain reigns.

The royal inscriptions which describe battle,
siege, and conquest are almost exclusively As-
syrian. The inscriptions of Babylonian kings
which have come down to us are almost without
exception peaceful in tone and matter. They re-
cord little else than the erection of temples and
palaces or the restoration of those which had
fallen into partial or complete decay. For the
order of events in their campaigns against other
peoples as well as for the events themselves we
must rely almost entirely upon non-native sources.

In addition to these historical sources the
Babylonians and Assyrians have left a great mass

THE SOUKCES. 257

of chronological material to which we must give
attention later (see Chapter XII).

In respect of their value as sources of knowl-
edge these monumental remains can only be said
to be as valuable as the records of other ancient
peoples. They bear for the most part the stamp
of reasonableness. Often, indeed, do they contain
palpable exaggerations of kingly prowess, of vic-
tories, and of conquests. They therefore require
sifting and rigid criticism. But in most cases it
is possible to learn from the issue of the events
the relative importance of them, and so be able to
check the measure of extravagance in the narra-
tive. When subjected to the same tests and tried
by the same canons of criticism the Assyrian and
Babylonian monuments yield as just and true a
picture of their national history as the sources of
Greek and Roman history to which the world has
been so long accustomed.

The second source is of far less importance than
the first, yet is at times exceedingly valuable.

II. Egyptian Hieroglyphic Texts are of very
slight importance as direct sources of knowledge
concerning the political history of Babylonia and
Assyria, but they contain many place and per-
sonal names useful in the elucidation of corre-
sponding names in Assyrian texts.

The third source, while more important than
the second, is still not so valuable as the primary
monumental source.

III. The Old Testament. The gain of the Old

358 HISTORY OF BABYLONIA AND ASSYRIA.

Testament has been greater from Assyrian studies
than the reverse, though the apologetic value of
monumental testimony has often been greatly
exaggerated. Nevertheless, it must not be for-
gotten that it was interest in the Old Testament
which inspired most of the early explorers and ex-
cavators and some of the earlier decipherers and
interpreters, and that from the historical notices
in the Old Testament came not a few points for
the outworking of details in the newly discovered
inscriptions. The historical portions of the Old
Testament which are still of importance as sources
for Assyrian and Babylonian history are especially
2 Kings, while of even greater importance, in many
instances, are the prophets Isaiah, Nahum, Jere-
miah, and Ezekiel.

IV. The Gi^eek and Latin Writers. As sources
the Greek and Latin writers once held first place,
but are now reduced to a very insignificant posi-
tion by the native monumental records. Never-
theless, they still retain some importance, and need
constantly to be used to check and control the
native writers as well as to assist in the ordering
of their more detailed materials. .

First in importance among all the classical
writers stands Berossos, or Berosos, for so the
name is also transliterated into Greek. He was a
Babylonian by origin, and a priest of the great
god Bel. The date of his birth and of his death
are equally unkuowm, but it is clear that he was
living in the days of Alexander the Great (356-

THE SOURCES. 259

323 B. C.),' and continued to live at least as late
as Antiochus I Soter (280-261 B. C). He wrote
a great work on Babylonian history, the title of
which was probaby Babyloniaca, though it is also
referred to under the title of Chaldaica by Jo-
sephus and Clemens. It was dedicated to his
patron, Antiochus I Soter. The Babyloniaca was
divided into three parts, of which the first dealt
with human history from the chaos to the flood,
the second from the flood to Nabonassar, and the
third from Nabonassar to Alexander. The first
two consisted only of lists of kings without any
proper historical narrative, while with the third
began the real story of events.

Both lists and narrative of Berossos could not
fail to be of considerable moment to us, if we had
them in even fairly well preserved form. Unhap-
pily, however, the original work has perished, and
all that remains are excerpts which have come to
us after much copying and many transfers from
hand to hand. The history of these fragments is a
very curious example of book making in antiquity.
In the Mithradatic war a certain Alexander of Mile-
tus was taken prisoner and carried to Rome as the
slave of Lentulus, from whom he received the name
of Cornelius. In 82 B. C. he received the Roman
citizenship and lived in Rome with some distinc-
tion as a man of letters. There he wrote an
enormous number of books relating to ancient
history, and on that account received the name of

'See Eusebius, Chronica, ed. Alfred Schoeue. Berlin, 1875, p. 11.

260 HISTORY OF BABYLONIA AND ASSYRIA.

Polyhistor.' The period of his greatest clistinc.
tion and productivity was between 70 and 60 B. C.
His historical works were simply excerpts from
the writings of his predecessors, and in this man-
ner he compiled a history of Assyria, the exact title
of which is not now known. This history was
made up of extracts from Berossos, ApoUodoros,
Chronica, and the third book of the Sibyllines, and
was worked over into pseudo-Ionic Greek by Aby-
denos. It came also into the hands of Josephus and
of Eusebius. Josephus was seeking especially those
parts of the history which illustrated the history
of the Jews, and naturally took from Alexander
only those parts which were suitable for his pur-
pose. In like manner, also, Eusebius copied only
portions. By this process we have preserved in
Josephus, Antiquities of the Jews, and in Euse-
bius, Chronica, small parts of the great work of
Berossos, while the dynasties have come down to
us from George the Synkellos. Wherever we can
secure enough of Berossos to compare with the
native monumental sources we find most remarka-
ble agreement with them. From Berossos but
little is to be learned of direct value, but the sup-
port which we gain from these fragmentary re-
mains for the general course of the history is very

' On the life of Alexander Polyhistor compare J. Freudenthal, Hellen-
istische Studien, Heft I, Alexander Polyhistor und die voti ihm erhaltenen
Reste jiidischer und samaritanischer Oeschichtswerke. Jahresbericht dea
iiidisch-theologischen Seminars, Breslau, 18*74, p. 17, and the further ref-
erences there given in footnote, especially Ranch, De Alexandri Polyhistoris
vita atque scriptis. Heidelberg, 1 843.

THE SOURCES. 261

great. As will later appear, clironological material
of much complexity and difficulty is obtained
from certain parts of these fragments.

The next Greek writer who comes before us as
a possible source is Ktesias. He was a contem-
porary of Xenophon, and was born of the family
of the Asclepiadse at Cnidus. He wandered
thence in B. C. 416 to the court of Persia and be-
came body physician to King Artaxerxes Mnemon,
whom he cured of a severe wound received in the
battle of Cunaxa, B. C. 401. In 399 he returned
to his native city, and in the ease thus achieved
proceeded to work up into historical form the
materials he had collected. He wrote in twenty-
three books a history of Persia {liegoiKd) in the Ionic
dialect. The first six books treated the history of
Assyria, and the rest the history of Persia down
to his own time, in which he claims to have used
the royal annals of the Persian kings {dtcpdigai
^aaiXiKai). His work was extensively used in the
ancient world,' and wherever quoted became at
once the object of sharp controversy. He was ac-
cused of being untrustworthy and indifferent to
truth, and the charges and the controversy con-
tinue until to-day. The severity of the judg-
ments' against him probably arise partly out of

' Gilmore, TJie Fragments of the Persika of Ktesias, London, 1888,
pp. 2, 3, names no less than thirty-four writers, among them Strabo,
Plutarch, and Xenophon, who have preserved portions of Ktesias.

' As a specimen of a sharp modern judgment upon him, both personally
and as an author, one may refer to Marcus v. Niebuhr, Oeschichte Assures

262 HISTORY OF BABYLONIA AND ASSYRIA.

the acrimonious manner in whicli he attacked
Herodotus, and partly out of the fact that he used
Persian sources for his history. In the years
of his Persian residence he had so completely
absorbed the Persian point of view as to seem
hardly just to the Greek conception of their his-
tory in its relations to the Persians. If we subject
to modern criticism the fragments of his history
that remain, our judgment must be that the first
six books, relating to the early history of Assyria,
are valueless. Whether this was due to the fact
that he was unable himself to read the sources
which he used, and was therefore obliged to rely
upon the word of others to tell him the story
found in them, or that he must be accused of
actually inventing and setting forth as history an
entertaining mass of empty fables, will probably
never be decisively determined. The books them-
selves have perished. Only fragments of them
survive in the quotations by Diodorus and Euse-
bius and others, and in an epitome by Photius.'
For our purposes they scarcely come into the ques-
tion at all.

uyid BabeVs. Berlin, 1857, pp. 289, ff. While as a specimen of a more
favorable judgment see Sayce, The Ancient Empires of the East, Herod,
otus, i-iii, London, 1883, p. xxxiii: "It is certain that he (Ktesias) was
justified in claiming for his history the authority of Persian documents,
and that many of the charges of falsehood brought against him must be
laid not upon him, but upon his Eastern friends. His history of Assyria
is much like the Egyptian history of mediaeval Arab writers, clothed only
in a Greek dress;" and also Paul Rost, Untersuchungen zur altorieiital.
tschen Geschichfe, pp. 109, 110. Mittheilungen der Vorderasiatischen
Gesellschaft, 1892, 2, Berlin.
^See Gilmore, op. cit., passim.

THE SOUKCES. 263

Last of all among tlie classical winters we come
to Herodotus, the father of histoiy. Of the value
of his works as a source very diverse opinions
have been and are still held. From him surely
much was expected. Born in Halicarnassus, in
Caria, B. C. 484, he had associations with the
greatest men of his time, and apparently planned
his histoiy with skill and care. He desired to tell
of the famous events in the struggle between the
Greek and the barbarian, and of the causes which
led to the Persian war. He traveled extensively
in the East, and there is some reason to believe
that these journeys were undertaken with a view
to the gathering of materials for his history.
Egypt he visited, but there is doubt whether he
traversed the whole country from the Mediter-
ranean to Elephantine. There is still more doubt
concerning his travels beyond the confines of
Egypt. He certainly attempts to leave the im-
pression, even when he does not specifically so
state, that he also visited Tyre, on the Syrian
coast, that he penetrated to Babylon and thence
to Nineveh, to Ecbatana, and perhaps even to
Susa. Professor Sayce has attempted to prove,
with much learning and great acuteness, that " he
never visited Assyria and Babylonia," ' and asserts
that "he stands convicted of never having visited
the district he undertakes to describe,'" and con-
cludes with the statement that "the long contro-

' Sayce, Ancient Empirea of the East, p. xxviii.
' Ibid., p. xxix.

2U HISTORY OF BABYLONIA AND ASSYRIA.

versy wliich has raged over the credibility of
Herodotus has thus been brought to an end by
the discoveries of recent years." ' That Professor
Sayce has proved upon Herodotus a host of in-
accuracies, some travelers' tales, and has effectually
disposed of his claims to rank as an independent
source of ancient history there can be no doubt.
Yet that in this case, as in other similar modern
judgments, there is an excess of skepticism is per-
haps no less true. There is good reason for be-
lieving that Herodotus had really visited Babylon,
for the topographical details which he gives bear
frequently the stamp of an eyewitness.' The main
fact, however, remains that from Herodotus but
little of historical value may be learned, save as
every single fact is checked by the explicit state-
ments of native monumental historians.'

After these there remain among classical writ-
ers few who deserve to be mentioned as sources.
The chronological materials left by some of them,
as, for example, the earlier parts of Berossos and

' Ibid., p. xxxiii.

^ See, for example, Baumstark in Pauly-Wissowa, Meal Encijclopddie der
class. Wissenschaft, Stuttgart, n. d., col. 2689. " Seine Angaben iiber B.
sind die einzigen uamittelbar und voUstandig auf uns gekommenen aus
der gesamten griechischen Litteratur vorchristlicher Zeit. Dass sie im
wesentlichen auf Augenschein beruhen, ware besser niemals bestritten
worden."

* For a careful assembling of the valuable references in Herodotus and a
comparison of the native sources see J, Nikel, Herodot und die Keilschrift-
forschung, Paderborn, 1896, and add also Herodotus and the Empires of the
East, based on Nikel's Herodot und die Keihchriftforschung, by Herbert
Cushing Tolman, Ph.D., and James Henry Stevenson, Ph.D. New York,
n. d. (1899).

THE SOURCES. 265

the exceedingly valuable Canon of Ptolemy, will
have to be estimated later (see Chapter XII).

From a few other less-known writei*s, such as
Kleitarchos, Arrian, Hieronymos of Kardia, and
an unknown writer concerning Alexander the
Great (Onesikritos), certain topographical details
are learned.

Our judgment of all the classical writers must
be that their value is entirely subordinate to the
native sources, and not so valuable as the notices
in the Old Testament or the brief words from the
Egyptian hieroglyphic texts.

266 BISTORY OF BABYLONIA AND ASSYRIA.

CHAPTER X.

THE LANDS OF BABYLONIA AND ASSYRIA.

The Babylonian and Assyrian peoples had
their seat in a great valley with but one distinct
and sharp natural boundary. This clear bound-
ary was the Persian Gulf upon the south, which
said to all landsmen, " Thus far shalt thou come
and no farther." That boundary these peoples
respected and never ventured out on the troubled
and mysterious waters. On the east the boundary
between them and their next neighbors was fluctu-
ating and uncertain. The natural boundary would
seem to be the mountains of Elam, but these
mountains slope gradually westward to the plain,
and do not rise precipitously from it. Down
these slopes poured hordes of men in all ages, and
there was no sharp line of defense to keep them
from the valley, while on the other hand the
people of the valley were often filled with con-
quering power sufficient to extend their border
fi^r up the slopes into Elam. On the north, also,
the boundary was almost equally uncertain. The
mountains of Armenia might be regarded as the
natural border on the north, but these are inti-
mately connected with the great valley, for they
belong to the drainage system of the Euphrates and

LANDS OF BABYLONIA AND ASSYRL\. 267

the Tigris, and, like the mountains of Elam, slope
more gently toward than from the valley. On
the north, therefore, as on the east, the lands of
Assyria and of Babylonia were open to incursion
from the outside, or to raids from within outward.
The Avestern border was still more indefinite. In
the northwest the valley land swept away in a
gentle rise from the Euphrates to the plateau of
Aram, and over it even to the Mediterranean.
AVhile upon the southwest the desert formed the
only barrier between the valley and Arabia or
the lands of the Jordan valley. Nomadic peoples
passed over this barrier with ease, and became
powerful factors in the history of the Babylo-
nians. On the other hand, however, the Babylo-
nians did not readily pass the broad line of the
desert.

Within this roughly bounded country two great
empires existed for centuries, and the dividing
line between them moved up and down the valley
as the power of either became stronger than that
of the other. Nature had set no boundary be-
tween them, for the whole valley lay open from
north to south. Yet, though this is true, there have
existed from remote times separate provinces in
the valley, with more or less definite boundaries
between them. If we begin in the south, these
separate provinces may thus be described: Close
to the Persian Gulf was a small country, the
country of the Sea Lands, the influence of which
was marked in the early history of the w^hole

268 HISTORY OF BABYLONIA AND ASSYRIA.

valley. The country of the Sea Lands was en-
tirely alluvial, and small in extent. Through it
in early times the Tigris and the Euphrates
passed by separate estuaries into the Persian Gulf.
Later, though at what time is unknown, the two
rivers united and began to flow through one
channel into the sea. This alluvial territory is
now growing by the river deposits at the rate of
about a mile in seventy years, and there is good
reason for believing that its average growth in
historic time has been not less than a mile in thirty
years. If the ratio of increase has been as high
as this, the country of the Sea Lands was a very
small land during the period 4000-600 B. C.
Above it geographically lay the land of the
Kaldi, likewise alluvial, and extending northward
nearly to the city of Babylon. It has also no line
of clear separation from the Sea Lands, nor from
Babylonia to the north. As kings from the Kaldi
country later ruled in Babylon and had control
over the whole vast empire, of which it was the
capital, the name of Chaldea was extended by
Greek and Roman historians so as to include the
whole of Babylonia. Next above the land of the
Kaldi was Babylonia itself, which extended north-
ward along the valley, with two exceptions, to
the Armenian mountains. These exceptions were
the original lands of Assyria and Mesopotamia.
Assyria, in its original geographical and historical
sense, was the small triangular-shaped land lying
between the Tigris and the Zab Rivers and the

LANDS OF BABYLONIA AND ASSYRIA. 2G9

Median mountains. When the Assyrians gained
in power and numbers they soon extended their
dominion beyond these very narrow boundaries,
and with their dominion went likewise the geo-
graphical name, so that even in early times the
name Assyria had been carried westward to the
Euphrates and southward as far as Hit, while to
the Greeks and Romans it covered the entire
valley.' The other separate land or province
was the small country included between the Eu-
phrates and the Khabur Rivers and the moun-
tains of Armenia. This was the land known as
Nahrina, the Aram-Naharaim ' of the Hebrews,
and the Mesopotamia of the Greeks and Romans.
Unhappily this name of Mesopotamia was ex-
tended to cover the territory between the Tigris
and Euphrates southward even to the Persian
Gulf. This completely destroys the historical no-
menclature, and introduces a confusion that does
not appear in any of the records of either the As-
syrians or Babylonians.

For this country between the Tigris and Eu-
phrates, including Assyria, Mesopotamia, Baby-
lonia, Chaldea, and the Sea Lands, the ancient
inhabitants had no general geographical name.

' That ?} Aaavpia means the whole of the valley, including Babylonia, appears
from its regular use by Herodotus (for example, i, 178, 185 ; iii, 92, and iv,
39). It is used in the same manner also by Xenophon {Ci/ropcedeia, ii, 1, 5.)
^ Gen. xxiv, 10 ; Deut. xxiii, 5. There seems good reason for the view-
that it ought to be written Aram-Naharim, that is, plural not dual. (See
W. Max Miiller, Asien nnd Europa nach altdgyptischen Detikmdlern,
Leipzig, 1893, pp. 249-255, and compare Budde, Das Buck der Jticht")',
on Judg. iii, 8, and Moore on same passage.)

270 HISTORY OF BABYLONIA AND ASSYRIA.

The geographical terminology varied with the rise
and fall of political power. There were, however,
certain clear exceptions to this general rule. For
example, the name Assyria was never extended so
as to cover Babylonia proper, though it is ex-
tended so far westward. On the other hand, the
name Babylonia is carried so far north as almost
to include Assyria, though the small original land
of Assyria appears always to be kept sharply dis-
tinguished. The general term of the Assyro-
Babylonian valley may properly be used to cover
all the country.

Though the word Mesopotamia was never ap-
plied by either Assyiians or Babylonians to their
country, yet it is in a real sense the product of
two rivers, in a sense almost as complete as that
Egypt is the product of the Nile.

The Tigris and the Euphrates have their sources
upon opposite sides of the same mountain range.
This is the highest ridge between the Black Sea
and the great valley, and the only one which has
peaks bearing perpetual snow — hence known to the
ancient Greeks as the Niphates. From its western
side the Euphrates flows westward to Malatiyeh,
as though to lose itself in the Mediterranean. But
at Malatiyeh the course is suddenly changed to
the southeast, passing within a few miles of the
source of the Tigris at Lake Goljik, thence forcing
its way through the mountains in a tortuous
course. Thence its course is generally southeast
until opposite Baghdad, where it approaches to

LANDS OF BABYLONIA AND ASSYRL\. 371

within twenty miles of the Tigris, and the rivers
appear about to form a junction. Both, however,
again separate, and only make their final union at
last after a very sharp convergence. The esti-
mated length of the Euphrates is seventeen hun-
dred and eighty miles. It is navigable for a dis-
tance of twelve hundred miles above its mouth.
During its whole course it is an imposing river —
among the greatest rivers of the world. Like
most mountain streams, its early coiirse is swift
and its bed rocky. Its first great tributary is the
Kara Su — that is, the Black Water — at Keban-
Maaden, a few miles west of Kharpoot. Its next
afiluent is the Sajur, received from the right, or west.
This is followed by the Balikh, which, in a course
of only one hundred and twenty miles, brings the
water from Mount Masius. The next is the Khabur,
also received from the left, which brings another
considerable body of water also from the lower
slopes of Mount Masius. From this point, for
eight hundred miles until the junction with the
Tigris, the Euphrates receives no tributaries what-
ever. It has been well said that the "upper
region of the Euphrates resembles that of the
Rhine, while its middle course may be compared
with that of the Danube, and its lower with the
Nile." '

The Tigris is formed by the junction of two

' Colonel Chesney says, " In some respects the scenery of the Euphrates
reminded me of that of parts of the Nile, though far exceeding the latter in
picturesque effect " {Xarraiive of the Euphrates Expedition. London, 1868,
p. 70).

272 HISTORY OF BABYLONIA AND ASSYRIA.

small head streams, the eastern rising near Bitlis,
not far from the western bank of Lake Van, while
the western comes from the neighborhood of
Kharpoot. Unlike the Euphrates, the Tigris re-
ceives many important tributaries, which flow
down from the Zagros and Elmatine mountains.
The first important one of these is the Eastern
Khabur, after which in rapid succession follow
the Upper Zab, the Lower Zab, the Adhem, and
the Diyaleh. This constant accession of fresh
water gives the Tigris a character entirely differ-
ent from the Euphrates. The Euphrates continu-
ally decreases in size and flows ever in a more
sluggish stream. When it receives the Khabur it
is four hundred yards wide and eighteen feet deep ;
at Irzah or Werdi, seventy-five miles lower down,
it is three hundred and fifty yards wide and of
the same depth; at Hadiseh, one hundred and
forty miles below Werdi, it is three hundred yards
wide, and still of the same depth ; here its current
is four knots per hour in the flood season, but this
speed diminishes within the next fifty miles; at
Hit, fifty miles below Hadiseh, its width has in-
creased to three hundred and fifty yards, but its
depth has been diminished to sixteen feet; at
Felujiah, seventy-five miles from Hit, the depth is
twenty feet, but the width had diminished to two
hundred and fifty yards. From this point the
contraction is very rapid and striking. The Sak-
lowijeh Canal is given out upon the left, and some
way further down the Hindiyeh branches off upon

LANDS OF BABYLONIA AND ASSYRL\. 273

the riglit, each carrying, when the Euphrates is
full, a large body of water. The consequence is
that at Hillah, ninety miles below Felujiah, the
stream is no more than two hundred yards wide
and fifteen feet deep; at Diwaniyeh, sixty-five
miles further down, it is only one hundred and
sixty yards wide ; and at Lamlun, twenty miles
below Diwaniyeh, it is reduced to one hundred
and twenty yards wide, with a depth of no more
than twelve feet. Soon after, however, it begins
to recover itself. The water, which left it by the
Hindiyeh, returns to it upon the one side, while
the Schatt-el-Hai and numerous other branch
streams flow in upon the other; but still the
Euphrates never recovers itself entirely, nor even
approaches in its later course to the standard of
its earlier greatness. The channel from Kurnah
to El Khitr was found by Colonel Chesney to have
" an average width of only two hundred yards, and
a depth of about eighteen or nineteen feet, which
implies a body of water far inferior to that carried
bet-ween the junction of the Khabur and Hit."

The Tigris and the Euphrates have both flood
seasons and carry their waters over a wide extent
of country, exactly as the Nile. This fact is so
perfectly clear that there can be no doubt con-
cerning it, though Herodotus directly asserts the
contrary, saying, " The river does not, as in Egypt,
overflow the corn lands of its own accord, but is
spread over them by the help of engines." ' The

' Herodotus, i, 193.

274 HISTORY OF BABYLONIA AND ASSYRIA.

rise is indeed not so prolonged as the rise of the
Nile, but its influence is, nevertheless, distinctly to
be seen. The rise in the Tigris is due to the
melting of the snows on the mountains, and as it
drains the southern slopes, and the Euphrates the
northern slopes, the Tigris rises more rapidly.
The Tigris usually begins to rise early in March.
By the first or second week in May the highest
point is reached, and the river then declines rap-
idly and reaches its level at about the middle of
June. As the course of the Tigris during the
entire upper part of its course is between banks of
considerable height, the river rarely overflows.
On its lower coui-se, however, and especially be-
tween the thirty-second and thirty-first parallels,
it covers a Avide extent of country. The inunda-
tion of the Euphrates is much more regular and
extensive. The melting of snow on the northern
slopes is slower, and the river begins to swell very
slowly about the beginning of March, and gradu-
ally increases until the highest point is reached
about the end of May, when the waters stand
about thirteen feet above low water.' At this
point the river remains, for about a month, sinks
slightly toward the middle of July, and then more
rapidly till September. The Euphrates begins to
ovei-flow its banks much higher up than the Tigris,
and even at its junction with the Khabur is de-

' Colonel Chesney found the increased depth to be thirteen and a half
feet {Expedition for the Survey of the Rivers Euphrates and Tigris. Lon-
don, 1850, vol. i, p. 61).

LANDS OF BABYLONIA AND ASSYRIA. 275

scribed as " spreading over tlie surrounding coun-
try like a sea." From Hit downward the river
spreads over both banks, but with a strong ten-
dency to flow farther and more deeply over the
western bank. The slow and regular rise of the
river made it exceedingly valuable for irrigation,
and the Babylonian people fully availed them-
selves of this great opportunity. Along its banks
were constructed brick walls provided with break-
waters to divert and control the swift current at
the rise. Sluice gates controlled the rise so that
the eastern bank received an inundation equal to
the west, while canals almost innumerable di-
verted the retreating waters, and prevented the
flow from damaging the cultivable area. Further-
more, the water was retained in sufficient quantity
to supply an irrigation system far back from the
river for the grain harvest, after the fall of the
river. This entire system is now a vast ruin. The
river rises and falls as it wills, and sweeping far
over the western bank, turns the country into a
morass. The harm of this is both negative and
positive. It makes impossible any such great in-
gathering of grain as existed when this great valley
was the world's granary, and it fills the land with
a dangerous miasma, which produces fevers and
leaves the inhabitants weak and sickly. There
are few instances in the world of a sadder w^aste
of a beautiful and fertile country.

In the lower alluvial countiy the Tigris and
Euphrates have made numerous changes in their

276 HISTORY OF BABYLONIA AND ASSYRIA.

river beds. These changes have often begun in
the spring and summer floods and then continued.
The branch streams which are thus formed per-
petually vary, being sometimes so large as to be
navigable and again left absolutely dry. Yet, on
the whole, with the exception of the great change
produced by the union of the Tigris and Eu-
phrates at their mouths, the general course of the
rivers remains about the same throughout the
historic period.

Of the changes in branch streams by far the
most important are on the side of Arabia. There
branches off near Hit a wide, deep channel, which
skirts the Arabian rocks and passes into the Per-
sian Gulf by an entirely distinct channel. This
conveys a considerable body of Euphrates water,
and keeps back the encroachment of the desert,
thus extending considerably the arable part of
Chaldea and the Sea Lands. There is some
doubt as to its age, and as to whether or not it was
in the beginning partly or wholly artificial.

Besides the two rivers neither Assyria nor Baby-
lonia has any supplies of water beyond one single
fresh-water lake, on the Arabian side of the Eu-
phrates fifty miles south of the ruins of Babylon,
and twenty-five or thirty miles from the river.
It does not appear to have been well known or
counted of importance by the ancient inhabitants,
for no mention of it has yet been found in any
Assyrian or Babylonian texts ; it was known to
the Komans as Assyrium Stagnvm, and is now

LANDS OF BABYLONIA AND ASSYRIA. 277

called Bahr-i-Nedjif. It lies in a basiu forty miles
long and from ten to twenty miles broad, inclosed on
three sides by limestone hills varying from twenty
to two hundred feet in heiarht. On the remainino-
side there is a ridge of rock which separates it from
the Euphrates basin. At the season of the in-
undation the Euphrates pours water into this lake
and then it appears to be a part of the inundation.
The water is then sweet and good. When the
river returns to its original level the lake re-
mains with but very slight chauge in volume,
but the water becomes so disagreeable as to be
unpotable. It has been supposed that this may
be due to its connection with rocks of the gyp-
siferous series.

The great valley has a climate which appears
little fitted to produce men of energy and force, for
the temperature over its entire surface is very
high in the summer season. In the far south, along
the Persian Gulf, and in the near-by regions,
the atmosphere is moist and the heat is of the
same character as that of Hindustan or Ceylon.
Records do not exist to show the range of the
thermometer, but the passing traveler states the
simple fact that the temperature is higher than at
Baghdad. In Baghdad the average maximum
daily temperature indoors during June and July
is set down as 107*^ Fahrenheit, and it often goes
up to 120*=* or 122°.' At present this high tem-

' The Bedouins of the Euphrates, by Lady Anne Blunt, ii, p. 278. " In
July, 1889, the average daily maximum temperature at Baghdad was

278 HISTORY OF BABYLONIA AND ASSYRIA.

perature is also reached in the north as far up at
least as Mosul. It is now also rendered much
more oppressive by hot winds, which arise sud-
denly and filled with impalpable sand drive about
in eddying circles or sweep in vast clouds over a
wide extent of country. This dust becomes at
times so thick as to completely shut off near ob-
jects from the vision, as though by a fog. The
gleaming particles of sand shine beneath the swel-
tering sun, the sand enters nostrils or mouth and
seems to choke the very lungs. Death itself some-
times alone terminates the suffering experienced in
these terrible visitations. It is, however, alto-
gether probable that in the period of the ancient
history neither the heat nor the sand was such a
menace.* Then the whole land in the south was
one vast network of canals. The presence of the
body of water thus everywhere spread abroad
greatly modified the temperature, so that the
sudden change which now exists from the heat of
the day to the cool of the night could not have
been so great. Besides this these canals made
the land a cultivated garden, free almost entirely
from the incursion of yellow sand. These sands
properly belong to the Arabian desert, from which
they yearly come in increasing quantities into the
plain and valley. During the period of the glory

114° in the shade, and in 1890 we encountered the same temperature more
than once in June." Peters, Nippur, ii, p. 310.

' The reference here is to the period of Babylonian occupation. That
great heat was experienced in the Greco-Roman period is well evidenced.
See, for example, Theophr., de vent., 25, and Plutarch, Alexander, 35.

LANDS OF BABYLONIA AND ASSYRIA. 279

of Babylon these sand waves had certainly not
gone beyond the Euphrates, and they could
hardly have reached it. At present from May
to November the sky is usually without a single
cloud. In November the clouds gather, and in
December and January there are heavy rains.
These flow rapidly off into the rivers, for there is
no canal system to retain the water for use in agri-
culture. There is no cold weather in all the land in
the sense understood in the temperate zone. There
is in midwinter an occasional sign of frost, suffi-
cient to whiten the dew upon the grass in early
morning, and in rare cases ice has been known to
form in the marshes. So mild, indeed, are the
winters that Persian kings made Babylon their
winter residence to avoid the bitter cold of their
own highlands. In recent times native Indians,
expelled for state reasons from their own country,
fix their residence in Bassorah or Baghdad to enjoy
the mild winter climate.

The whole alluvial plain of Babylonia was prover-
bially fertile in the ancient world. Herodotus began
the chorus of praise in the west, and it has con-
tinued with greater or less emphasis down the ages.
He begins his praise in the oft-quoted words : " Of
all countries that we know, there is none that is so
fruitful in grain. It makes no pretension, indeed,
of growing the fig, the olive, the vine, or any
other tree of the kind ; but in grain it is so fruit-
ful as to yield commonly two hundredfold, and
when the production is at the greatest, even three

280 HISTORY OF BABYLONIA AND ASSYRIA.

hundredfold. The blade of the wheat plant and
of the barley plant is often four fingers in breadth.
As for the millet and the sesame, I shall not say
to what height they grow, though within my own
knowledge ; for I am not ignorant that what I
have already written concerning the fruitfulness
of Babylonia must seem incredible to those who
have not visited the country." ' The same note
exactly is struck by Theophrastus in his state-
ment : " In Babylon the wheat fields are regu-
larly mown twice, and then fed oil' with beasts to
keep down the luxuriance of the leaf ; otherwise
the plant does not run to ear. When this is done
the return in lands that are badly cultivated is
fiftyfold ; while in those that are well farmed it
is a hundredfold." " Strabo follows in the same
strain, saying : " The country produces barley on a
scale not known elsewhere, for the return is said
to be three hundredfold. All other wants are
supplied by the palm, which furnishes not only
bread, but wine, vinegar, honey, and meal ; " ' and
Pliny says that the wheat crop, where the laud is
well farmed, is a hundred and fiftyfold.

In estimating these tributes to the productive-
ness of the land it is perhaps well to remember
that Herodotus had an affluent imagination and
was inclined to exaggerate for effect. Theophras-
tus is more reliable when speaking of such mat-

' Herodotus, i, 193.

^ Theophrastus, Hisioria Plantanim, viii, *1 (ed. Fredericus Wimmer, p.
135, line 2, ff.).
3xvi, p. 742 (ed. Carolus M(illerus,p. 632, line 26, ff.).

LANDS OF BABYLONIA AND ASSYRL\. 281

ters, but probably leaned somewhat on the tradi-
tion of Herodotus. The other statements must be
exaggerations. To the modern husbandman in
this valley the yield of wheat and barley is from
thirty to fortyfold. When all allowance is made
for the poor methods now followed, and for
changed conditions, it is still unlikely that the
ancient average yield greatly exceeded sixtyfold.
Modern travelers hardly equal the ancient in
their estimate of the fertility of the soil, especially
when compared with that of Egypt. Kich, who
was a most careful observer and accurate reporter,
says, "The soil is extremely fertile, producing
great quantities of rice, oats, and grain of different
kinds, though it is not cultivated to above half the
degree of which it is susceptible." Chesney, who
knew the land from much experience during sur-
vey work, is even more strong in the statement :
" Although greatly changed by the neglect of man,
those portions of Mesopotamia which are still cul-
tivated, as the country about Hillah, show that
the region has all the fertility ascribed to it by
Herodotus." Loftus adds to this the comparative
statement that " the soil is not less bountiful than
that on the banks of the Egyptian Nile." * This
statement is, however, of very slight value indeed,
for when it was wi'itten Loftus had never been in
Egypt. Probably the soundest modern estimate
is that of Olivier, who knew both Egypt and Baby-

' Travels and Researches in Chaldaea, p. 14.

282 HISTORY OF BABYLONIA AND ASSYRIA.

Ionia, and adjudged the former to be somewhat
more fertile than the latter.'

It is commonly believed that wheat and barley
are indigenous to the plains of the Euphrates, and
that thence, after a period of cultivation, they
spread westward over Syria and Egypt and on ta
Europe. If this be true, the land might well be
expected to yield a good harvest of native
cereals.

But the productivity of the land did not stop
with the great cereals. The inhabitants had a
wide range of vegetables for food, among which
are pumpkins, kidney-beans, onions, vetches, egg
plants, cucumbers, " gombo " lentils, chick-peas,
and beans.

Above the vegetables and cereals of the land
rose its trees, of which the variety was great, both
of those that yielded fruit and of those that added
merely to the beauty of the land ; among these
were the apple, fig, apricot, pistachio, vine, almond,
walnut, cypress, tamarisk, plane tree, and acacia.
But valuable and beautiful though they all were,
none was equal in utility, in song, or in story with
the palm. From the most ancient of days down
to the present all the Orient has rung with the
praises of the palm. In Babylon it found a suitable
place for its development. It was cultivated with
extreme care. Even in early times the process of
reproduction had been discovered, and was facili-
tated by shaking the flowers of the male palm

' Olivier, Voyage dans V Empire Othoman, etc., ii, p. 423.

LANDS OP BABYLONIA xVND ASSYRIA. 283

over those of the female. From the products of
this tree the peasantry were able almost to sup-
port life. The fruit was eaten both fresh and dry>
forming in the latter case almost a sweetmeat. If
decapitated, the tree gave a juice which might be
used as a wine, and was " sweet and headachy," in
the opinion of Xenophou. The Greeks even as-
sei*t that the Babylonians derived from the palm
bread, wine, vinegar, honey, groats, string and
ropes of all kinds, firing, and a mash for fattening
cattle.

The fauna of the land was as rich and as varied
as its flora. The rivers swarmed with fish. In
their slow-flo^\ang waters the barbel and carp
grew to large size and were most highly esteemed.
But the eel, murena, silurus, and gurnard were also
used for food, and found in abundance.

By the watei*s and amid the great reeds which
almost seemed to wall in the rivers were birds in
extraordinary variety, among them pelicans, cranes,
storks, herons, gulls, ducks, swans, and geese. On
land were found the ostrich, the bustard, partridge,
thrush, blackbird, ortolan, turtledove, and pigeon,
together with birds of prey like eagles and ha^vks.
A few snakes are found, of which only three
varieties are known to be poisonous, but none of
these are so dangerous as many found in adjoining
lands.

The larger animals were numerous, but of all
the varieties that existed wild only the ox, ass,
goat, and sheep were domesticated at an eai-l}^

234 HISTORY OF BABYLONIA AND ASSYRIA.

period and made useful to man. To these were
added the domestic hog, which seems, however, to
have remained in a semi- wild state. In a later
jDeriod the horse and camel were brought into use.

But if the domesticated animals were compara-
tively few, the wild animals were of extraordi-
nary number. At the head of all of them, in the
estimation of the Assyrians and Babylonians, stood
the lion. He is not so fierce as his namesake of
Africa. In size he is not much larger than a
St. Bernard dog, and his Assyrian name originally
meant big dog. The modern representative in
the same regions is not deemed formidable by
Europeans, for he never attacks men save when
brought to bay in a position from which there is
absolutely no chance of escape, when he will fight
desperately. The natives, however, hold them in
dread, and never make a fio^ht ao^ainst one w^hich
may be seen in the very act of slaying sheep.
There are two varieties, one without a mane and
the other with a mane of thick, tangled black
hair. It is the latter which excites most fear in
the native breast. The Assyrian and Babylonian
kings hunted lions in the chase, and made great
boast of the number that they had slain. The
chase of the lion was, indeed, the royal sport, and
fills a large share of the numerous monumental
illustrations of hunting.

In very early times the elephant wandered at
will over the middle Euphrates country, but it dis-
appeared certainly before the thirteenth century,

LANDS OF BABYLONIA AND ASSYmA. 285

and was henceforward only an object of curiosity,
when received by kings as presents in distant
wars. Like the elephant, other beasts of chase or
prey early disappeared, or ceased to be objects of
interest because of their rarity. Among these
were the urus, leopard, lynx, wild-cat, hyena,
porcupine, beavei*, and the ibex. During at least
a large j)art of the history the wild ass and on-
ager roamed in small herds over much of the
country and especially between the Balikh and
the Tigris. The beauty and swiftness of the wild
ass have long been celebrated in the Orient, and
the Assyrians admired and represented them
in their monuments. It appears that they at-
tempted to tame them for the drawing of char-
iots, but met with poor success. Modern at-
tempts to make them serviceable have been
equally futile. The natives frequently capture foals
and rear them on milk in the tent. They become
docile and affectionate, but are delicate in captivity
and useless for labor. Two varieties of deer ap-
pear in monumental representation, the one appar-
ently representing the gray deer, which still ex-
ists in the country, and the other the fallow
deer, which is now entirely unknown. The
hare, also, is frequently exhibited as the object of
chase.

While both Babylonia and Assyria were exceed -
ingly rich in flora and fauna, they are both, and
especially the former, exceedingly poor in mineral
wealth. The alluvium is absolutely destitute of

386 HISTORY OF BABYLONIA AND ASSYRIA.

metals and of stone. This had an important re-
flex influence upon the civilization of the country.
As stone was not procurable close at hand, the
early builders who would have it for utility or
decoration sought it at great distances. From
Arabia came probably the earliest stone utilized
in the country. This had to be transported long
distances overland. The skill requii'ed for this
in the overcoming of engineering difficulties pushed
forward the development of the people in mechan-
ical pursuits, and hence reacted upon civilization.
But even as early as 3000 B. C. stone was brought
from the Lebanon and the Amanus. This was
rafted down the Euphrates, after a considerable
land journey to its upper waters. And herein was
cause for the study of problems in river transpor-
tation and in the construction of navigable rafts.
Such problems as these would be insoluble by
natives in the same district at present, but they
were successfully carried out on a large scale in
early times, as the great buildings and the inscrip-
tions describing them abundantly witness. But,
though the Babylonians did thus acquire stone,
they could hardly have secured enough to house
the entire population as well as for royal resi-
dences and the homes of the gods. The need for
a permanent and less costly building material was
solved in another way. There was beneath their
feet an inexhaustible supply of the best qualities
of clay. This was readily molded into bricks.
Some of these were dried in the sun, and were

LANDS OF BABYLONIA AND ASSYRIA. 287

then deemed sufficient for the fillinir in of the in-
teriors of walls. Others were baked in kilns, and
with these the walls were faced. In the excel-
lence of materials used, and in the perfection of
form, texture, and solidity, and in the great size
of their bricks the Babylonians have probably
never been excelled. The same material was
used for the manufacture of books or tablets.
These were made even more carefully, and were
almost indestructible. For records the ancient
world knew nothing their superior and perhaj)3
nothing equal. The papyrus of ancient Egypt
was so fragile and so easily destroyed by either
fire or water that it bears no comparison with the
brick which resisted both almost equally well.
The clay tablet has preserved through the cen-
turies a vast literature, much of it uninjured,
while untold portions of the literature of the
more cultured Egyptians have hopelessly per-
ished.

In the erection of buildings the bricks were
joined together in three different ways. They
are found simply set together in the interior of
walls, without any substance to form a close junc-
tion. More commonly they were united by bitu-
men, which was found in several parts of the
country, but especially at Hit. Here are inex-
haustible springs which have supplied the whole
surrounding country for untold centuries, and
form the subject of repeated references in the lit-
erature not only of Babylonia, but of Egypt,

288 HISTORY OF BABYLONIA AND ASSYRIA.

Greece, and Rome as well/ Slime and mud were
also used, and with these calcareous earths appear
to have been mixed, the whole forming a solid and
extremely tenacious mortar.

From the bitumen pits petroleum is now taken,
and may have been known to the ancients. But
here ends the very brief catalogue of the mineral
products of Babylonia. The land could hardly
be poorer in this respect.

In mineral wealth Assyria was incomparably
superior to Babylonia. Stone of excellent quality,
and in many varieties, such as limestone, conglom-
erate, and sandstone, is found on every hand,
while other stones were easily accessible. A soft
and beautiful alabaster, readily cut into slabs,
abounds on the eastern banks of the Tigris. This
beautiful material was extensively used for wains-
coting in Assyrian palaces, and its outer surfaces
were then richly carved in bas-reliefs. The prog-
ress thus made in the art of sculpture was note-
worthy, and is to be numbered among the great-
est triumphs won by this -warlike people in the
arts of peace. The mountains of Kurdistan,
easily reached by the rivers or water courses above
the great cities, supplied many beautiful forms
of marble ; w^hile Mount Masius offered a fine
quality of dark-colored basalt of great fineness
and hardness. These stones were indeed not used

' See, for example, Herodotus, i, 179 ; Pliny, Nat. Hist., vi, 129, ff., 152 ;
Strabo, xvi, 743. The pits are described by Q\\esney {Narrative of Eu-
phrates Expedition, p. 280 ; comp. also p. 76) and by Rich {Narrative of
n Journey to the Site of Babylon, London, 1839, pp. 101, 102).

LANDS OF BABYLONIA AND ASSYRL\. 289

foj" the walls of buildings. The colonists of As-
syria retained the custom of Babylonia, from
which they had come, and built their houses,
temples, and palaces of brick, and later ages con-
tinued to follow their example. Like Babylonia,
Assyria had extensive bitumen pits, located at
Kerkuk,' in the territory between the Lesser Zab
and the Adhem, while another source is found in
the bed of the Shor-Derreh torrent, near Nimroud.
Salt is also obtainable in the former district.

The lands which were thus rich in flora and
fauna and sufficiently supplied with minerals for
man's ordinary use maintained a great population,
largely settled in cities, in which the real political
life of the land began. The cities which play
important parts in the later history may here be
set down, with just enough of color and descrip-
tion to make them real in the story of their politi-
cal life.

In the far south lay the city of Eridu, which
played but a small part in all the history of Baby-
lonia, unless indeed it had importance in a period
still more ancient than that known to us. The
site is now known as Abu-Shahrein,' and has not

'See Ainsworth, "Journey to Constantinople," in Chesney's Narrative
of Euphrates Expedition^ p. 497 : " There are several wells from which
(.•onsiderable quantities of naphtha and petroleum are obtained. From
eight to ten gallons were said to be collected from each well per diem."

' See Loftus, " Notes on Abu-Shahrein and Tel-el-Lahm," in Journal of
tlu Royal Asiatic Society, xiv, pp. 412, ff. ''We found .... that the
name Abu-Shahrein had vanished, and Nowawis taken its place as the
present designation of the ancient ruins of Eridu." Peters, Nippur,
ii, p. 96.

290 HISTORY OF BABYLONIA AND ASSYRIA.

yet been adequately studied. The remains of the
city, so far as they have been excavated, appear to
contain a large temple, which was probably the
home of the god Ea, who here received special
veneration.

West of Eridu stood the great city Ur, which
occupied from the earliest times down to the be-
ginning of Babylon's hegemony a position of dis-
tinguished influence in the land, and even there-
after continued to be the most important city in
the south. The chief god of the city was Sin, the
moon god, here worshiped under the name of Nan-
nar. The moon god always exerted profound in-
fluence over the minds of the people, and Ur there-
fore was early adorned with a large temple for the
worship of Sin, which was frequently restored down
the centuries to the days of Nabonidus. The ruins
of the city have been but slightly explored, and
will almost certainly give a rich treasure, at some
future day, to a complete examination of them.
The mound is now called El-Mugheir ' — the place
of bitumen — for the inhabitants have used it for
centuries as a place to secure bitumen, which
they dug from between the bricks of Babylonian
buildings.

At the modern town of Senkereh," on the left

• Loftus, Travels and Researches in Chaldcea and Susiana, London,
185Y, pp. 127, fif.; Peters, Nippur, ii, pp. 196, ff. (with photograph of the
Ziggurat).

2 Loftus, op. cit., p. 256. See especially Saehau, Am Euphrat und
Tigris, pp. 66-68. Saehau believes that the mound contains not only
remains of temples and palaces, but also of the dwellings of the inhabit-

LANDS OF BABYLONIA AND ASSYRIA. 291

bank of the Sbatt-en-Nil Canal stood the next chief
city, Larsa. This was also one of the most ancient
cities of the land. The sun god held the chief
position in Larsa, and here the early kings Ur-Gur
and Dungi built a temple in his honor. This
temple found restorers in Hammurabi, Burna-
buriash, Nebuchadrezzar, and Nabonidus, and so
remained a venerated spot unto the very end of
Babylonian history. The city early played an
important political part, and retained its place at
the head of a small state even down to the reign
of Hammurabi. It was the last city to succumb to
him and yield allegiance to the conquering might
of Babylon.

Somewhat north of Larsa, probably at the
mound of Tell-Id, was the city of Girsu, which is
mentioned as early as the reign of Dungi, and was
the chief city of at least one petty king (Urkagina)
in the early period. Its influence was, however,
small in comparison with those farther south or
when compared with the city of Uruk (Erech,
Orchoe), which is but a short distance from it.
Uruk was a border city between northern and
southern Babylonia, and long remained the center
of a small independent kingdom. It was the
place of worship of the goddess Nana of the

ants. "In diesen babylonischen Stadten Senkere und Warka scheinen
ausser den Tempeln und Palasten auch noch die Wohnungen der Biirger
unter dem Schutt erhalten zu sein ahnlich wie in Pompeji, wahrend in
Ninive ausser den beiden Konigsburgen, Kojunjik und Nebi Jilnus, der
Mauer und den Thoren alle iibrigen Wohnungen spurlos von der Erdober-
flache verschwunden sind. Aehnliches gilt aucU von dem Weichbild von
Babylon." Ibid., p. 67.

292 HISTORY OF BABYLONIA AND ASSYRIA.

Sumerians, with whom the Semitic inhabitants
identified their goddess Ishtar. The temple dedi-
cated to the goddess and called E-Anna (house of
heaven) was built by Ur-Gur and Duugi and often
restored. It now forms the ruin of El-Buwarije,
while the general mass of ruins is called Warka,'
which has unhappily not been dug up. The city
had independence at an early period, and is
coupled by Hebrew tradition" with the earliest
centers of the land, and Babylonian records go far
to prove that this is correct. It was, however,
much more than a mere center of power. It was
a seat of learning and must have had a library at
a very early period. Many books in the library of
Asshurbanapal, and especially religious hymns,
bear colophons which show that they were copied
from originals at Uruk. Strabo adds to this fact
the statement that at Orchoe there was a school of
Chaldeans, that is in his use of the word " astrolo-
gists." This would indicate that culture was still
resident in this city, though it had vanished from
other more ancient centers. The political, literary,
and religious history of the city all make it of so
great interest and importance that it is especially
a matter for regret that it has never been properly
excavated.

On the banks of the canal Shatt-el-Hai, which
unites the Tigris and Euphrates, is a mound

' Loftus, op. cil, pp. 159, f. It has been visited by Ward (see Peters,
Nippur, i, pp. 349, 350) and by Sachau {op. cit, pp. 61-64), who has well
described its present appearance.

^ Gen. X, 10.

LANDS OF BABYLONIA AND ASSYRLl. 293

Tellob,' from which have come vast stores of in-
scribed tablets of every description. It marks, iu
all probability, the site of the ancient city of La-
gash, which had a long history as a separate state,
though with many fluctuations of power.

The next city iu our progress northward was
Isin, of which, unhappily, very little is known. It
was linked in the title of the kino\s who made
Nippur, its near-by neighbor, tlie chief city of the
land, but its history was swallowed up in the
greater history of the places about it, and its
ruins have not been certainly identified.*

Nippur, on the other hand, is now the best
known city in all Babylonia. The greatest dis-
coveries yet made beneath the soil of the entire
land were made here by the University of Penn-
sylvania expedition. Nippur was the oldest
center of the worship of the god Bel, and may be
the oldest city of all Babylonia of which there is
any known record. As Ur was the city of the
moon god, and Sippara the city of the sun god,
so was Nippur the home of Bel, and as these three
were the greatest of the gods of Babylonia, so
their cities outranked all others in early political
history, until dethroned by force ; after which they
continued to be the chief places of veneration
in all the empire. Nippur was rich in build-

' Heuzey-de Sarzec, Deconvertes en Chaldee, passim ; Peters, Kippnr, i, pp.
268, 269 ; ii, 291. The visit by Ward is described in his diary (Peters,
Nippur, i, pp. 337-339, 342).

' Peters suggests Bismya as the probable site of Isin {Nippur , ii, 272).

29i HISTORY OF BABYLONIA AND ASSYRIA.

ings devoted to religion and to royal residence,
and its great ruin mound, Niffer or Nuffar^
has yielded an extraordinary mass of ancient
treasures.

But great as all these cities were in age, and
rich though they continued to be in religious as-
sociations, they were all surpassed in influence by
the city of Babylon. They were forgotten of
men when the dust and sand settled upon them^
but the glory and the shame of Babylon re-
mained. Even the name of the city lived on in
the ruin heap Babil.' The chief ruins of Baby-
lon lie near the modern village of Hillah, and
cover such a great extent of country that until
very recently no men have been found bold
enough to attempt the exploration of the entire
mound. The city laid no claim to great age, and
was probably not very ancient when Hammurabi
made it the chief city over all the land and dis-
placed the more ancient seats of power. The re-
ligious glory of the city was also in a sense ficti-
tious. Its chief god had been Marduk (the bibli-
cal Merodach), and to him fitting worship was
paid for generations. But Marduk's own position
in the pantheon was not great enough to bring to

' There is still some doubt about the identification of various mounds
near Hillah with the parts of ancient Babylon. There is a learned and
exhaustive review of the matter by Baumstarck in Pauly-Wissowa, Beal-
enc. der class. Alterthumswissenschaft, 5i (1899), and an outline of the prob-
lems by the writer in the Jewish Mtcyclopadia, sub voce. There is a good
plan of the sites in Encychpadia Biblica (Cheyne), i, facing cols. 417, 418.
The mounds are well described by Peters (Nippur, i, pp. 212 ; ii, 63) and by
Sacliau {op at., pp. 37, ff.).

LANDS OF BABYLONIA AND ASSYRIA. 295

the city a religious primacy, and he was therefore
identified with the great god Bel, and under that
name was worshiped in Babylon. To him was
erected a great temple in pyramidal form rising to
seven stories, and known as E-sagila. Kings vied
with each other to make this the largest and most
beautiful shrine in the empire, and in it all rulers
must needs " take the hands of Bel " before their
authority was deemed valid. So came the city to
possess political power, dominion over the hearts
and consciences of men, and wealth unapproach-
able. To Babylon in the days of Nabonidus was
joined another city, Borsippa, which may have
been as old as the capital itself. In it stood the
temple of E-zida, now Birs Nimroud,' dedicated to
Nabu (the biblical Nebo), on which kings lavished
almost as much labor and wealth as upon E-sagila.
The two cities were linked also in their religious
festivals, for on the first day of Nisan (March-
April), the beginning of a new year, the god Nabu
left his temple in solemn procession to visit his
father, Marduk, in Babylon. Of so great im-
portance was this festival that the king was
required to share in it, no matter where he might
be at the time, whether on business or pleasure
bent, under the penalty of forfeiting for the com-
ing year the title of king of Babylon. It is easy
to see that this gave enormous power to the
priesthood, for it was they alone who repre-

' Oppert, Expedition en Mesopolamie, i, pp. 200, ff. ; Peters, op. cit., 5, pp.
213, ff.

296 HISTORY OF BABYLONIA AND ASSYRIA.

sented these great deities in the eyes of all the
people.

Five hours (about fifteen miles) northeast of
Babylon lay Kiitha, now a mound and village
called Tell-Ibrahim/ once the leading city of
northern Babylonia before the rise of the city of
Babylon. The chief god of the city was Nergal,
whose temple was called E-shid-lam, at which
passing kings were wont to pay honors and offer
sacrifices. From Kutha a profound influence
passed into the world's history by the act of one
of the Assyrian kings. Sargon deported thence a
number of inhabitants to Samaria on the fall of
the northern kingdom of Israel, who introduced
the worship of Nergal and then engrafted upon it
features derived from the religion of Jehovah. In
close relation with Kutha stood the near-by city
of Kish, somewhat as Borsippa stood to Babylon.

In the extreme northern part of Babylonia, and
nearly opposite to the present Baghdad, lies the
mound Akerkuf," which marks the site of Dur-
Kurigalzu (Kurigalzuburg), a city named after a
Babylonian king, but the influence of which in
history was slight. Much the same may be said
of the city of Upi (Opis) during most of the
period of Babylonian history, with this exception,
that it appears to have had some influence during
the Hammurabi period.

' Rassam, Asshur and the Land of Nimrod. New York, 1897, p. 396.
^ On the mound see Chesney, Narrative of Euphrates Expedition, p. 83,
and Rich, Narrative of Journey to the Site of Babylon, pp. 2, 3.

LANDS OF BABYLONIA AND ASSYRIA. 2^7

The cities of Assyria were not so ancient as
those of Babylonia, and their general character
was commercial rather than religious, military
rather than peaceful and culture-loving. Their
temples were indeed large and imposing, for the
Assp'ians had amassed great wealth in war, and
they believed, no less than the Babylonians, that
the gods had led them to victory. They also
boasted great piles devoted to the residence of
kings, in which, however, libraries were not so
common as in Babylonia.

The first city of Assyria in age was Asshur,
whose site is now marked by the mound of Kalah
Shergat,' on the right bank of the Tigris. It ^^'as
originally a colony and dependency of Babylonia,
but its kings spread their power over the adjoin-
ing country, which they named Asshur, after their
city. It was the home of the great god Asshur,
whose temple E-khai*sag-kurkurra was erected by
the earliest rulers of whom we know anything,
and frequently restored by later monarchs. When
Calah became the capital of the kingdom Asshur
lost its dignity and decreased in size, but retained
a certain reverence as the ancient site of the most
revered national god, and as the mother city of the
kino-dom.

A little farther north, but on the eastern bank
of the Tigris and at its junction with the Upper

' Rassam, Asshur and the Land of Nimrod, pp. 256, 257. Sachau, op.
cit., pp. 91, f., and 104, with two illustrations of the mounds. Ainsworth,
Journal of the Geographical Society, xi, p. 5.
21

298 HISTORY OF BABYLONIA AND ASSYRIA.

Zab, Shalmaueser I built the city of Calali, which
he made the capital of Assyria. It remained the
royal residence down to the age of Sargon. The
mound Nimroud' marks its site, and this has been
fairly but not completely dug over. The city
was not an ancient and venerated shrine of any
deity, but worship was paid to Asshur in its
temple.

A little farther up the eastern bank of the
Tigris the ruin heaps and squalid villages of
Kuyunjik' and Neby Yunus mark the site of
Nineveh, which Sennacherib made the capital of
the empire. The city was, however, much older
than this, and may almost certainly be accounted
one of the most ancient cities in the kingdom. It
was the center of the worship of Ishtar, who was
called Ishtar of Nineveh to distinguish her from
Ishtar of Arbela. Ishtar of Nineveh was wor-
shiped in a great temple on which generation
after generation lavished extraordinary plunder.
It was the dream of Sennacherib to make Nineveh
surpass Babylon in size and magnificence, and,
though he did not reach that ideal, he did make
it a fine city, second only to the ancient mother
city by the Euphrates. To all the world Nineveh
stood as the representative city of the hated
Assyrian empire, and that made its name a by-
word among the peoples.

' Layard, Nineveh and its Remains^ New York, 1849, i, pp. 28, 44, etc.
Sachau, op. cit., p. 105. Rassam, op. cit., pp. 9, 225 (with plan and illustra-
tion of ruins).

*Layard, op. cit., i, p. 98, etc.

LANDS OF BABYLONIA AND ASSYRIA. 299

North of Nineveh, at the foot of the mountains,
Sargon planted a new city, to which he gave his
own name, Dur-Sharrukin (that is, Sargon'sburg),
which he probably designed not only to make a
royal residence, but also the capital of the country
and a rival of Nineveh. The remains of the city
at Khorsabad' were the first Assyrian ruins ex-
cavated, and these have shown that he made the
city magnificent with a palace and other build-
ings, but it never became even an equal of Nine-
veh.' It apparently did not long outlive its
founder, but sank away into insignificance.

Far more important than this creation of the
fancy of an Assyrian king was the city of Arbailu.
How old this city was is not known. There is
not in all the inscriptions any evidence that the
Assyrian kings j^aid any attention to it. It cer-
tainly received at their hands no great palaces
and no temples. It had no political weight in
the development of Assyrian power, though it
must have had an Assyrian populace. It lived a
quiet life apaii; from the great tides of war or
commerce during the Assyrian period, and survived
the ruin which overwhelmed the empire. It was
still an important city in Persian days, and con-
tinued to exist when the city of Nineveh was un-

' M. Botta's letters on the discoveries at Nineveh, translated from the
French by C. T[obin]. London, 1850, passim. Rassam, op. cit., p. 295.
Sachau, op. cit, pp. 106, 121.

^ The site was a very poor one, as has often been pointed out (see, for
example, Sachau, I. c); for it was badly supplied with water, and lay apart
from the great lines of communication.

300 HISTORY OF BABYLONIA AND ASSYRIA.

known save as a name in the memory. A great
mound marks its site, and its name is retained in
the modern Erbil.* The mound has not yet been
excavated, and may very probably contain impor-
tant memorials of the city's long career.

Outside the strict limits of Assyria lay the city
of Nagibina. It lay upon the Kharmis, a tributary
of the Khabur, at the foot of the mountains. It
was the center of an Assyrian province, and con-
tinued to live under the name of Nisibis after the
empire had ended. Hadrian ceded it to the Par-
thians, but it returned to Roman rule and was flour-
ishing at the time of Septimius Severus (Septimia
Colonia Nisibis). Under the Seleucids it still con-
tinued prosperous and bore the name of Antiochia
Mygdoniae. Its modern representative, a miser-
able collection of huts, has returned to the ancient
name and is called Nisibin.

Farther west, on the left bank of the Balikh,
was Harrau, or Koad-Town, through which passed
the great highways from south and east toward
the west. Harran was the center for the worship
of Sin, the moon god, in the north, as Ur was in
the south, and perhaps no sacred city in the land
ever held so tenaciously to its ancient belief.
"When Christianity overran Mesopotamia this city
remained the last center of paganism, and under
the Mohammedan sway the sect of Sabeans here
continued the worship of the moon. The history
of Harran runs so far back that its origin is lost

'Sachau, op. cit., pp. 111-113 (with picture of the mound).

LANDS OF BABYLONIA AND ASSYRIA. 301

in the mists that surround the very beginnings of
civilization. During the continuance of Assyrian
power it was a constant factor in the life of the
empire, and when Nineveh had ceased to vex
mankind it was still a powerful city. The Parthi-
ans made a stronghold of it, and there Crassus
was defeated. It later formed part of the Chris-
tian kingdom of Abgar, and became a city of the
Roman empire. The mounds' which mark its
site must certainly contain memorials of its long
history, but they have not been excavated. The
classical name was Carrhte (which evidently con-
tains a reminiscence of the ancient name), and it has
still some importance as a road town.

^ Ainsworth, Euphrates Expedition, i, p, 203.

302 HISTORY OF BABYLONIA AND ASSYRIA.

CHAPTER XL

THE PEOPLES OF BABYLONIA AND ASSYRIA.

The civilization of Assyria and Babylonia and
their great sweep of history were not made by
one people. Men of several different stocks con-
tributed to the result, and here, as often after-
ward in the world's history, the history bears the
stamp not of a unity but of a diversity of races.
Even in modern times, with all the resources at
our command, it is often difficult to distinguish
the different strains of races and to trace their
influence in the movements of history. "We need,
therefore, feel no surprise that there should be great
difficulty in tracing out the racial affinities of the
peoples who made history in Assyria and Baby-
lonia.

At the earliest period to which direct mon-
umental records go back we find a people in
possession of Babylonia who are called by us
Babylonians. Their written records are found to
be in part a Semitic language, a language closely re-
lated in forms and vocabulary to the northern
branch of the Semitic family, of which Hebrew
and Aramaic are well-known examples. But
wdien these earliest records are all gathered to-

PEOPLES OF BABYLONIA AND ASSYRIA. 303

gether it aj^pears that large numbei's of tliein are
bilingual; that is to say, side by side with the
Semitic Babylonian is found another language.
This other language appears in these inscriptions
in the form of two dialects, one called "the lan-
guage of the land of Accad " and the other " the
language of the land of Sumer." As the latter
contains the older forms it is now called the Su-
merian language, and the other is regarded as a
dialect of it. In this Sumerian lans^uao'e, written
though it be in part at least by Semitic Baby-
lonians, lies the proof of the existence of a Su-
merian people. They belong distinctly, as yet,
to the prehistoric period in Babylonian life. Of
their racial connections we know only the single
negative fact that they were not Semites. Their
language is agglutinative, and they have been
connected on linguistic grounds both with Indo-
Europeans and especially with Turanians. But
the evidence is slight in itself and of doubtful
w^eight even if it were more extensive, for lan-
guage is, after all, proof not of race but of social
contact.'

But, though we are unable to say who these
Sumerians were, we are in a position to aver some

' The theory that the Sumerians were Mongols has been strongly sup-
ported by Hommel, Lenormant, and others, and as strongly denied by
Halevy, Paul Haupt, and Donner. In recent times attempts have been
made by Hermann {Ueber die Sumerische Sprache, Russian Archaeological
Congress, Riga, 1896), in a paper which I have not seen, to show that there
is a connection between Sumerian and the Ugro-Finnish member of the
Ural-Altaic family. (See A. H. Keane, Man Past and Present, Cambridge,
1899, pp. 273, ff ) The solution of the question is not yet found. ♦

304 HISTORY OF BABYLONIA AND ASSYRIA.

facts concerning their work in the world and their
relations to the Semitic Babylonians. It was they
who invented the cuneiform system of writing, a
cumbrous and ai'tificial system indeed, and yet a
wonderful advance upon the still more cumbrous
picture writing out of which it was developed.
When the Semitic Babylonians conquered the
Sumerians and possessed their lands they adopted
at once this system of writing and took over with
it the literature which it enshrined. This literature
was especially devoted to the setting forth of
forms of worship, of hymns of praise to gotls, of
prayers for forgiveness from sins, and of incanta-
tions for delivery from disease. It was natural
that the Babylonians should desire to retain this
religious material in its ancient tongue, as it was
not to be expected that it would be so efficacious
if translated into their own Semitic speech. There
arose, therefore, a custom of providing these reli-
gious texts with interlinear translations into the
Semitic speech. Sumerian had now come into the
same position as did Latin in the religious life of
the Middle Ages. It remained only that it should
advance into a position similar to that held by
Latin in general life in the same period. This
also came about, for not only were religious texts
so written, but also historical texts as well. Gradu-
ally this custom ceased and the Sumerian language
was no longer mentioned or used ; but the system
of writing which the Sumerians had devised con-
tinued in full use to the fall of the Babylonian

PEOPLES OF BABYLONIA AND ASSYRIA. 305

commonwealth, and even lived on in the hands of
the Indo-Europeans who came after them.'

The Babylonians had indeed conquered the
Sumerians, but in a higher sense they had been
conquered by them, and their civilization in
general and their religion in particular owed a
deep debt to this strange, almost unknown peo-
ple who stand on the very confines of human
history.

At about tlie beginning of the fourth millennium
before Christ tlie Sumerian people, who had al-
ready attained a high civilization, found their land
invaded by a vast horde of barbarians, for so these
must have appeared to them. These were Sem-
ites, closely related in blood to the Arabs who
once overran Spain and the Hebrews who once
came pouring across the Jordan into Canaan.
AVhence these invaders came is not certain. It
has been thought by some that they came from
the northeast through the passes of the Kurdis-
tan mountains, and that Babylonia was the land in
which they had their first national development
and from which they spread over western Asia to
make great careers as Arabians, Canaanites, and

' A great controversy has raged about the question of this Sumerian lan-
guage. It has been asserted by some that the view taken here is wholly
erroneous, and that we have in these bilingual texts not two languages, but
simply two forms of writing. According to this view the so-called Su-
merian language was simply a cabalistic method of sacred writing, invented
for their own purposes by Semitic priests. This view, first proposed in this
form by Halevy, in the beginning secured some converts, but has latterly
lost ground. To the present writer the facts seem wholly opposed to it
See Chapter VII.

306 HISTORY OF BABYLONIA AND ASSYRIA.

Aramaeans.' This view, once stated and sup-
ported with surpassing learning, is now almost
abandoned, and but few great names may be
cited among its modern adherents. A second
view finds the original home of the Semites in
Africa, either in the northeastern* or north-
western part of the great continent." It were idle
to deny that strong linguistic support for this
view may be found in the recognized affinity be-
tween the Semitic languages and Egyptian, Coptic,
Berber, and the Kushite (Bisharee, Galla, Somali,
etc.) languages. But when all has been said in
favor of this view there still remain more potent

' The northern origin of the Semites was adopted by Renan, Histoire
generale des langues semitiques, 2d edit., p. 29, but the strongest argument
for it is presented by J. Guidi, Delia Sede prhnitiva dei Popolo Semitici,
in the Memoi-ie della R. Accademia dei Lincei, 3d series, vol. iii. (Some
additions are made to the evidences of Guidi by Jacob Krall, Onmdriss der
altorientalischen Geschichfe, I Theil, Wien, 1899, p. 31.) To this same view-
adheres Hommel, who has devoted much learning to its exposition and
defense ; for example. La Patrie originaire des Semites, in the Atti del IV
Congresso Internationale degli Orientalisti, vol. i, pp. 217-228, Firenze,
1880; Die JVamen dei' Saugethiere, Leipzig, 1879, pp. 496, ff. ; Die Semi-
tischen Volker mid Sprachen, pp. 7, 11, 12, 59-63, 95, ff. ; Die Sprach-
geschichtliche Stellung des Babylonisch-assyrischen (Etudes archeologiques
linguistiques et hi.storiques dediees a C. Leemans, Leide, 1885, pp. 12*7-129)
and Oeschichte Bahyloniens und Assyriens. Berlin, 1885, p. 267.

- Noldeke, Theodor, Die Semitischen Sprachen, 2**^ Auflage. Leipzig,
1899, p. 11. Noldeke puts forward this view very tentatively and only as
an hypothesis, and admits " dass die Herkunft aller Semiten aus Arabien
sehr wohl denkbar ware " (p. 13).

^Professor D. G. Brinton, of Philadelphia, has suggested northwestern
Africa as the primitive seat of the Semites, and has supported it with
many arguments, chiefly ethnological. His paper, read before the Phila-
delphia Oriental Club, has been printed together with a criticism by Pro-
fessor Jastrow, who inclines to Noldeke's view rather than to Brinton's. Tlie
Cradle of the Semites, by Daniel G. Brinton, M. D., and Morris Jastrow, Jr.,
Ph.D., Philadelphia, 1890.

PEOPLES OF BABYLONIA AND ASSYRL\. 3u7

considerations in favor of a third view, that tlie
original home of the Semites was in Arabia/ out of
which they came in successive waves of migration
to find larger and more bountiful lauds in Baby-
lonia, Mesopotamia, and even in the far western
land of Canaan. This latter view seems ever to
win new adherents and may be said now to be
generally accepted by modern scholars. The
Babylonians conquered the Sumerians, di'ove some
of them out, destroyed others, and assimilated the
rest. During the long course of their history
they remained as unchanged and unchangeable as
the Egyptians. They were powei-ful in warfare
at first, but gradually cast aside the warlike spirit
and became so devoted to the arts of peace as to
be unable to defend their country from inva-
sion, which happened again and again during their
long history. Yet so great was their vitality and
so marked their racial individuality that they
always triumphed in the end and absorbed their
conquerors. Just as their type, the distinctive
Semitic type, prevailed over the Sumeriau, so also
did it prevail over the Kassites, Elamites, and
that long line of lesser peoples who conquered
them in part or settled among them peaceably.

• Sayce, Assyrian Grammar for Comparative Purposes, 1st ed., p. 13.
E. Sclirader, Die Ahstammung tier Chaldcxer wid die Ursitze der Semiiev,
in the Zeitschrift der Deutschen Morgenliindischen Gesellschaft, xxvii, pp.
397, ff. Tide, Babylonisch-Assyrische Geschichte, pp. 106, 107. Ed.
Meyer, Geschichte des Altertums, i, pp. 207, ff. Keane, ^fan Past and
Present, pp. 490, 491. Winckler, Die Volker Vorderasiens. Leipzig, 1899,
p. 10. Winckler states the general movements and the general relation-
ships of the Semitic peoples very admirably in this brief tract.

308 HISTORY OF BABYLONIA AND ASSYRIA.

The Babylonians were devoted chiefly to religion
and to literature, as their remains would seem to
indicate. It was they who erected the largest
temples that the world has ever seen, and as the
materials used were perishable, ever reerected and
restored them. It was they who provided these
temples with books, liturgies, hymns, and prayers,
and heaped up thousands of tablets recording all
these building operations and giving glory and
honor to the gods who had inspired the work.
p' Out of the Babylonian people sprang the As-
syrians, for Assyria was colonized from Babylonia.
Though of the same blood, the Assyrians gradu-
ally became a very different people. Less exposed
to invasion during a large part of their history
than the Babylonians, they remained of much
purer Semitic blood. In religion, in language,
and in literature they continued to the end ever
dependent upon the southern people. Their cli-
mate belonged to the temperate rather than
to the subtropical zone, and the inclemency of
wintei's over at least part of their little king-
dom served to toughen their fiber, while their
early efibrts at conquest gradually hardened them
into the form which they bore during all their
histoiy. They became a military people on the
one hand, and a commercial people on the other.
Early accustomed to blood and fire, they became
totally unlike the peace-loving Babylonians, and
their history is filled with deeds of almost unpar-
alleled savagery. Wherever their armies marched

PEOPLES OF BABYLONIA. AND ASSYRIA. 309

women were ravished, men "svere mutilated or
flayed alive, houses and cities and fields of grain
were given to the torch, and desolation and ruin
were left behind. Yet out of this conquest they
achieved empire, and sobered by its burdens,
learned to govern as well as to destroy, and de-
vised methods of subjection and of rule, which
were afterward applied by a people w^ho in cer-
tain respects much resembled them, the Romans.
Along with this development in the arts of war
and the practice of government there went a great
growth in trade. The Assyrian traders invaded
the whole East and took gain both from buying
and from selling, from transport and from storage.
They influenced the king to conquest in more
than one instance that the field of their operations
and the extent of their money getting might be
increased. That they contributed to civilization
by their barter and trade there is no doubt, and
this result affords a bright contrast to the weary
details of blood and fire which otherwise would
fill the whole canvas. Yet, though thus given
over in large measure to war and commerce, the
Assyrians knew their lack and ever looked wdth
envy to the superior civilization of Babylonia.
Some of their kings imitated the Babylonians in
the founding and storing of libraries with books
of religion and literature and not merely with
boastful narratives of bloody conquest. Others
bore witness to the attractiveness of the Baby-
lonian culture by conquering jiarts of that country

310 HISTORY OF BABYLONIA AND ASSYRIA.

that they might worship at its ancient shrines and
add to their names royal titles, bestowed by an
hereditary priesthood, which had come down from
an immemorial past. Thus were mixed up in the
Assyrian nature elements both of barbarism and
of civilization, and now one and now the other
is manifested in the work which they did in the
world. But when the whole history is surveyed,
as in a panorama, the barbarism must be admit-
ted to prevail over the civilization and the total
impression to be less favorable than that which
the Babylonians make upon us.

Long after the Babylonians and Assyrians had
risen to power in the world the great valley came
to know another people who called themselves
Kaldu, and were known to the Hebrews as Kasdim,
to the Greeks as Chaldaioi (XaX6aioi\ from whom
we have called them Chaldeans. They were un-
doubtedly Semites,* for not only are their names
purely Semitic, but their religion, manner of life,
and adaptation to Semitic usages all bear the
same stamp as those of the Semitic Babylonians.
The origin of the Chaldeans is, like that of the
Babylonians, lost in the past. They also probably
came out of the heart of Arabia and settled first
along the western shore of the Persian Gulf, push-
ing gradually northward until they held the coun-
try about the mouths of the Tigris and Euphrates.

' Jensen has suggested that they were " Semitized Sumerians," and Leh-
inann appears to agree with him (Lehmann, Shamashshumnkin, p. 173),
but at best the opinion is merely a guess and has no direct support in the
inscriptions.

PEOPLES OF BABYLONIA AND ASSYRIA. 311

From that district they begin the loug series of
incursions which finally won for them the control
of Babylonia, and made them the heirs of the
Babylonian people in civilization and in empire.
In the beginning they ^vere nomads and tillers of
the soil, but became men of the city and formed
little city kingdoms similar to those which had ex-
isted in the early days of Babylonian civilization.
The lines of their development were, however,
more similar to those of the Assyrians than to
those of the Babylonians. They developed mili-
tary prowess and founded a great empire by the
s\vord. Its extension toward the west was marked
by bloodshed and the destruction of ancient cen-
ters of civilization. But later the objects of civi-
lization were furthered by them and their kings
became patrons of learning. In this latter stage
they are perhaps to be regarded as having lost
their national life and character and as trans-
formed by the Babylonian civilization which they
had conquered.

The Sumerians, the Babylonians, the Assyrians,
and the Chaldeans — these were the peoples who
wrought out the history here to be narrated. Be-
sides these there were many other lesser peoj)les
who contributed to the movements w^hich are to
be told, but their characterization may best be left
to the time of their appearance in the narrative,
as they were secondary rather than primary actors
in the great drama.

313 HISTORY OF BABYLONIA AND ASSYRIA.

CHAPTER XIL

THE CHKONOLOGY.

Unlike the Egyptians, both the Assyrians and
Babylonians, but especially the latter, gave much
attention to chronology, seeking in a number of
different ways to preserve the order of events and
to construct a backbone for their historical recol-
lections. The chronological material thus pro-
duced must have been very extensive, for the
portions which have come down to us are silent
witnesses of the yet unrecovered or totally de-
stroyed materials of which they were but frag-
ments. Our chronology of the history of these
people must be based primarily upon their OAvn
chronological materials, but from certain of the
Greek wiiters useful material is secured. All
this material may here be grouped in order, accom-
panied by notes upon its value and use, as sources
for chronology.

A. BABYLOinAN AND ASSYRIAN MoNUMENTS.

I. Babylonian Chronological Materials. Tlie
Babylonian priests, historiographers and chronog-
raphers have left us an enormous mass of chrono-
logical materials, all now in a fragmentary state,
but showing clearly how much importance was

THE CHRONOLOGY. 313

attached by them to the arrangement of historical
facts in due order of time. These original sources
may thus be arranged :

1. The Babylonian King List A. A brief list
of the names of the kings of several Babylonian
dynasties, now badly broken, with many names
missing. By the side of each king's name is given
the number of years of his reign, and at the end
of each dynasty also a summation of the years of
reign of all the kings of that dynasty.*

2. The Bdbyloniaii King List B. A list of
Babylonian kings, containing the names and yeai-s
of reign of the king's of the first and second dynas-
ties, with the years of reign of each one, and also
the summation as before."

3. A Babylonian Chronological Tablet of
Dynasty /(cited here as C).' There has recently
been discovered in the collections of the British
Museum an extremely valuable chronological
tablet, dated in the reign of Ammi-sadugga,

'• '^ These two King Lists have been repeatedly copied, collated, and veri-
fied. The chief literature upon them is as follows : (a) Proceedings of the
Society of Biblical Archceology, 1884, pp. 193-204 (Pinches), (b) Sitzungs-
herichte der Berl. Ak. der Wissenschafien, 188*7, pp. 579-607 (Schrader).
(c) Assyrische Oebete an den Sonnengoti, I u. II, Leipzig, 1894 (Knudtzou).
{d) Proceedings of the Society of Biblical Archaology, 1888, pp. 22, ff.
(Pinches), (e) Keilinschriftliche Bibliothek, Berlin, 1890, vol. ii, pp. 286,
ff. (Schrader). (f) Zwei Hauptprobleme der altorientalischen Chronologie und
ihre Losung, Leipzig 1898 (Lehmann).

3(a) The text is catalogued in British Museum as BU. 91-5-9, 284,
and is published in Cuneiform Texts from Babylonian Tablets, etc., in the
British Museum. Part VI, edited by E. A. W. Budge. London, 1898
(copied by Pinches), (b) The new Babylonian Chronological Tablet (BU.
91-5-9, 284, with translation). Proceedings of the Society of Biblical
Archeology, January, 1899 (Savce). (c) King, Hamnmrabi, ii and ill.
22 '

314 HISTORY OF BABYLONIA AND ASSYRIA.

giving lists of important events in the years of
reign of all the kings of the fii'st dynasty down to
Ammi-sadugga. At the end of each list of ev^ents
is given the number of years that each king
reigned. The disturbing fact about this list is
that the figures given in it do not tally with those
given in tablets A and B. For example, in A and B,
Sumuabi reigns 15 years, but here 14, so also for
Sumu-la-ilu is here given 36 years instead of 35,
for Sin-muballit 20 instead of 30, for Hammurabi
43 instead of 55, and for Samsu-iluna 38 instead
35 years. Previous to the discovery of this tablet
lists A and B had been followed as closely as
possible by all chronologists. This procedure
must now be changed and the new tablet con-
sidered, for it was written while this dynasty was
still on the throne, and the summaries agree exactly
with the yearly lists of principal events.

4. Fragments of a Babylonian Chronicle (^,
cited hy some as S).' A badly broken tablet, con-
taining originally six columns, of which only
column V nearly complete, and parts of columns
II and IV now remain. It contains in brief
chronicle fashion mention of certain important
events in the reigns of Babylonian kings of the
dynasties of the Sea Lands and of Bazi.

5. The Babylonian Chronicle {By A large

' First discovered and published by George Smith, Tratisactions of the
Society of Biblical ArchcBology, iii, pp. 361, ff. The text is republished by
Winckler, Untersuchungen^ p. 153.

' See the following publications, (a) Proceedings of the Society of Bibli-
cal Archeology, \\, pp. 193, ff. (Pinches), (b) Zeitschrift Jilr Assyriologie,

THE CHRONOLOGY. 315

tablet containing one hundred and seventy-six
lines of writing, dated in the twenty-second year
of Darius I, and containing brief chronicles of the
chief events in the reigns of Babylonian kings
from Nabonassar to Saosduchiuos, and of Assy-
rian kings from Tiglathpileser III to Asshur-
banapal.

6. Fragments of a Babylonian Chronicle of
Nahonidus {Nab. Ohron).' A small broken tablet
containing a chronicle of events of the last years
of the reign of Nabonidus and the taking of Baby-
lon by Cyrus.

7. Fragments of a Babylonian Chronicle {cited
as P).^ An unbaked tablet, originally about eight
inches square, containing accounts of expeditions
made by some of the early Babylonian kings
against external enemies. Less than one third of
the tablet is preserved. That which remains be-
gins in the reign of Kadashman-Kliarbe, son of
Karakhardash. The style of this chronicle is so
similar to that of one of the Assyrian lists that it
is probable the latter was copied from this.

Besides these direct statements made in inscrip-

ii, pp. 148, flf. (Winckler). (c) Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society, xix,
pp. 655, ff. (Pinches), (d) Abel-Winckler, Keilschrifttexte, pp. 47, 48.

' (a) On a Cuneiform Inscription relating to the capture of Babylon by
Cyrus, and the events which preceded and led to it. Transactions of the
Society of Biblical Archeology, 1881, vii, 139, If. (Pinches), (b) Untersnch-
ungen zur altoriental. Geschichte, pp. 164, 155 (Winckler).

'(a) Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society, October, 1894, pp. 807, S.
(Pinches.) (b) Records of the Past, new series, vol. v, pp. 106, ff. (Pinches.)
(c) Alttestamentliche Untersuchnngen, Lepzig, 1893-97, pp. 115, 116, 122,
124, and 297, ff. (Winckler).

316 HISTORY OF BABYLONIA AND ASSYRIA.

tions for purely chronological purposes tlie Baby.
Ionian texts of other kinds, both historical and
contract, contain numerous allusions to dates, syn-
chronisms, and the like. The more important of
these may here be grouped together with the nec-
essary comments upon their meaning or bearing.

8. A Boundary Stone Dated the Fourth Year of
King Bel-nadin-apli. ' In this text it is stated
that from Girkishar, king of the Sea Lands, to
Nebuchadrezzar I there were six hundred and
ninety-six years. This does not seem like a round
number, and if we could bring it to bear upon
some fact already known to us, it would be ex-
tremely valuable. But the only king known to
us (who is known as king of the Sea Lands) is
Gul-ki-shar (or kur ?) the sixth king of the second
dynasty. The names are not identical, though
they are judged to mean the same person by sev-
eral scholars." Where so great doubt exists it is
hardly safe to lay much stress upon the chrono-
logical statement here made. Future investiga-
tion wall probably clear the matter of all doubt.

9. In an inscription of Nabonidus occurs this
statement with reference to one of the early kings :

' Hilprecht, Old Babylonian Inscriptions, vol. i, part i, pi. 30, text 83.

2 For example, by Hilprecht, Assyriaca (Boston, 1894), pp. 20, ff., and also
by Hommel in Hastings, Bible Dictionary, i, pp. 223, 224, and in Expository
Times. On the other hand, Winckler (Altorie>italische Forschunffeti, i, p. 130,
footnote 3, and also p. 267), Rost ( Untersuchungen zur Altorientalischen Ge-
schichie, in Mittheilungen der Vorderasiatischen Gesellschaft, 189*7, p. 16),
and Lehmann (Zwei Hauptprobleme, pp. 17, 18) are against this view. Leh-
mann is of the opinion, also, that the name in the King List is not Gul-
kishar, but perhaps Gulkikur (??) (op. cit., p. 17).

THE CHRONOLOGY. 317

" The name of Hammurabi, one of the old kings,
who seven hundred years before Burnabmiash
had built E-barra and the temple pyramids on
the old foundations, I saw therein and read." '

Like the preceding notice, this, also, is of doubt-
ful application and therefore of doubtful weight.
Two kings by the name of Burnaburiash are known
to us, but as they reigned very close together, the
choice between them makes little difference. They
were contemporaries of Amenophis III, king of
Egypt, and are to be located about 1400 B. C. If
we reckon seven hundred years backward from
this date, we get 2100 B. C. as the period of Ham-
murabi. This date is, however, irreconcilable with
the Babylonian King Lists, according to which
Hammurabi must be placed about 2300 B. C. No
solution w^hich meets the situation is yet proposed
for this difficulty. The most tempting way out
would be to change the length of dynasty HI,
given as five hundred and seventy-six yeai's and
nine months, for which Rost ' would suggest three
hundred and ninety-six, but if this be done, we
have simply altered our sources, and are reduced to
conjecture. It seems wiser for the present to abide
by the King Lists, and permit this round number
of seven hundred years to stand as unexplained.

10. In another text of Nabonidus there occurs
again a chronological hint :

" E-DU-BAR, his temple in Sippar-An unit, which

' I. R. 69, b. 4-8 (British Museum 85, 4-30, 2, col. u, 20-26).
' Orientalistische Zeitsckri/t, iii, col. 145 (1900).

318 HISTORY OF BABYLONIA AND ASSYRIA.

no king liad built for eiglit hundred years, since
Shagarakti-Buriash, king of Babylon, son of Kudur-
Bel. His foundation inscription I sought, found,
and read." ' Nabonidus reigned 555-539 B. C, if
we count backward eiglit hundred years, we reach
for Shagarakti-Buriash the period about 1355 B. C.
The difficulty now appears of deciding who this
king is. He must clearly belong to the Kassite
dynasty (dynasty HI), and since the name of Ku-
dur Bel has been identified as No. 26 on the King
List there seems little doubt that the king here
meant is Shagarakti-Shuriash,* some of whose in-
scriptions have come down to us. In the tentative
chronology here given this king is located 1298-
1286, which approximates with sufficient close-
ness to the date given by Nabonidus.

11. In the same inscription of Nabonidus ' there
is given still further a chronological note which
carries us far back into the past :

" . . . . the foundation stone of Naram-Sin, which
no king before me had found for 3,200 years —
[this] Shamash the great Lord of E-barra . . .
showed to me."

If we accept this, we are carried back to 3750
B. C. for the date of Naram-Sin, and therefore to
about 3800 B. C. for his father, Sargon I. Over
this date there rages a ceaseless controversy. It
was at first generally accepted, for example, by

' V R. 64, c. 27-30, Comp. Keilinschrift. Bibl., iii, 2, p. 107.
^ This is the solution to which Rost is attached (Untei-mchungen, pp. 15,
51, 52).

3Y R., 62 b. 57-60. Comp. KeUimchrift. Bibl., iii, 2, p. 105.

THE CHRONOLOGY. 319

Oppert,' Tiele,' Hominei; aud DelitzscL.' Of tliese
Hommel afterward became persuaded that the
date was too liigli and proposed to reduce it to
3400 B. C/ Lelimaun has argued learnedly for a
reduction of Naram-Sin to 2750 B. C," and Winck-
ler' has expressed doubt about the matter. Posi-
tive proof on either one side or the other has not
yet come to light, and for the present it seems
best to hold the date 3800 B. C. tentatively, pend-
ing further light on the subject. It is indeed
hardly probable that the historiographers of Xa-
bonidus had before them lists which carried the
dates backward to the exact number 3,200. It
looks like a round number and was probably in-
tended to be so taken. To cast it away altogether
is, however, to leave us in the dark without a
single definite point for reckoning.

12. Asshurbanapal in his narratives of victorious
campaigns in Elam has also provided us with a
chronological note. He brought back to its place
of origin a statue of a goddess carried away to
Elam by Kudur-nankhundi 1,635 years before — '
that is, about 2285 B. C. This appears to be a

' Journal Asiatiqne (1883), i, p. 89.

' Oeschichte, p. 114.

^Ibid., pp. 166, 167.

* Delitzsch-Miirdter, Geschichte Bahylo7iiens und Assyriens, 2d ed., pp.
72, f.

' Hastings, Bib. Diet., i, p. 224.

*Lehmann, Zwei Hauptprob., pp. 172, ff.

' Untersiichungen, p. 44, f.

8ni R. 38, 1 a. 12-18. Comp. George Smith, Asshurbanipal, pp. 250, ff.,
and Keilinseh'iftliche Bibliothek, ii, p. 209, foot of the page.

320 HISTORY OF BABYLONIA AND ASSYRIA.

valuable indication of time, for the numeral does
not look like a round number, and there is no
reason to doubt its substantial accuracy. Neither
is there any special difficulty in attaching it to the
other historical and chronological facts.

13. Sennacherib also has left a very definite
date in one of his inscriptions. He says :

" Adad and Shala, the gods of Ekallate, whom
Marduk-nadin-akhe, king of Accad, in the time of
Tiglathpileser, king of Asshur, had taken away
and brought to Babylon, after a lapse of four
hundred and eighteen years, I have taken out of
Babylon and restored to Ekallate their place." '
This, also, like the preceding, appears to be not
a round number, but the result of some careful
calculation or to rest directly upon early docu-
ments. It has, nevertheless, been much doubted in
quite recent times. Host ' proposes to read 478 in
order to bring it better into relation with what
seems to him to be the order of events demanded
by other chronological facts. On the other hand,
Lehmann' proposes to read 318 instead of 418,
because that figure appears better to fit the situa-
tion as demanded by the other facts. Neither of
these attempts seems to be well founded. It is
better to accept a number like this as final, even
though it appears to be in conflict with the other
facts in our very limited knowledge of ancient

' III R., 14, 48-50. Comp. Keil. Bibl, ii, p. 119.
" Untersuchungen^ p. 16.
2 Zwei Hauplprohl.^ p. 98, ff.

THE CHRONOLOGY. 321

Babylonia. It appears on the face of the matter
to be more worthy of credence than such round
numbers as 600, 700, 800, and 3,200. If we ac-
cept it tentatively, it brings out our reckoning in
this way : Sennacherib has dated the four hun-
dred and eighteen years from the destruction of
Babylon by himself. This took place in 689, and
we should therefore be carried back to 1107 as
a date during the reign of Marduk-nadin-akhe.
To this date may be added another fact of im-
portance for this reign. On a boundary stone of
Marduk-nadin-akhe ' there is mention of a victory
over Assyria in the tenth year of his reign. It is
most natural to connect this victory with the
removal of the statues to which Sennacherib refers.
This would make 1107 the tenth year of the reign,
and therefore 1117 or 1116 the first year of his
reign." This is a date that ought not lightly to be
set aside, and the arguments brought against it by
Rost and Lehmann do not seem to be decisive.

These are all the notices in Babylonian his-
torical inscriptions which may be made directly
applicable to the question of chronology. It has
appeared in each case that they are not always to
be reconciled with each other without some sort
of forcing. Every chronological scheme that has
been proposed has in some way made accommoda-
tions, either by altering the figures or by rejecting
some of them altogether.

1 III R. 43, col. i, 5, 27, 28.

"^ So Hilprecht, Old Babyloyiian Inscriptions^ j, part i, p. 43, and Horn,
mel in Hastings, Bible Dictionary, i, p. 224.

322 HISTORY OF BABYLONIA AND ASSYRIA.

In addition to these King Lists, chronicles, and
references in historical inscriptions the chronolo-
gist secures some aid from genealogical details.
Thus a king often giv^es his father's name, and
upon his father's inscription is found the name of
the grandfather. By such simple means a whole
dynasty may be arranged in correct order.

Even more important than this are external in-
dications of age, and these may be divided into
two parts: (1) The approximate date of an in-
scription, and hence of a king in whose reign it
was written, may sometimes be obtained from
palseographical indications. A study of the forms
of characters and the manner of their writing gives
at times an indication of the period. Likewise,
also, (2) the position in which an inscription is
found within a mound is at times an approximate
indication of age. Sometimes the finding of a
text beneath the pavement of known age may
be conclusive, but in general this kind of evidence,
as also that drawn from palaeography, is rather
precarious, being subject to too many possible in-
terpretations in the hands of different persons.
The greatest value of palaeography and of archae-
ology is found when they lend additional weight
to direct statements in lists or in chronological
texts.

If now we turn from Babylonia to Assyria, we
shall find that this people, also, gave great atten-
tion to chronological details, and partly because
we are nearer to them and partly because their

THE CHRONOLOGY. 323

monumental remains have readied us in a rather
better condition we are able to come to conclu-
sions rather more satisfactory than in the case of
Babylonia.

II. Assyrian Chronological Material.

1. The Assyrians early constructed an Eponym
Canon., in which were set down the names of the
chief officers of the state in regular yearly succes-
sion. In this list the name of a new king was
always entered in the year of his accession.
There was thus provided an admirable method of
preserving order in references to the past, and
historical inscriptions, especially in a colophon at
their conclusion, often mention the limmu or
eponym of a certain year, just as they give the
name of the king who was reigning. These
eponyms were used therefore for dating, exactly
as in later times the Greeks used archons and
the Romans, consuls. A number of copies of
the eponym canons must have existed, for numer-
ous fragments have come down to us. These
it has been possible to piece together In the
correct order largely by means of the Canon of
Ptolemy, to be mentioned below. When so ar-
ranged the parts which have come down to us
extend from B. C. 902, when the eponym was
Asshurdan, to B. C. 667, when the eponym was
Gabbaru.'

' See ou the Eponym Canon In general, Selirader, KeiUiiscliriften iind
Geschichtsforschimg, Giessen, ISVS, pp. 299-356, where the references to
the original texts are fri^en.

324 HISTORY OF BABYLONIA AND ASSYRIA.

2. The Assyrian Expedition Lists. In addi-
tion to the Eponym Canon, which is characterized
by lists of names only, the Assyrians drew up
supplementary lists in which the names of
eponyms were also given, and by the side of each
name were added short notices of important
events that fell in his year, such as expeditions to
certain countries for the purpose of conquest.
The fragments of this list which have come down
to us begin during the reign of Shamshi-Adad
IV (B. C. 824-812), and brief though they are,
have proved of immense importance. On one of
these fragments, by the side of the Eponym
Pur(ilu) 8a-gal-e, there is mentioned an eclipse of
the sun under these words, "In the month of
Sivan there was an eclipse of the sun." Astro-
nomical investigations have shown that a total
eclipse of the sun occurred at Nineveh June 15,
763 B. C, lasting two hours and forty-three min-
utes, with the middle of the eclipse at 10:05 a. m.
This astronomical calculation gave a fixed date for
the year of that eponym and thereby fixed every
year in the entu-e canon.'

3. Synchronistic History. In addition to these
important lists we have also lists of the synchro-
nisms between Babylonia and Assyria, beginning
with the peace treaties between Karaindash,
king of Babylon, and Asshur-bel-nisheshu, king

' On these Expedition Lists see again Schrader, op. cit., and also Winckler,
Keilinschriftliches Textbuch zum Alien 7Vs<a»ie?i<, Leipzig, 1892, pp. 61-67.
Also Schrader, Cuneiform hucriptions and the Old Testament, ii, pp. 178, ff.^
Keilinschriftliche Bibliothel; Berlin, 1889, vol. i, pp. 204, flf.

THE CHRONOLOGY. 325

of Assyria. This synchronistic history is written in
the style of brief chronicles, and is, also, unhappily
fragmentary.'

Besides these lists and chronicles which were
made for chronological purposes, there have also
come down to us in historical inscriptions certain
references which are valuable for chronological
purposes. These may be conveniently enumerated
as follows :

4. The statement made by Sennacherib (see
under Babylonia No. 13, pp. 320, f.), from which we
recovered the date 1107 in the reign of Marduk-
nadin-akhe, is useful, also, for the chronology of
Assyria, for from it w^e obtain the date 1107 as
falling in the reign of Tiglathpileser I.

5. From the inscriptions of Sennacherib, and
from the same period of his reign, there has come
to us a note that assists in locating an early
Assyrian king. At Babylon Sennacherib found
a seal of Tukulti-Ninib with a brief inscription,
to which he added an inscription of his own, so
that the whole stood as follows :

"Tukulti-Ninib, king of the world, son of Shal-
maneser, king of Asshur, conqueror of the land of
Kardu. Whoever alters my writing and my name,
may Asshur and Adad destroy his name and land.
This seal is presented, given, from Asshur to
Accad.

" Sennacherib, king of Asshur, after six hundred

' The synchronistic history is first published entire by F. E. Peiser and
Hugo Winckler in Ke'dinscliriftliche Bibliothek, i, pp. 194, ff.

326 HISTORY OF BABYLONIA AND ASSYRIA.

years conquered Babylon and brought it away from
the possessions of Babylon." '

If we add to 689, the date of the destruction of
Babylon, this six hundred years, we get the date of
1289 as falling somewhere within the reign of
Tukulti-Ninib.

6. In the inscriptions of Tiglathpileser I ap-
pears this note concerning two of the early Assyr-
ian rulers :

"At that time the temple of Anu and Adad,
the great gods my lords, which in former times
Shamshi-Adad, isshakhi of Asshur, son of Ishme-
Dagan, isshakhu of Asshur, had built, for six
hundred and forty-one years had been falling
down. Asshurdan, king of Assyria, son of Ninib-
apal-esharra, king of Assyria, had torn down that
temple, but had not rebuilt it ; for sixty years its
foundations had not been laid."*

If now the date of Tiglathpileser is correctly
determined above under No. 4, the addition of
sixty years to it will give the date 1167 as fall-
ing within the reign of Asshurdan and 1808 as
falling in the reign of Shamshi-Adad. As the
date from which Tiglathpileser reckoned back-
ward is not certainly known, these dates may vary
a few years in either direction, but will probably
be a little higher.

With these dates the special allusions in As-

' III. R. 4, 2. Com. KeilhischriftUche Blbliothek, i, p. 11, No. 1.
'I. R. 15, col. vii, lines 60-70. Com. Keilinschriftliche JBiblioihek, i,
p. 43, and Reconh of the Pant, new series, i, p. 117.

THE CHRONOLOGY. 327

Syrian historical inscriptious, which are important
for our purpose, come to an end.

It remains no^v only that we turn to those
sources outside of the Babylonian and Assyrian
inscriptions, ^vhich contain chronological material,
which may be of importance in its bearing upon
the native sources. Of these the first in impor-
tance which comes to us from the Greeks is in
reality simply Babylonian, for it is based upon
Babylonian documents originally.

B. — Greek Writers.

I. Berossos. We have given attention above
to the use of Berossos as a source for the his-
tory, and we must now turn to his chronolog-
ical tables. In this is found one of the most diffi-
cult problems with which the chronologist has to
deal. As has already been shown, the Bahyloni-
aca of Berossos was divided into three books.
The first book described the origin of the world
and of man and continued down to the deluge.
The second described the deluge and perhaps
came down into the historical period ; and the
third book was devoted to the historical period.

The manner in which Berossos has come down
to us has been already described, and that mis-
takes could easily creep in during such a process
may easily be seen. In no particular would mis-
takes be more likely to appear than in the lists of
figures in his chronological lists, and as a matter of
fact the mistakes are indeed very evident. If we

328 HISTORY OF BABYLONIA AND ASSYRIA.

take up these books in order, we shall speedily see
what material, if any, of value may be found in
them. According to Berossos there reigned be-
fore the flood ten kings during a period of one
hundi'ed and twenty sai*s. The sar is 3,600 years ;
that is, these kings reigned 432,000 years. As
these statements have come down to us both in
Eusebius and in the Syncellus, they may be re-
garded as certainly coming from Berossos.

Book I. 10 kings = 120 sars == 432,000 years.^

If we tui'n to Book II, we find that there is a
difference between the sources in which Berossos
has been preserved for us.

According to the Syncellus (ed. Dindorf, p. 147,
line 12) there were 86 kings who ruled 34,080
j^ears, to which is added also the explanation 9
sai-s at 3,600, 2 ners at 600, and 8 sos at 60 = 34,080.
On the other hand, Eusebius {Ghron.^ ed. Schoene,
i, p. 26) says that these 86 kings ruled 33,091 years,
which is, in all probability, simply a mistake for
34,09 1. There is therefore exactty eleven years dif-
ference between the Syncellus and Eusebius in this
report, which would correspond to the difference
between the death of Alexander the Great (323
B. C.) and the beginning of the Seleucid era (312).'

How are these figures to be interpreted? The
most probable explanation is that first suggested,
and later amplified and corrected by Alft-ed von

' Eusebius, Chron., ed. Schoene, i, p. 9 ; Syncellus, ed. Dindorf.
* So Rost, Untet'suchmigen, p. 9.

^ V. Gutsohmid's first paper appeared in the Rheinisches Mmeum fur
Philologie, Neue Folge, Band viii (1853), pp. 252-267. It is reprinted in

THE CHRONOLOGY. 329

Gutschmid/ that tlie Babylonians bad grouped tbeir
kings of tbe post deluge period in a cycle of 36,000
years. If now we take from tbis number tbe num-
ber 34,080 preserved by tbe Syncellus, ^ye have left
exactly 1,920 years for tbe historical list of kings.
If we could find tbe point at wbicb these 1,920
years terminated, we shall arrive at tbe point at
which Babylonian history begins. Many have
been the views on this subject, but a consensus of
opinion is now gradually forming as the result of
a suggestion first oftered by Peiser.' There is pre-
served in Abydenus, according to Eusebius, this
sentence, '■'' Hoc ixicto Chaldaei suae regionis reges ah
Aloro usque ad Alexandrum recensent ; " that is, " In
this manner tbe Chaldeans reckon the kings of their
land from Aloros to Alexander." By the word Chal-
daei is here meant doubtless Berossos, and from
this we learn that Berossos bad continued his his-
tory to Alexander, and tbe king here meant is cer-
tainly Alexander, son of Alexander the Great.
Do the 1,920 years end here ? It is probable that

Kleine Schriften, von Alfred von Gutschmiil. herausgegeben von Franz
Riihl (Leipzig, 1890), ii, pp. 97-114. Much of this paper was withdrawn
by von Gutschmid in a review- of Brandis, Uebtr den ?iist. Gewinn aus der
Enlzifferung der assyr. Inschriffeu in Kene Jalirbiicher fiir Philologie,liiuu\
Ixxiii (1856), pp. 405-421 (reprinted Kleine Schriften, ii, pp. 115, ff.),
and was modified later in Beitrdge znr Geschichte des Alien Orients (1858),
pp. 18, ff., and in Neue Beitrage zur Geschichte dvs Alten Orients (Leipzig,
1876), pp. 115, ff.

1 Zeitschrift fiir Assgriologie, vi, pp. 264, ff. This suggestion had pre-
viously been made by Floigl, v., Die Chronologie der Bibel des Manetho
nnd Beros. Leipzig, 1880, p. 259, Geschichte des semitischen Altertnms in
Tnbellen, Leipzig, 1882, p. 7, but had escaped the attention of scholars
generally. Peiser's suggestion was independent of Floigl.
23

330 HISTORY OF BABYLONIA AND ASSYRIA.

they do. It is indeed most probable that they
extended down to the Seleucid era in 312, for
Berossos would surely be glad to pay such a com-
pliment to these rulers, to one of whom he had dedi-
cated his book.' If now we date backward from
812 (or 311, the date of Alexander's death), we ar-
rive at 2232 or 2231 as the year of the beginning
of Babylonian history according to Berossos. But
immediately that we attempt to determine where
to place this date in our Babylonian chronology
difficulties begin. Lehmann would locate it dur-
ing the reign of Hammurabi as the year when all
Babylonia was united under one scepter and Bel-
Marduk became the national deity. On the other
hand, Host would accept it as the date of the be-
ginning of the first dynasty. There is no decisive
argument in favor of either view, and it is easy
to imagine that it may refer to some other event
of consequence. It were folly to accept it to the
exclusion of the dates which have come down to
us from original Babylonian sources.

It is believed by some scholars (Lehmann, Rost,
Marquart) that the date 2232-2231 is confirmed
from another Greek source, and this must be con-
sidered.

Simplicius in his commentary upon Aristotle's
treatise, Uepi ovgavov (De Caelo), says that Callis-
thenes had been asked by Aristotle to send to
Greece any records of astronomical observations

' So Rost, Untersuchuuffen, p. 4. Lehmann agrees with this (Ztoel
ffauptprobl., p. 107) on slightly different grounds.

THE CHRONOLOGY. 331

which he might find in Babylon. This Callisthenes
did, after entering Babylon with Alexander the
Great in the autumn of 331 B. C. Upon the
authority of Porphyrins, Simplicius avers that
Callisthenes found such observations extending
back for 31,000 years.' There is, however, grave
doubt about this figure. A Latin translation by
Moerbeka (about 1271 A. D.) reads 1903, which
is in itself more reasonable. Furthermore, the
reading 31,000, assuming it to be an error, can
readily be explained on palaeographical grounds."
Lehmann therefore insists that the reading 1903
is original, and proposes to use it as dating back-
ward from 331 B. C, which would yield 2233 B. C.
as the date of the beginning of the observa-
tions. This would agree remarkably well with
Berossos, and so confirm it from the astronomical
side. But the difficulty about the text is fatal to
confidence in it. The figure 31,000 is actually in
our only original witness to the text, and it can-
not be proved that 1903 was actually in the codex
which Moerbeka used." The numeral 31,000 in-
deed is just such a number as is afforded by other
of the Greek writers. Pliny states that the num-

• Simplicii in Aristotelis " De Caelo " commentario. Consilio et autori-
tate Academiae Litterarum Regiae Borussicae editit J. S. Heiberg, Berlin,
1894, p. 506, line 14.

'See the discussion in Lehmann, Zwei Hauptprob., p. 109, and especially
the palfeographical observations of Professor Diels on p. 110, and the
Nachtrage on p. 210.

^ Rost ( Untersuchungen) has worked out the same comparison as Leh-
mann in practically the same way, but independently of him.

333 HISTORY OF BABYLONIA AND ASSYRIA.

ber of years given by Berossos was 490,000,' and
Diodorus makes it 473,000/ The numerals in all
these copyists of Berossos seem in a hopeless
tangle, and it is useless to attempt to build any
solid chronological structure upon them.

Having failed in this search for a starting point
of Babylonian chronology by means of Berossos
and Simplicius, we must search still further to see
if there be left anywhere else in Berossos even
one single point that might be useful in connec-
tion with the native sources. Schwartz has lately
subjected the whole of the fragments of Berossos
to a searching examination and arrives at the con-
clusion that the following scheme may be regarded
as certain:'

I. 10 Kings before the flood

120Sars= 432,000

II. 86 Kings after the flood . . 34,090

8 Median Usurpers 224 [2448-7 B. C— 2234-3]

11 Kings 248 [2224-3 —1976-5]

49 Chaldean Kings 458 [1976-5 —1518-7]

9 Arabian Kings 245 [1518-7 -1273-2]

45 Kings 526 [1273-2 -747-6]

III. From Nabonassar to Cyrus 206 [ 747-6 -538-7]

Total 468,000 = 130 Sars

From Cyrus to Alexander's
Death 215 [ 538-7 -323-2]

Grand Total 468,215

> Pliny, Kat. Hist., rii, 57 (ed. Mayhoff, Teubner, ii, p. 49).
2 Diodorus, ii, 81 (ed. Dindorf, Lips., 1828, i, p. 181).
^Scliwartz in Pauly-Wissowa, Real-EncyclopiXdie der class. AUerturns-
wissensehaff, ii, p. 314.

THE CHRONOLOGY. 333

It is utterly impossible to reconcile this scheme
with that which has been preserved for us by the
Babylonian King Lists and Chronicles. We do not
find the same divisions of dynasties in the latter^
nor do we understand who are meant by the
Median, Chaldean, and Arabian usurpers and
kings. The learned and ingenious efforts made by
Hommel' to reconcile them are not generally re-
garded as at all successful, nor have later attempts
been any more fruitful. Like a number of other
problems, this must be left unsolved, at least for
the present.

II. The Canon of Ptolemy. Among the works
left by Claudius Ptolemseus, an eminent Egyptian
astronomer, mathematician, and geographer who
lived in the second century A. D., is a Kavwv
(iaaiXiuv (Canon of Kings), a catalogue of Babylonian,
Persian, Greek, and Roman kings. It is impossi-
ble now to determine the origin of this remarkable
list. When tested by the native monuments it
has in every case stood the test, and was extremely
valuable in the early work of the decipherment,
for by its use the order of the kings was first
established. It begins with Nabonassar and ex-
tends to Alexander the Great. It was plainly
made for astronomical and not for historical pur-
poses, and therefore only contains the names of
those kings who began to reign with the begin-

' Hommel, Semiten, i, pp. 329, ff. Compare in opposition to these attempts
Tiele, Oeschichte, i, p. 109, and Winckler, Vntersuchimgen z. altorientalisclie
Geschichtc, 3, ff.

334 HISTORY OF BABYLONIA AND ASSYRIA.

ning of a year and continued to its end. Kings
who came to the throne after the beginning of the
year and reigned but a few months are not named
at all. For purposes of comparison the Canon of
Ptolemy, with the Babylonian names, may here be
set down.

The Babylonian Canon op Rulers in Claudius Ptolem^us.»

Length of

Greek Forms

Babylonian Forms

Years

Reign.

of Names.

B.C.

^ajSovaaadgov

Nabu-nasir

747

Nadiov

(Nabu)-nadin-(zir)

733

Xiv^rjpog km Jlihgov

Ukinzir. Pulu

731

'IXovXaiov

Ululai

726

MapSoKeixTrddov

Marduk-aiial-iddin

721

'ApKedvov

Sharrukin

709

dfSaaiXevrov Trpwrow
Bi]Uj3ov

704

Bel-ibni

702

'Anapavadiov

Ashur-nadin-shura

699

'FrjyelSrjXov

Nergal-ushezib

693

MeoTjOiixoQddKov

Mushezib-Mardiik

692

'AfiaaiXevTOV devregov
' Xaapidivov

688

Ashur-akh-iddin

680

'Laoodovxt-vov

Shamash-shum-ukin

667

KiviXavaSdvov

Kandalanu

647

]^a(3o7ToXa<yadQov

Nabu-apal-usur

625

NajSoKoXaaadpov

Nab Li-k u d u r ri- u s u r

604

'IXXoapov-ddnov

Amel-Marduk

561

NrjptKaaoXaaodpov

Nergal-sbar-nsur

559

Nafiovadiov

Nabu-na'id

555

This single brief list far exceeds in value all that
remains of Berossos, and indeed all the chrono-
logical material in all the other Greek sources.

' For this list see primarily Table Chronologique des Regnes . . . des C.
Ptolemee, etc., par M. I'Abbe Halma, Ouvres de Ptolemh, tom. iii, Paris,
1819, p. 3, and comp. Georgius Syncellus, ed. Dindoif, Bonn, 1829, vol.
i., pp. 390, ff., and Keil Bibl., ii, pp. 290, 291. Winckler, Keilinschriff-
licJtes Textbnch znm Alien Testament, p. 68.

THE CHRONOLOGY. 335

C. — Egyptian Inscriptions.

From the Egyptian inscriptions scarcely anything
of value may be obtained for chronological pur-
poses. The light which the Assyrian and Baby-
lonian inscriptions has brought to the Egyptian
texts is indeed far more useful than tlie converse.

D. — The Old Testament.

Practically the same statement is true witli ref-
erence to the Old Testament, the chronological
materials of which were first set in their proper
light through Assyrian and Babylonian discoveries.

If now from all these sources we essay tlie mak-
ing of a chronological table for Babylonia and As-
syria, it must be admitted that with respect to the
former, at least, the result is not encouraging.
Every effort to make all the facts which have
come down to us dovetail accurately together has
failed. These facts can only be reconciled by
supposing error somewhere. Every investigator
differs from every other as to the place in which
he finds the errors, yet each feels confident that
he has found the correct solution. For the pres-
ent it seems unwise to attempt to draw up a hard
and fast list of kings in the early centuries b}^
means of a system which rests on the acceptance
of figures from some ancient documents and the
rejection of figures from others. The only scientific
course would seem to be to decline to force these
figures into agreement, but simply to put do^\-u

336 HISTORY OF BABYLONIA AND ASSYRIA.

those which seem reasonably well attested, and to
indicate those places in which they are in conflict
with other figures. This we proceed to do, ac-
companying the dates in some cases with refer-
ences to the sources enumerated above, and with
explanations of the discrepancies. We begin here
with the earliest known period.

Eengi

En-shag-kush-an-na

(before 4500 B. C.)

TABLES

Shirpurla

4500 B. C.
Urukagina

LUGAL-SHUGGtJR

GURSAR

I
GUNIDU

Ur-Nina

I
Akur-gal

E-ANNA-TUM EnANKATUMA I

Entemena

Enannatuma II
cir. 4100 B. C

Erech

Ukush (patesi of Gishban)
I

LUGAL-ZAGGISI

cir. 4000 B.C.

LUGAL-KlSALSI

Fint Dynasty of Ur.
LuGALKiGUBNiDUDU cir. 3900 B. C.

LUGALKISALSI.

THE CHRONOLOGY.

337

Agade

Shargani-shar-ali cir. 3800 B. C
(Sargoa I)

I
Nakam-Sin cir. 3750 B. C.

I
Bingani-shar-ali

Second Dynasty of Ur
cir. 3000 B. C.

Urgur

DUNGI I

Third Dynasty of Ur
DuNGi II cir. 2400 B. C.

GUNGUNU

Pur-Sin II

Gamil-Sin
Ine-Sin

SMrpurln {Lagash)

LuGAL-usHUMGAL cir. 3800 B.C.
(vassal of Sargon I)

Ur-Bau cir. 3200 B. C.

I
Nammaghani

GuDEA cir. 3000 B. C.

I
Urnlngirsu
(vassal of Dungi I)

Akurgal II

LtJKANI

Ghala-lama

? order

Dynasty of Is in cir. 2500 B. C.

ISHBIGARRA ]

LiBiT-IsHTAR ! order
PuR-SiN I [ unknown
Ur-Ninib J

Ishme-Dagan

I
En-an-na-tum
(vassal of Gungunu)

kingdom of Larsa.

SiN-IDDINAM.

Nur-Adad.
Kudur-Nankhundi (? about 2285 B. C).
Chedorlaomer.
Kudur-Mabug.
Eri-Aku (Arioch).

338 HISTORY OF BABYLONIA AND ASSYRIA.

Kingdom of Babylon.
First Dynasty.

1. SuMUABi 2454-2440

2. SUMU-LA-ILU 2439-24U5

3. Zabu 2404-2391

4. Apil-Sin 2390-2373

5. Sm-MUBALLiT 2372-2343

6. Hammurabi 2342-2288

7. Samsu-iluna 2287-2253

8. Abeshu' (Ebishum).,. 2252-2228

9. Ammisatana 2227-2203

10. Ammisadugga 2202-2182

11. Samsusataka 2181-2151

Length of Reigu

According to

King \aa\j.

I'ears.
15
35
14
18
30
55
35
25
25
21
31

The order of these names is taken from Baby-
lonian King Lists A and B. The years of reign
are those given in the King List. It is possible
that some of the differences between these and
the numbers given in Chronological Tablet C
may be explained on the basis suggested by
Sayce {Proceedings Soc.Bih.Archceology^ xxi,p.l8),
that in A and B allowance is made for rival princes
who were deemed illegitimate and hence not men-
tioned by name, while in C we have naturally only
the names and the years of legitimate rulers. For
confirmation of this theory we shall have to await
the discovery of new material.

THE CHRONOLOGY. 339

Second Dynast i/.

Length of Relsrn.

1. Ax-:ma-ax 2150-2091 (60)

2. Kl-AN-xi-iu 2090-2085 (5G)

3. Dam-ki-ilu-shi- 2034-2009 (2G)

4. IsH-Kl-BAL 2008-1994 (15)

5. Shu-ush-shi 1993-1970 (24)

6. GuL-Ki-SHAR 1969-1915 (55)

7. KiR-GAL-DARA-BAK. . . 1914-1865 (50)

8. A-DARA-KALAMA 1864-1837 (28)

9. A-KUR-UL-AX-NA 1836-1811 (26)

10. Melam-kur-kur-ka. 1810-1803 (8)

11. Ea-ga-mil 1802-1783 (20)

These names with the numerals attached are found
in Lists A and B. The length of several of the reigns
seem exceedingly high, and there is reason to doubt
whether they are correct. It is also impossible to rec-
oncile the total period of three hundred and sixty-
eight with the facts learned from other sources,
respecting the period which has elapsed between
certain kings of dynasty I and dynasty II ; as, for ex-
ample, between Hammurabi and Burnaburiash (see
above, I, 9, p. 316). Many efforts have been made to
relieve these difficulties. Hommel at one time at-
tempted to prove that this second dynasty really pre-
ceded dynasty I;' he then later took the view that
the second dynasty and the first Avere contemporane-
ous,' and that the second dynasty, so called, was

' Geschichte, i, p. 169.

-Hommel, Tlie Ancient Hebrew Tradition us Illustrated h\j the Mon'i.
mrnts, London, 1897, pp. 12.5, ff.

340 HISTOEY OF BABYLONIA AND ASSYRIA.

really " entirely apocryphal." * He has since come
to the conclusion that " the first six and possibly,
also, the last king (Ea-gamil, twenty years) should
be retained, and the seventh to the tenth wholly
rejected."* It does not appear that there is any
good reason for rejecting all or any part of these
names as apocryphal, but the figures which are
attached to them may easily be wrong in whole or
in part, just as the discovery of List C has shown
that there are errors or, at least, irregularities in
the Lists A and B respecting dynasty I. For the
present the only safe position is one of doubt and
uncertainty.

AVe may now turn with rather more confidence
to the next dynasty. In it we come, for the first
time, to a period in which native documents have
preserved for us fractions of years. For this and
other reasons the chances of error are reduced and
a higher degree of probability in the result may be

expected.

Third Dynasty. Kassites.

Length of
Reign.

1. Gandish cir. 1782-1767 B. C. 16

2. Agum-shi 1766-1745 22

3. BiBEiASHi 1744-1723 22

4. DusHi 1 722-1714 9 (?19)

5. Adumetash 1713-

6. Tashzigurmash.

7. Agum-kakbime.

[Perhaps about six unknown kings.]

' Op. clt., p. 126.

« Hommel, " The True Date of Abraham and Moses," The Expository
rimtH, X, p. 211 (February, 1809).

THE CHRONOLOGY. 341

Kaeaindash, cir. 1450,

Kadashmax-Bel [formerly called Kalimma-Sin]. cir.

1430.
BuRNABURiASH I, cir. 1420.
KuEiGALZu I, cir. 1410.

BuRXABUKiASH II [sou of Kurigalzu], cir. 1400.
Karakhardash, cir. 1370.
Kadasiiman Kharbe I.

[Shuzigash or Nazibugash, Usurper], cir. 1360.
Kurigalzu II, sou Kadashman-Kharbe I, cir. 1350.
Nazimaruttash, sou of Kurigalzu II, cir. 1340.
Kadashman-Turgu, son of Nazimaruttash.
Kadashmax-Buriash.

Length of
Reign.

26. Kudur-Bel about 1304-1299 6

27. Shagarakti-Shuriash cir. 1298-1286 13

[800 years before Nabonidus.]

28. Bibeiashu cir. 1285-1278 8

29. Bel-shum iDDiN ) . ,^^^ ,^^^ 1 year 6 mos.

V cir. 1277—1275

30. Kadashman-Kharbe II | ' ~ 1 year 6 mos.

31. ADAD-SHUM-iDDiisr cir. 1274-1269 6

32. Adad-shum-usur cir. 1268-1239 (30)

33. Melishipak cir. 1238-1224 15

34. Marduk-apal-iddin cir. 1223-1211 13

35. Zamamu-suum-iddin . . ..cir. 1210 1

36. Bel-shum-iddin cir. 1209-1207 3

The names in this list still offer many difficul-
ties to the historian and chronologist. The names
from No. 1 to No. 6 are drawn from the Baby.
Ionian King List A, as are also the years of
reign assigned to the first four. The provisional
date for Gandish (1782 B.C.) is also assigned on
the basis of the same list, which assigns five hun-
dred and seventy-six years and nine months as the

342 HISTOEY OF BABYLONIA AND ASSYRIA.

length of this dynasty. If now the date of the
end of the dynasty be set at 1207 B. C, on a reck-
oning of the following dynasty (see below), and
this year 1207 be the five hundred and seventy-
sixth year, it follows that the dynasty must have
begun in 1782 (1207 + 575 = 1782). The dates of
the first four kings of the dynasty are computed
on the basis of the length of their reigns given in
the same list.

The kings from No. 26 to 86 are also put down
as they are found in the same list, together with
the years of reign computed in the same manner.

The arrangement of the kings from No. 7 to
No. 25, inclusive, is in several cases extremely
doubtful. They rest largely upon inscriptions be-
longing to several of the kings found chiefly at
Nippur, and the reasons for the order here adopted
are given for the most part in the history proper
which follows, and usually in the footnotes or in
the references contained in them. At the best
the order, and in some instances the names them-
selves, must remain doubtful until cleared up by
monumental evidence.

Fourth Dynasty. Dynasty of Isin.

1. Marduk (?) cir. 1206-1189 B. C. (18)

2 -| cir. 1188-1183 B. C. (6)

3 I

. r Four unknown kings,

5 J

6. Nebuchadrezzar I, cir. 1135 B. C.

7. Bel-nadin-apli, cir. 1125 B. C.

THE CHRONOLOGY. 343

8. Mabduk-nadin-akhe, cir. 1117-1096 B. C. (22)

9. [Marduk-akhe-irba ?] 1095. (1 year 6 mos.)

10. Marduk-shapik-zer-mati 1094-1083, (12)
[Adad-apal-iddin, usurper, not mentioned in King

List.]

11. Nabu-shum (or-nadin), cir. 1082-10V5 (8)

For the arrangement of the fourth dynasty our
materials are exceedingly scanty. The King List A
is badly broken and but little can be made out of
it. The first name is almost entirely destroyed,
but the number of years is certainly fixed at 18.
The numeral 6 attached to the second king ap-
pears also to be certain. From a monument of his
own Nebuchadrezzar I is known, and Bel-nadin-
apli from a boundary stone. Marduk-nadin-akhe
is known from Assyrian synchronisms, and the
years of reign, 22, appear upon the King List A.
The location of Marduk-akhe-irba is exceedingly
doubtful, but the numeral 1 year and 6 months
is on the King List, as are also the numerals 12
and 8 which follow. The reasons for the location
of the remaining kings are given below in the his-
tory.

The length of this dynasty has usually been
given, on the basis of the King List, as 72 years
and 6 months, but by a simple calculation Peiser
proved that this was impossible, and suggested
that it must be 132 years.' After an examination
of the passage he became convinced that it must be
132, and with this Knudtzon" agrees, as does also

' ZA vi, 268, ff.

'^Knudtzon, Assyrlsche Oebete, i, p. 60; ii, p. 277.

SU HISTORY OF BABYLONIA AND ASSYRIA.

Lehmann, tliougli tlie latter thinks that 133 is possi-
ble.' The date of Marduk-nadin-akhe is made clear
by the allusion of Sennacherib (see above, 1, 13, p.
320), and from that date it is possible to reckon
downward to the end of the dynasty at 1075 and
forward to its beginning (1075 + 131=1206 B. C),
though the latter figure is to be regarded only as
tentative.

Fifth Dynasty. Dynasty of the Sea Lands.

Length ot Reign.

1. SiBARSHiPAK cir. 1074-1057 (18)

2. Ea-mukin-zer cir. 1057 (5 mos.)

3. Kasshu-nadix-akhe cir. 1056-1054 (3)

Both names and length of reign are taken from King-
List A.

Sixth Dynasty. Dynasty of Bazi.

1. EULBAR-SHAKIN-SHUM 1053-1037 (17)

2. NiNiB-KUDUR-usuR 1036-1034 (3)

3. SiLANIM-SHUKAMUNA 1033 (3 mOS.)

Both names and length of reign are taken from King
List A.

Seventh Dynasty. The Dynasty of Elam.
1. An Elamite [name unknown] 1032-1027 (6)

The length of reign is given in King List A,
but the name is broken off, and has not yet been
r(^covered from any other source.

From this point onward there is a considerable
gap in our knowledge of the Babylonian kings,
and even the length of the gap cannot be definitely
ascertained.

' Lehmann, Zwei Hauptprobl, pp. 14, 15.

THE CHRONOLOGY. 345

Eighth Dynasti/. Tlie Dynasty of Babylon.

Nabu-kin-abli 1026-901 (36)

Unknown King 990 8 mos. and 10 days

Several unJcnoion kings, 2yossibly four or even six.
Shamash-mudammik cir. 910

Nabu-shum-ishkun cir. 900

Nabu-apal-iddin cir, 880 [at least 31 years]

Marduk-nadin-shum
Maeduk-balatsu-ikbi cir. 812
Bau-akh-iddin cir. 800

) Probably two
] missing names

Nabu-shum-ishkun

Nabu-nasir 747-734

Nabu-nadin-zkr 733-732 (2)

Nabu-shum-ukin 731 (1 mo. and 12 days)

Our knowledge of tlie chronological order of
the kings of this dynasty is exceedingly slight.
The Babylonian King List A gives the length of
reigns in a few instances, and these are set down.
The position of the kings from Shamash-mudam-
mik to Bau-akh-iddin is determined by the Assyr-
ian synchronisms (see history). When Nabu-nasir
is reached we come to the exact chronological ma-
terial of the Ptolemaic Canon, which gives us the
definite dates 747 and 733.

Ninth Dynasty.
Ukin-zer, 731-730. \ ^ „ p .

PULU (= TiGLATH-PILESER III, of As- h „ ^

• \ >,^« Hr.^r \ five years.

Syria), 729-727. ; ^

Ululai (= Shalmaneser IV, of Assyria), 727-722 (5)

Marduk-apal-iddix (Merodach-baladan), 721-709 (12)

346 HISTORY OF BABYLONIA AND ASSYRIA.

Sharrukin, 709-705. (5.)
tSiN-AKH-ERBA (Seiiiiacherib), 705-703.
Marduk-zakir-shum, 703.

Marduk-apal-iddin (Merodach-baladau), 703-702.
Bel-ibni, 702-700. (3.)
ashur-nadin-shum, 699-694. (0.)
Nergal-ushezib, 693. (1.)
Mushezib-Marduk, 693-690. (4.)
ISin-akh-erba (Sennacherib), 689-682.
AssHUR-AKH-iDDiN (Esarliaclclon), 681-668.
Shamash-shum-ukix, 667-647.
Kandalanu (= Ashur-ban-apal), 647-626.
Nabu-apal-usur (Nabopolassar), 625-605.
Nabu-kudurri-usur (Nebuchadrezzar), 604-562.
Amel-Marduk (Evil-Merodach), 561-560.
Nergal-shar-usur, 559-556.
Labashi-Marduk, 556.
Nabu-na'id (Nabonidus), 555-539.

For this period the chi'onological material is
abundant and extraordinarily accurate. The dates
may be regarded as fixed with as much definite-
ness as may be expected in the history of tlie
ancient Orient.

The Chronology of Assyria,

Ishakkus of Asshur.

Ishme-Dagan, cir. 1830.
Shamshi-Adad I, cir. 1810.
Igui'-kapkapu,
Shamshi-Adad II,
Khallu, (?)
Irishum, (?)

THE CHRONOLOGY. 347

Kings of Assyria.
Bel-kapkapu, cir. 1700 B. C

AssHUR-BEL-xisHEsnu, cir. 1450 B. C.
PuzuR-AsHUR, cir. 1420.

ASSHUR-NADIN-AKHE, cil*. 1380 B. 0.

AssHUR-UBALLiT, cir. 1370.

Bel-nirari, his son, cir. 1350.

PuDi-iLu, his son.

Adad-nirari I, his son, cir. 1345.

Shulmanu-asharid I,hisson (Shalmaneser 1), cir. 1330.

TuKULTi-NiNiB, his son, cir. 1290.

Asshur-nazir-pal I, cir. 1280.

asshur-naraea.

Nabu-daian.

Bel-kudur-usur, cir. 1240.

NiNIB-APAL-ESHARRA, cir. 1235 B. C.

AssHUR-DAisr, cir. 1210.
MuTAKKiL-NusKu, cir. 1150.
AssHUR-RisH-isHi, cir. 1140.

TUKULTI-APAL-ESHARRA (TiGLATHPILESER I), cir. 1120.
ASSHUR-BEL-KALA, cir. 1090.

Shamshi-Adad I, cir. 1080.
AssHUR-XAZiR-PAL IT, cir. 1050.
Erba-Adad.

AsSHUR-NADIN-AKHE.

ASSHUR-ERBI,

TUKULTI-APAL-ESHARRA (TiGLATHPILESER II), cir. 950.

AssHUR-DAN II, his son, cir. 930.
Adad-nirari II, his son, 911-891.
TuKULTi-NiNiB II, his son, 890-885.
AssHUR-NAZiR-PAL III, his son, 884-860.
Shulmanu-asharid (Shalmaneser II), 859-825.
Shamshi-Adad II, 824-812.
Adad-nirari III, 811-783.

348 HISTORY OF BABYLONIA AND ASSYRIA.

Shulmanu-ashaeid (Shalmaneser III), 782-773.

ASSHUR-DAN III, 772-755.

ASSHUR-NIRARI II, 754-745.

TUKULTI-APAL-ESHARRA (TiGLATHPILESKR III = PULU),

745-727.

Shulmanu-asharid (Shalmaneser IV), 726-722.
Sharrukin (Sargon), 721-705.

SiN-AKH-ERBA (SeNNACHERIb), 704-681.
ASSHUR-AKH-IDDIN (EsARHADDOn), 680-668.
ASSHUR-BAN-APAL, 668-626.
ASSHUR-ETIL-ILANI, 625-622 (?).

SiN-sHUM-LisHiR (? date).

SiN-SHAR-ISHKUN, 62l(?)-607.

BOOK II:
THE HISTORY OF BABYLONIA.

CHAPTER I.

THE HISTOKY OF BABYLONIA TO THE FALL OF LARSA.

The study of the origins of states is fraught
with no less difficulty than the investigation of the
origins of animate nature. The great wall before
every investigator of the beginnings of things,
with its inscription, "Thus far shalt thou come
and no farther," stands also before the student of
the origins of the various early kingdoms of Bab-
ylonia. It may always be impossible to achieve
any picture of the beginnings of civilization in
Babylonia which will satisfy the desire for a clear
and vivid portrayal. Whatever may be achieved
by future investigators it is now impossible to do
more than give outlines of events in the dim past
of early Babylonia.

If we call up before us the land of Babylonia,
and transport ourselves backward until we reach
the period of more than four thousand five hun.
dred years before Christ, we shall be able to dis-
cern here and there signs of life, society, and

349

35U HISTORY OF BABYLONIA AND ASSYRIA.

government in certain cities. Civilization has al-
ready reached a high point, the arts of life are well
advanced, and men are able to write down their
thoughts and deeds in intelligible language and in
permanent form. All these presuppose a long
period of development running back through mil-
lenniums of unrecorded time. At this period there
are no great kingdoms, comprising many cities,
with their laws and customs, with subject territory
and tribute-paying states. Over the entire land
there are only visible, as we look back upon it, cities
dissevered in government, and perhaps in inter-
course, but yet the promise of kingdoms still un-
born. In Babylonia we know of the existence of
the cities Agade, Babylon, Kutha, Kish, Gishbau,
Shirpurla (afterward called Lagash), Guti, and yet
others less famous. In each of these cities worship
is paid to some local god who is considered by his
faithful followers to be a Baal or Lord, the strong-
est god, whose right it is to demand worship, also,
from dwellers in other cities.' This belief be-
comes an impulse by which the inhabitants of a
city are driven out to conquer other cities and so
extend the dominion of their god. If the inhabit-
ants of Babylon could conquer the peoj)le of Ku-
tha, was it not proof that the stronger god ■^^'as
behind their armies, and should not other peoples
also worship him ? But there were other motives
for conquest. There was the crying need for
bread — the most pressing need of all the ages. It

' Wiuckler, Untersuchungen, Leipzig, 1889, p. Go.

BABYLONIAN HISTORY TO FALL OF LARS A. 351

was natural that they who had the poorer parts
of the country should seek to acquire the better
portions either to dwell in or to exact tribute
from. The desire for power, a thoroughly human
impulse, was also joined to the other two influ-
ences at a very early date. Tlie ruler in Babylon
must needs conquer his nearest neighbor that he
may get himself power over men and a name
among them. Impelled by religion, by hunger,
and by ambition, the peoples of Babylonia, who
have dwelt apart in separate cities, begin to add
city to city, concentrating power in the hands of
kings. Herein lies the origin of the great empire
which must later dominate the whole earth, for
these little kingdoms thus formed later unite un-
der the headship of one kingdom and the empire
is founded.

At the very earliest period whose written records
have come down to us the name of Babylonia was
Kengi — that is, " land of canals and reeds." ' Even
then the waters of the river w^ere conveyed to the
fields and the cities in artificially constructed ca-
nals, while the most characteristic form of vegetable
life was the reed, growing in masses along the water
courses. More than four thousand five hundred
years before Christ there lived in this land of
Kengi a man who Avrites his name En-shag-kusli-
ana,'' who calls himself lord of Kengi. AVe know

' Hilprecht, Old Babylonian Inscriptions, i, part ii, p. 4*7, and p. 38, foot-
note 9.

^ The inscriptions of this king are publislied by Hilprecht, oj>. cit., Nos.
90-92. See further Ililpreclit's notes on p. 51.

352 HISTORY OF BABYLONIA AND ASSYRIA.

very little indeed of him, but it seems probable
that his small dominion contained several cities, of
which Erech was probably the capital, and Nippur
was certainly its chief religious center. Even at
this early time there was a temple at Nippur
dedicated to the great god En-lil, over which
there was set a chief servant of the god, who con-
trolled the temple worship, protected its sanctity
if necessary, and was accounted its ruler. The
title of this ruler of the temple, this chief priest,
wcLspatesh Naturally enough the man who held
such an important religious post often gained
political power. If the god whom he represented
was a god whose power had been shown in the
prosperity of his worshipers in war or in trade,
it was natural enough that neighboring cities
should come under his glorious protection, and that
his patesi should stand in the relation of governor
to them. Now En-shag-kush-ana was the patesi of
En-lil, and the honor of that god was in his keep-
ing. AVe do not know of what race he was. He may
have been Sumerian, he may have been a Semite,
or he may have been of mixed race, for that mix.
ture of blood had already begun is shown clearly
enough by contemporary monuments. But what-
ever his own blood was his people were Sumerians
and the civilization over which he ruled was likewise

' There has been a long dispute over the meaning of the word. See es-
pecially Winckler, Altorientalische Forschungen, vol. i, part iii, pp. 232, ff.;
Hilprecht, op. cit, p. 49, and especially footnote 1 ; Rost, Ifjitersuchungen,
p. 31, footnote 3 ; Jensen, Zeilschrift d. Deut. morgenl. Gesellschafty
xxxxviii, 254, ff. The view set forth above owes much to Hilprecht.

BABYLONIAN HISTORY TO FALL OF LARSA. 353

Sumerian. But even at this early time the Sume-
rian vitality was dying out, and the day was threaten-
ing when a new and more virile people would drive
the Sumerians out of their heritage and possess it in
their room. Some individuals of this race were
already settled in the Sumerian territory in the south,
and others of them already possessed the great north-
ern domain, which once had belonged to the Sume-
lians. Out of this period to which En-shag-kush-ana
belongs we hear several echoes of the conflict that
was already begun for the possession of all Baby-
lonia. To about this period there belongs a little
broken inscription written by another lord of Kengi,
who has been trying to reconquer part of northern
Babylonia which was already in the possession of
these new invaders. These invaders were Semites,
whose original home was probably Arabia, but who
were now for some time settled northwest of Baby-
lonia and probably in Mesopotamia. They coveted
the rich alluvial soil on which the Babylonians
were living as well as the fine cities which already
dotted it here and there. The Sumerians had prob-
ably once possessed this very land in which they
were now dwelling, but had been driven from it
by their resistless advance. It seems probable
that the city of Gishban was one of their earliest
possessions, and that to it they later added Kish,
which became the chief city of their growing
kingdom. While En-shag-kush-ana was lord over
the Sumerian kingdom in the south the kingdom
of Kish was threatening to overwhelm the whole

354 HISTORY OF BABYLONIA AND ASSYRIA.

of Babylonia. It was a successor of his, or per-
haps a predecessor, who attacked Enne-Uguu, the
king of Kish. Victory came to the Sumeriaus, and
the king, whose name is yet unknown, came home,
bearing with liim the spoil of the conquered Sem-
ite — " his statue, his shining silver, the utensils, his
property " ' — and set them up as an offering in the
sanctuary of the great god En-lil, who had given
him the victoiy. Well might the king of Kengi
boast of a victory which must for a time at least
stay the progress of the invading Semite.

It was, however, only a temporary reverse for
this people. The Semites had the fresh power of
a new race, and soon produced a leader able to
strike the one blow needed to destroy forever
the Sumerian commonwealth. There was a patesi
of Gishban, called Ukush, and it was his son
Lugalzaggisi who, when he had come to the rule
over Kish and Gishban, went down into southern
Babylonia and overwhelmed it. It was probably
easily accomplished, for the work of the Sumerians
was done. Yet theirs had been a noble career, and
the people who had invented a system of \\Titiug
that served their conquerors for thousands of years
were a people who had left a deep impress on the
world's history. About 4000 B. C. Lugalzaggisi
made Erech the capital of the now united Baby-
lonia, and Nippur readily became the chief center
of its religious life. The language of the Sumeri-
ans was used by their conqueror in which to cele-

' Hilprecht, Old Bab. Ins., vol. i, part ii, p. 50.

BABYLONIAN HISTORY TO FALL OF LARSA. 355

brate his conquest, and to their gods did lie give
thanks for his victories. It was they who had
called him to the rule over Keugi and appointed
unto him a still greater dominion. His words
glow with feeling as he says : " When En-lil, lord
of the lands, invested Lugalzaggisi with the king-
dom of the world, and granted him success befoi-e
the world, when he filled the land with his power,
(and) subdued the country from the rise of the
sun to the setting of the sun — at that time he
straightened his path from the lower sea of the
Tigris and Eu2:)hrates to the upper sea, and granted
him the dominion of everything (?) f I'om the rising
of the sun to the setting of the sun, and caused
the countries to dwell in peace." ' Lugalzaggisi
made a small empire at one stroke, and his boast-
ful inscription begins with a long list of titles :
" Lugalzaggisi, king of Erech, king of the world,
priest of Ana, hei'o of Nidaba, son of Ukush,
patesi of Gishban, hero of Nidaba, he \vho was
favorably looked upon by the faithful eye of Lu-
galkurkura (that is, En-lil), great j)atesi of En-lil." '
The power of his name extended even to the
shores of the Mediterranean, though, of course, he
did not attempt to rule over so vast a territory.

Lugalzaggisi was succeeded on the throne by
his son, Lugal-kisalsi," and it appeared for a time
as though the Sumeriau kingdom was blotted out

' Hieprecht , Old Bab. Ins., i, part ii, p. 53

2 Ibid., p. 52.

^Jbul, plate 42, text Xo. 89.

356 HISTORY OF BABYLONIA AND ASSYRIA.

forever, and that no more than peaceful absorption
into the Semitic life could await it. But a king-
dom slowly built up during the ages often makes
more than one effort to retain its life, and this was
to be the case with the Sumerian kingdom.

Perhaps while Lugal-kisalsi was still alive a
reaction began. The nucleus for it was found in
an ancient kingdom, the kingdom of Shirpurla,
whose chief city was Sungir,* in southern Baby-
lonia. Who had laid the foundations of either
city or kingdom is unknown to us. AVe come
upon them both in full power and dignity, about
4500 B. C. Urukagiua then is king of Shirpurla,
and he is engaged in the building and restoration
of temples and the construction of a canal to sup-
ply his city with water." But it is only a glimpse
that we catch of his operations in the far dis-
tant past, and then he disappears and for some
time, perhaps a generation or more, we hear noth-
ing of his city or kingdom. Then there appears
a new king in Sungir, Ur-Nina. Like Urukagiua,
he also was a builder of temples, for which he
brought timber all the way from Magan — the
Sinaitic peninsula. There is no mention in any
of his little inscriptions of war, and in his time

' Sungir (formerly read Gir-su) later becomes Sumer and gives its name
to the whole of southern Babylonia. It appears in Hebrew in the form
Shinar (^y;T23)) G^^- ^i-

' See translations of the inscriptions of Urukagina by Amiaud, Records of
the Past, new series, i, pp. 68, flf., and Jensen, Keilinschrift. Bib., iii, part
i, p. 10.

BABYLONIAN HISTORY TO FALL OF LARSA. 357

uninterrupted peace seems to have prevailed.'
He was succeeded by his son, Akurgal, none of
whose inscriptions have come down to us. After
him came his son, Eannatum," who felt sorely the
increasing pressure of the Semitic hordes, and
determined to strike a blow against Gishban and
its domination of Babylonia. The Sumerians won,
and the bloody battle remained long famous in
the annals of a dying people. Upon his return,
covered with honor, Eannatum set up in the temple
of his god Nin-Sungir a splendid stele' in com-
memoration of his victory. Upon one of its white
limestone faces stand two goddesses, before whom
lies a great heap of weapons and of booty taken
from the Semites. Above them is the totem, or
coat of arms of the city — a double-headed eagle
above two demi-lions placed back to back. On
the other side of the stele is Eannatum standins^
upright in his war chariot, with a great spear in

' The inscriptions of Ur-Nina are published in Heuzey-Sarzec, Decouveries
en C'haldee, pi. 1, No. 2; pi. 2, Nos. 1, 2; pi. 31. They are well translated
by Amiaud {Records of the Fast, new series, vol. i, pp. 64-66) and by Jen-
sen, Keilinschrift. Bibl., iii, part i, pp. 11-15.

"^ The name was originally read Edingiranagin. See now Hilprecht, Old
Bab. Jus., vol. i, part ii, p. 42, note 1, and Zeitschri/t fur Assyriologie, xi,
p. 330, note 2. Thureau-Dangin, Revue d'' Assyriologie, iv, 70, note 6.

^ This is the well-known stele of the Vultures, now in the Louvre. Most
of our knowledge of it is due to Heuzey, who has given much time to its
study. It has been the subject of some controversy, but Heuzey has been
for the most part vindicated. See Heuzey, Etudes d' Archceologie Orientale,
i, pp. 49-82, and ComptesRendus de P Acadhnie des Inscriptions, 1892, vol.
XX, pp. 262-274, and Decoiivertes en Chaldee, pi. 3, 4. The whole monu-
ment is well described by Maspero, Dawn of Civilization, pp. 606, ff.,
and by Hilprecht, Recent Research in Bible Lands (Philadelphia, 1897),
pp. 76, ff.

358 HISTORY OF BABYLONIA AND ASSYRIA.

his hand, followed by his troops and charging
upon the enemy. The plain is covered with the
bodies of his enemies, and vultures fight with each
other and devour the mangled heads, legs, and
arms of the defeated enemy. Rude though it un-
doubtedly is, yet the execution bears witness to
high civilization, for such execution could only be
the result of long practice in the plastic art. By
this one stroke Eannatum had freed Ur and Uruk
from the Semitic invader and had imparted a
fresh lease of life to the almost expiring Sumerian
commonwealth. The new energy of victory was
shown at once. Elam was invaded and Sumerian
supremacy almost entirely reestablished over the
whole of Babylonia and its tributary lands. The
simple records of his deeds makes Eannatum one
of the greatest conquerors of the far distant past.
He was succeeded by his brother, En-anna-tuma I,
and he by his son, Entemena, who has left us a
beautiful silver vase with a brief inscription as
well as fragments of vases which he presented to
the great god En-lil at Nippur. After him came
his son, En-anna-tuma II, who remains up to this
time but a shadowy personality before us. With
him we lose sight of the little kingdom of Shirpurla
for a considerable period, and all our interest is
transferred again to Semitic kingdoms in the north.
At about 3800 B. C. we catch a glimpse of an-
other conqueror in Babylonia. At Nippur ' there

' By the expedition of the University of Pennsylvania (see Hilprecht, Old
B'(h. J)is., i, part i, p. 10).

BABYLONIAN HISTOKY TO FALL OF LARSA. 359

have been found sixty-one fi'agments of vases bear-
ing the name of the king Alusharshid.' From the
fragments of these vases a complete inscription
has been made out, which reads : " Alusharshid,
king of the world, presented (it) to Bel from the
spoil of Elam when he had subjugated Elam and
Bara'se." This inscription makes known the im-
portant fact that a king, living probably at Kish,
had conquered part of the land of Elam and the
unknown land of Bara'se (or Para'se), from which
he brought back fine marble vases and dedicated
them to the gods of Babylonia. It is significant
that these vases are dedicated to gods at Nippur
and Sippar," for in this we find indications of a
kingdom which included northern Babylonia, Nip-
pur, Sippar, and extended its influence even over
the land of Elam. And with these few faint rays
of light from the north and its kingdom darkness
again closes in upon early Babylonia.

Once more, at about the same period, do we get
sight of a bright light in the gray dawn of his-
tory, and this time it is not from Babylonia, but
from Guti, the mountain country of Kurdistan,
from which the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers came
down to Assyria and Babylonia. Here reigned a

' The signs with which the name is written are Urc-mu-ush, the reading
of them as Alusharshid as well as the translation of the inscription belongs
to Hilprecht {op. cit., p. 20).

^ Inscriptions of Alusharshid have also been found in Sippar {Academy,
September 5, 1891, p. 199, P. S. (see Hilprecht, op. cit, p. 21), and still
others are in the possession of the British Museum, Cuneiform Texts from
Babylonian Tablets, etc.,in the British 3Ttiseimi, part vii, London, 1899, Xos.
12.161, 12,162.

360 HISTORY OP BABYLONIA AND ASSYRIA.

king whose words are thus read: "Lasirab (?)
the mighty king of Guti, . . . has made and pre-
sented (it.) Whoever removes this inscribed stone
and writes (the mention of) his name thereupon
his foundation may Guti, Ninna, and Sin tear up,
and exterminate his seed, and may whatsoever he
undertakes not prosper." ' In itself brief and un-
important, this little text introduces us to another
land under Semitic influences at a very early
period.

Manishtusu," another king of the same period,
has left us a mace head and a stele as memorials
of his sovereignty, yet we have few clews to his
personality.

Far away also from northern Babylonia, in the
mountain country of the northeast, there existed
at about this same period another Semitic king-
dom, of which Anu-banini was king. His was the
kingdom of Lulubi, and he a Semitic ruler. At
Ser-i-Pul, on the borderland between Kurdistan
and Turkey, his carved image has been found
with an inscription calling down curses on whom-
soever should disturb " these images and this in-
scribed stone." '

' The credit of publishing the text of the inscription here referred to be-
longs to Winckler {Zeitschrift fur Assyriologie, iv, p. 406), but he misunder-
stood and wrongly dated it at about 1600 B. C. {Geschichte, p. 82). Hil-
precht correctly translated and located it on palseographical evidence
{Old Bab. Jnscrip., i, part i, pp. 12, 13).

- Altbahylonische Keilschrifttexte, von Hugo Winckler, Leipzig, 1892, No.
eT, p. 22.

3 The inscription was found February 28, 1891, by J. de Morgan, and is
published by Scheil (Reaieil de Travonx relatifs a la Phil, et Archeohl.

BABYLONIAN HISTORY TO FALL OF LARSA. 361

Here, then, are several signs of Semitic power
and culture in northern Babylonia and its neigli-
boring lands. Some one of these centers of influ-
ence might become the center of a great kingdom
that should again attack the Sumerians in the
south. But this was reserved for a city whicli had
up to this time produced no great conqueror. Out
of the city of Agade came a man of Semitic stock
great enough to essay and accomplish the task of
ending finally the political influence of the Sume-
rians. His name is Shargani-shar-ali, but he is also
called Shargina, and is best known to us as Sargon
I. Most of that which is told of him comes to us
in a legendary text — hardly the place to which one
M^ould commonly go for sober history. But a little
sifting of this source speedily , reveals its historic

Egypt, et Ass., vol. xiv, liv. 1 & 2, pp. 100, ff.). See also Hilprecht, Old
Bab. Insc, vol. i, part i, p. 14, and Hommel, Proceedings of the Society of
Bib. Archceology, xxi, pp. 115, 116. The inscription had, however, been
known long before it was seen by De Morgan. Sir Henry Rawlinson knew
it, and, indeed, correctly understood it, save only that he made a slight
error in reading the name. This anticipation of later work by the great
explorer and decipherer is made plain in the following words extracted
from an unpublished letter written under date of September lY, 1880, by
Rawlinson to Professor Sayce : " Many thanks for your references, which I
believe, however, were all duly entered in my notebooks. I am afraid we
don't take quite the same view of the Geography of the Inscriptions. My
own idea is that, at any rate until the time of Sargon, the Assyrians hardly
penetrated beyond the outer range of the Perhim plateau. I think I can
trace all the early campaigns (and can identify many of the names) along
the western side of the great range from Sulimanieh to Susa. Instead of
Nizir being at Alwend I place it at Bend-i-Nuh, Noah's ridge, the culminat-
ing range of Zagros. The inscription at Sir Pul belongs to Kannubanini;
king of the Lulubini, thus fixing their locality and showing them to be
identical with the modern Luri or Luli."
2n

362 HISTOEY OF BABYLONIAN AND ASSYRIA.

basis. The text,' two mutilated copies of which
are in existence, belongs to a much later date than
that of the king himself. It was probably written
in the eighth century B. C, and purports to be a
copy of an inscription which was found upon a
statue of the great king. The story begins in this
way: "Shargina, the powerful king, the king of
Agade am I. My mother was poor, my father I
knew not ; the brother of my father lived in the
mountains. My town was Azupirani, which is
situated on the bank of the Euphrates. My
mother, who was poor, conceived me and secretly
gave birth to me ; she placed me in a basket of
reeds, she shut up the mouth of it with bitumen,
she abandoned me to the river, which did not over-
whelm me. The river bore me away and brought
me to Akki, the irrigator. Akki, the irrigator, re-
ceived me in the goodness of his heart. Akki, the
irrigator, reared me to boyhood. Akki, the irri-
gator made me a gardener. My service as a gar-
dener was pleasing unto Ishtar and I became king,
and during . . . -four years held royal sway. I
commanded the blackheaded people and ruled
them." In the fragmentary lines which follow
the king mentions some of the important places
conquered in his reign, and among them names
Dur-il and Dilmun, the latter an island in the Per-

' Published III R. 4, No. 7. It has been frequently translated, for ex-
ample, by George Smith, Tramactions of the Society of Bib. Arch., i, pp. 46,
47; by Fox Talbot, Records of the Past, first series, vol. v, pp. 1, ff. ; by
Delitzseh, Paradies, pp. 208, 209 ; and by Wiuckler, Keiliiischrift. Bibl.,
iii, 1, pp. 100-103.

BABYLONIAN HISTORY TO FALL OF LARSA. 363

sian Gulf. Uuhappily this account does not enable
ns to construct a very clear idea of his campaigns,
and we are forced to fall back upon a source which
at first sight seems even less likely to contain ver-
itable historical material than the legendary tab-
let which we have just cited. This is an astro-
logical tablet ' in which the writer tries to prove
by historical examples that portents are valuable
as indicating the issue of some campaign. Each
campaign was preceded by some portent, and after
it is told the writer explains that Sargon invaded
Elam and conquered the Elamites, or that he
marched into the west and mastered the four
quarters of the world ; or that he overcame an up.
rising of his own subjects in Agade. The fact that
these details occur in an astrological text makes
one wary of placing much reliance upon them. On
the other hand, they are perfectly reasonable in
themselves, and we should accept them at once
from any other inscription.

It has been maintained by some that Shargiua,
or Sargon, and his great deeds are purely legend-
ary,' and by others that his deeds have been
simply projected backward ' from some later king^

' First published by George Smith in Transactions of the Society of Bih-
l(cal.Arch(eology, i, pp. 47-51, and IV R, 34. See partial translations by
Hommel (Gesehichte, pp. 304-306) and Winckler {Keilinschrift. Bib!., iii,
part i, pp. 102-107). The text is republished in IV Rawlinson, second
edition, plate 34.

" So, for example, Winckler, Gesehichte Bab. und Assyrieiis, p. 38.

^Hommel supposed the existence of another king Sargon, whom he
located about 2000 B. C, whose conquests he believed were ascribed to
the earlier king {Gesehichte, Berlin, 1885, p. 307, note 4). He has, how-

364 HISTORY OF BABYLONIA AND ASSYRIA.

and have therefore no historical value. There is,
however, no valid reason for doubting the main
facts concerning the king's achievements. That
he actually existed is placed beyond all doubt by
the discovery of several of his own inscriptions.'
One of these reads thus : " Shargani-shar-ali, son
of Itti-Bel, the mighty king of Agade and of the
... of Bel, builder of Ekur, temple of Bel in
Nippur,"'' and so bears witness not only to his
historical existence, but also to his work as a
builder. Of that tangible evidence has been
found at Nippur. Far down in the mound is
found the remains of a "pavement consisting of
two courses of burned bricks of uniform size and
mold. Each brick measures about fifty centimeters
square and is eight centimeters thick." ' Most of
the bricks in this pavement are stamped, and a num-
ber of them contain the inscription of Shargani-
shar-ali, who is thus shown to have laid down this
massive construction, in which later his son also
participated. No good reason for doubting that
he was a great conqueror, east, south, and west,
has been brought forward. On the other hand,
when these same omen tablets refer to his son and

ever, since accepted the historical character of this king (art. " Babylonia,"
Diet, of the Bible, Hastings, i, p. 225, art. " The Oldest History of the
Semites," Expository Times, December, 1896, vol. viii, pp. 103, ff.). Mas-
pero believes that it is Sargon 11 (722-705 B. C), who is projected back-
ward [Daivn of Civilization, Eng. trans.. New York, 1885, p. 599).

' Published by Winckler, Althahylonische Keilschrifttexte, p. 22, and
by Hilprecht, Old Babyl. Im., vol. i, part i, plates 1-3.

' Hilprecht, Old Babyl. Lis., vol. i, part i, p. 15.

" Op. cit., vol. i, part ii, p. 19.

BABYLONIAN HISTORY TO FALL OF LARSA. 365

successor they can be tested by texts of the king
referred to, and prove to be worthy of credence.
The allusions to these expeditions show that they
were raids intended to gain plunder with which to
increase the wealth and beauty of his home cities.
It is not to be supposed that he succeeded in ex-
tending his dominion over lands so distant as
northern Syria, but that the securing of great cedar
beams from the Lebanon was the chief object of
that expedition. A use for these cedar beams was
soon found in buildings. The great temple of
Ekur to the god Bel in Nippur and the temple of
Eulbar to the goddess Anunit in Agade were
built by him.' Other allusions to buildings erected
by him are also to be found in later inscriptions.
In warlike prowess he was the model for an Assyr-
ian king who .bore his name centuries later; in
building skill he was emulated by a long line of
Babylonian kings even unto Nabonidus, who
sought diligently to find the foundation stones
which he had laid. In the omen tablet there is
evidence of credulous faith in the signs of heaven,
but that is surely no reason for doubting all that
is told therein of Sargon. A lonesome figure he
is, in the dull gray dawn of human history, stalking
across the scene, bringing other men to reverence
the name of Ishtar, and making his own personal-
ity dreaded.

Sargon was succeeded by his son, Naram-Sin

' I R., 69, col. ii, line 29 {Keilimchrift. Bibl., iii, 2, pp. 84, 85, tr. by
Peisei).

3G6 HISTORY OF BABYLONIA AND ASSYRIA.

(about B. C. 3750), who seems to bave maintaiued
in large degree the glory of liis father's reigii.
The records of his reigii are fragmentary, but
every little piece bears witness to its importance.
He is asserted to have invaded the city of Apirak,
and to have carried the people into slavery after
he had killed their king, Eish-Adad.* His chief
warlike expedition known to us was into the
land of Magan," which appears to lie in Arabia,
near the Peninsula of Sinai. But he was still
more famous as a builder, for he rebuilt temples
in Nippur 'and in Agade, and erected at his OAvn
cost the temple to the sun god in Sippar.' Be-
sides these temples this great king laid the foun-
dations and erected the enormous outer wall of
Nippur — the great wall Nimit-Marduk. He first
dug for his foundations about five meters below the
level of the ground down to the solid clay. Upon
this he "built of worked clay mixed with cut
straw and laid up en masse with roughly sloping or
battered sides to a total height of about 5.5 meters.
Upon the top of this large base, which is about
13.75 meters wide, a wall of the same enormous

• This fact comes from the astrological tablet, discussed above under
Sargon, col. ii, lines 12-14.

'^ Ibid., lines 15-16. Comp. I R. 3, No. 7 (on an object brought from
Magan).

3 Brick stamps of this king have been found at Nippur bearing the
legend, "Naram-Sin, builder of the temple of Bel." Hilprecht, Old
Babylonia Ins., i, part i, p. 18.

■• V R., p. 64, col. ii, lines 57-60 (trans, by Peiser in Keilinschrift. Bib.,
iii, part ii, p. 105.

BABYLONIAN HISTORY TO FALL OF LARSA. 367

■width " ' was raised. The bricks were "dark gray
in color, firm iu texture, and of regular form. In
quality they are unsurpassed by the work of any
later king.'" Each of these bricks bore the
stamped name and titles of the king. A king
who could and did construct such massive fortifi-
cations must have possessed a kingdom of great
political importance, of w^hose extent, however, it is
now impossible to form a very clear idea. His
chief city, or at least his original home city, was
Afifade, but he calls himself Kino^ of the Four
Quarters of the World, in token of the world-
wide dominion which he deemed himself to have
attained. It is small wonder that a king who
had thus won honor among men as a builder of
mighty works and an organizer of a great king-
dom should be deified ' by his followers and wor-
shiped as a creator. Nothing is known of the
successors of Naram-Sin except of his son, Bingani-
shar-ali. The kingdom of Sargon and his son
vanishes from our view as rapidly as it came,
leaving not even a trace of its effects.

Sargon I had had as one of his vassals Lugal-

' Hilprecht, Old Bab., Inst., vol. i, part ii, p. 20.

^ This is the judgment of Haynes, who dug down this wall. See Hil-
precht, op. cit., p. 21.

3 Cesnola found at Curium in Cyprus a seal with this inscription, " Apal-
Ishtar (?) son of Ilu-bana, servant of the god Naram-Sin " (see Tomkins,
Abraham and His Age, London, 1897, plate x, and p. xxviii). This
would seem to show that Naram-Sin had been deified. See also M.
Thureau Dangin (in Rev^ie d'Assyriologie, vol. iv. No. iii, p. 76), who quotes
the legend, "The god Naram-Sin, god of Agade, Sharru-Ishdagal, the
scribe, thy servant."

368 HISTOEY OF BABYLONIA AND ASSYRIA.

ushumgal,' patesi of Shirpurla, and it seems quite
probable that after the end of the dynasty of Sar-
gon and Naram-Sin the hegemony returned to
the famous old city which had once stood at the
head in the earlier day of the entire Sumerian
domination. Whether that be the case or not,
when we next get a clear view of Babylonia, long
after the days of the kings of Agade, it is Shir-
purla that we find in the chief place. Of the
patesis of Shirpui'la at this early date two are
known to us as men of power and distinction,
Ur-Bau (about 3200 B. C.) and Gudea (about 3000
B. C). We possess a long inscription of the for-
mei', containing six columns,* engraved upon the
back of a small statue of the king, which has
been wrought with considerable skill out of dark
green diorite. Like other inscriptions of the same
period, it contains but little material for historical
purposes. There is no word of battle and war ;
all is peace serene in these ancient texts. It is
not, however, to be supposed that the lot of these
kingdoms was thus happy. It must always be
remembered that even unto the end the kings of
Babylonia did not write accounts of their wars.
From other sources we know well that Nebuchad-

' Heuzey, Comptes Rendus de V Acadlmle des htscriptious et belles-lettres
(seance du 28 aout, 1896).

' Published by Heuzey in De Sarzec, Decouvertes en Chaldee, plates 7, 8,
copied and translated by Amiaud, in the same work. See also Y. Le Gac
in Zeitschrift fur Assyriologie, vii, pp. 125, ff., and Jensen, Keil. Bib., iii,
part i, pp. 19, ff. Revue d'' Assyriologie et d^Archeologie Orient ale, ii, pp^
124-135, and iii, pp. 42-48.

BABYLONIAN HISTORY TO FALL OF LARSA. 369

rezzar was a great soldier, but iu only a single one
of his own inscriptions does he speak of aught else
but building of palaces and temples and dedica-
tions to the gods. Ur-Bau had, doutless, his fair
share of the tumults of a very disturbed age.

The inscriptions of Gudea are similar to tliose
of Ur-Bau in their subjects, but they give us inci-
dentally a glimpse into a wider field. Ur-Bau
was succeeded on tbe throne by Namraagliani, his
son-in-law, who was, perhaps, followed by Ur-nin-
gal, and then comes a break in the list to be filled
by one or more kings yet unknown to us. After
this lacuna comes the mighty Gudea, a king great
enough to prove that even yet the Sumerian factor
could not be eliminated from the world's history.
Like Ur-Bau, he was a great builder, and of his
Avondeiful work his inscriptions are full. In
the building of his temples Gudea was directed
by a divine vision. The goddess Nina appeared
to him in a dream and showed him the complete
model of a building * which he should erect in her
honor. In the execution of this plan he brought
from Magan (northeastern Arabia) the beautiful
hard dolerite out of which his statues were carved.
From the land of Melukhkha (northwestern Arabia
and the Peninsula of Sinai) were brought gold and

' Gudea A, published by Amiaud in De Sarzec, Becouvertes, etc., p. iv,
plates 20 and 13, and page 134. The credit of first explaining the exceed-
ingly difficult expressions in this text which refer to the dream belongs to
Zimmern {^Traumgestcht Oudea's, in Zeitsehrift fur Assyrlahffie, iii, pp.
232-235). See now Price, The Great Cylinder Inscriptions of Gudea, part
1. Leipzig, 1899.

S70 HISTORY OF BABYLONIA AND ASSYRIA.

precious stones. These lands were not far from
his own, but it is more surprising to read that he
brought from Mount Amanus, in northwestern Sjt-
ia, great beams of cedar, and in other neighboring
mountains quarried massive stones for his temples.
All these facts throw a bright light upon the civili-
zation of his day. That was no ordinary civiliza-
tion which could achieve work requiring such skill
and power as the quarrying or the cutting of
these materials and the transportation of them over
such distances. A long period for its develop-
ment must be assumed. Centuries only and not
merely decades would suffice as the period of
preparation for such accomplishments. But it is
also to be observed that the securing of these ma-
terials must have involved the use of armed force.
The sturdy inhabitants of the Amanus would not
probably yield up their timber without a struggle.
One little indication there is of Gudea's prow-
ess in arms, for he conquered the district of
Anshan, in Elam.' This single allusion to conquest
is instructive, for it was probably only representa-
tive of other conquests by the same builder and
warrior. But in spite of this inference the general
impression made by his reign is one of peace, of
progress in civilization, of splendid ceremonial in
the worship of the gods, and of the progi-ess of the
art of writing:. As a warrior he is not to be com-
pared with Sargon of Agade ; as an exponent of

' Gudea B, col. vi, 64-66. Comp. Jensen, Keilinschrift. Bibl, iii, part
1, p. 38, note 9.

BABYLONIAN HISTORY TO FALL OF LARS A. 371

civilization he far surpasses him. The successor
of Gudea was Urniugirsu, hiraself followed after
an interval by Akurgal II, Lukani, and Ghalala-
ma.' But these later patesis were no longer free
to do their own will as Gudea had been. With hin?
had again passed away the independence of the
ancient kingdom of Shirpurla.

The civilization of Shirpurla was, as we have
seen, a high one. From the indications which we
possess at present it would seem a far higher civ-
ilization than that of Agade, which had ovei'come
it for a time. But it was not a Semitic civiliza-
tion. All these inscriptions of the kings and of
the ])atesis of Shirpurla are written in the Sume-
rian and not in a Semitic language. This also
would seem to point to the conclusion that the
Semites entered Babylonia from the north and not
from the south.

From Shirpurla the power passed to Ur," a
city admirably situated to achieve commercial
and historical importance. The river Euphrates
flowed just past its gates, affording easy transpor-
tation for stone and wood from its upper waters, to
which the Lebanon, rich in cedars, and the Ama-
nus were readily accessible. The wady Rummein

' Lukani and Ghalalama are known to us from an inscription of the lat-
ter upon a fragment of a statue now in the Louvre. See Heuzey, Remie
Archeologique, 1886, pi. vii, No. 1., and also in De Sarzec, Deconvertes, pi.
21, No. 4 ; Jensen, Keilhischrift. Bibl., iii, part 1, pp. 70, 71.

* The ruins of Ur, now called Mugheir, have long been known. Thev
were first explored by Taylor and Loftus. The early references to TJr and
its commerce have been collected by Hommel {Die Semitischen Volker u.
Sprachen, pp. 204-211, and Oeschichte, pp. 212-218, 325-329).

372 HISTOEY OF BABYLONIA AND ASSYRIA.

came close to the city and linked it with central
and southern Arabia, and along that road came
gold and precious stones, and gums and perfumes
to be converted into incense for temple worship.
Another road went across the very desert itself,
and, provided with wells of water, conducted trade
to southern Syria, the Peninsula of Sinai, and across
into Africa. This was the shortest road to Africa,
and commerce between Ur and Egypt passed over
its more difficult but much shorter route than the
one by way of Haran and Palestine. Nearly op-
posite the city the Shatt-el-Hai emptied into the
Euphrates, and so afforded a passage for boats into
the Tigris, thus opening to the commerce of Ur
the vast country tributary to that river. Here,
then, were roads and rivers leading to the north,
east, and west, but there was also a great outlet to
the southward. The Euphrates made access to the
Persian Gulf easy. No city lay south of Ur on
that river except Eridu, and Eridu was no compet-
itor in the world of commerce, for it was devoted
only to temples and gods — a city given up to religion.
In a city so favorably located as Ur the devel-
opment of political as well as commercial superi-
oi'ity seems perfectly natural. Even before the
days of Sargon the city of Ur had an existence
and a government of its own. To that early pe-
riod belong the rudely written vases of serpentine
and of stalagmite which bear the name and titles
of Lugal-kigub-nidudu ' (about 3900 B. C), king

' Published by Hilprecht, Old Bab. Ins., vol. i, part ii, No. 86.

BABYLONIAN HISTORY TO FALL OF LARSA. 373

of Erech, king of Ur. We know nothing of his
work in the upbuilding of the city, nor of that of
his son and successor, Lugal-kisalsi. They are but
empty names until further discovery shall add to
the store of their inscribed remains. After their
work was done the city of Ur was absorbed no\v
into one and now into another of the kingdoms,
both small and great, which held sway over south-
ern Babylonia.

About a thousand years after this period the city
of Ur again seized a commanding position through
the efforts especially of two kings, Ur-Gur' and
Dungi. The former has left many evidences of his
power as well in inscriptions as in buildings. Most
probably by conquest Ur-Gur welded into one polit-
ical whole the entire land of northern and southern
Babylonia, and assumed a title never borne before
his day. He calls himself king of Sumer and
Accad. In that title he joined together two
words each of which contained a history extend-
ing far back into the past. The word Sumer, de-
rived from Sungir, as we have already seen,' stood
for the ancient Sumerian civilization, while Accad
had come from Agade,' the city that was once the

' The reading of the name of this king has long been a bone of conten-
tion. It has been read Urukh, Urkham, Orkham, Urbagas, Urbabi, Lik-
babi, Amilapsi, Urea, Likbagas, Urban, etc. Recently the form Ur-Gur
has seemed likely to prevail. Inscriptions of this king are published I R.
1, and translated by Winckler, KeUhischrift. BlbL, iii, part i, pp. TV, ff.

2 See above, p. 205.

2 The identification rests in the beginning upon a statement of George
Smith : " I have only recently discovered the identity of Akkad with the
capital of Sargon " {Assyrian Discoveries, p. 225), based on the finding of

374 HISTORY OF BABYLONIA AND ASSYRIA.

leader in the new Semitic movement which was
to supersede it. In this new kingdom we may see
the first clear move made toward the formation of
the great empire that was to come later.

All over this kingdom which he had thus
foi'med did Ur-Gur build great structures for pro-
tection, for civil use, or for the worship of the
gods. In his own chief city of Ur he built the
great temple to the moon god ; in the city of Erech
he erected a temple to the goddess Nina. At Larsa
also there are found unmistakable evidences that
it was he who built there the shrine of the sun
god. When these cities are dug up in a systematic
fashion we shall be able to obtain some conception
of his activity in this matter. At present we are
able to form a more complete picture of his works
in Nippur than in Ur. In Nij^pur he built a great
ziggurat, or pyramidal tower, whose base was a
"right-angled parallelogram nearly fifty-nine metei*s
long and thirty-nine meters wide. Its two longest
sides faced northwest and southeast respectively,
and the four corners pointed approximately to the
four cardinal points. Three of these stages have
been traced and exposed. It is scarcely possible
that formerly other stages existed above. The
lowest story was about six and a third meters high,
while the second (receding a little over four metei's

Agade in a Sumerian text with the interlineal transcription Accad in As-
syrian. Comp. Delitzsch, Paradies, p. 198, and Hilprecht, Old Babylonian
Jtiscrip., i, part ii, p. 58. On the other hand, Tiele, {Geschichte, p. 76)..
and Lehmann (Shamashshumukin, p. 73) argue against the view.

BABYLONIAN HISTORY TO FALL OF LARSA. 375

from the edge of the former) and the third are so
utterly ruined that the original dimensions can no
more be given. The whole ziggurat appears like
an immense altar." ' The defensive walls of Ur
were also built by Ur-Gur, who seemed to be
building for all time. Of his wars and conquests
we hear no word, but, as has been said before in
a similar instance, it is not probable that his reign
was thus peaceful. It was probably built by the
sword, and to the sword must be the appeal per-
haps in frequent instances.

Ur-Gur was succeeded by his son, Dungi,* who
was also indefatigable in building operations. He
completed the temple of the moon god in Ur, and
built, also, in Erech, Shirpurla, and Kutha. These
two names of Ur-Gur and Duugi are all that re-
main of what was perhaps a considerable dynasty in
Ur. Their buildings and their titles would seem
to indicate that they held at least nominal sway over
a considerable part of Babylonia. It is probable,
however, that they were contented with the regular
receipt of tribute, and did not attempt to control
all the life of the cities subject to them. Each of
these cities had its own local ruler, who submitted
to the superior force of a great king, who was to
him a sort of suzerain, but on the least show of
weakness any one of these rulers was ready to set
up his own independence, and, if he were strong

' Hilprecht, Old Bab. Ins., vol. i, part ii, pp. 17, 18.
^ The inscriptions of Dungi are published I R. 2, and translated by
Winckler, Kesilinschrift. £ibl., iii, part i, pp. 81, ff.

376 HISTORY OF BABYLONIA AND ASSYRIA.

enough compel also his neighbors to accept him
as suzerain. When the dynasty of Ur-Gur and
Dungi \vas no longer able to maintain its position
in Babylonia there were not wanting men strong
enough to seize it.

After some time, when we again are able, by
the means of monumental material, to see the po-
litical life of Babylonia we find that the supremacy
has passed into the hands of the city of Isin. The
kings of Isin whose names have comedown to us are
Ishbigarra,' Ur-Ninib/ Libit Ishtar,' Bur Sin I,'
and Ishme-Dagan,' who ruled about 2500 B. C.
The chief title used by them is king of Isin, but
some of them use the greater title, king of Sumer
and Accad. All of them use the names of other
cities in addition to that of Isin, such as Nippur,
Ur, Eridu, and Erech. Their inscriptions give no
hint of the life of these cities or of the never-end-
ing struggles for supremacy that must have been
going on. To their titles they add only an occa-
sional allusion to building or to restoration. Ishme-
Dagan is the last man of this dynasty to bear the
title of king of Sumer and Accad ; his sou, En-
annatuma,* acknowledges his dependence upon a

J IV R. 35, 7, line 9.

^ The name used to be read Gamil-Ninib (Hilprecht, Old Bab. Ins., i,
part i, p. 27) ; for his inscriptions comp. also IV R. 35, 5 {Keilinschrift.
Blbl., iii, part i, p. 85).

^ The name is also read Libit- Anunit (Hilprecht, Old Bah. Lis., i, part i,
p. 27. Comp. also I R. 3, No. xviii [Keilinschrift. Bibl., iii., part i, p. 87).

■^ Hilprecht, op. cit., p. 27.

* I R. 2, No, 5, 1 and 2 {Keilinschrift. Bibl., iii, part i, p. 87).

^ I R. No. 6, sub. 1 and 2 {Keilimchrift. Bibl., iii, part i, p. 87).

BABYLONIAN HISTORY TO FALL OF LARSA. 377

king of II r wlio begins a new dynasty in that
famous old city.

The third dynasty of Ur consists of Dungi II,
Gungunii, Bur Sin II, Gamil Sin, and Ine-Siu/
They began to reign about 2400 B. C. as kings of
Ur, and to that add the curious title '* King of
the Four Quarters (of the world)." Where was
the Kingdom of the Four Quarters of the World,
and why do the kings use such a title ? It ap-
pears much earlier in an inscription of Naram-Sin,
and is applied also to Sargon after his three cam-
paigns in the west, while an inscription of Dungi
bears the same curious legend. Again and again
in later centuries is the title borne by kings of
Babylonia and Assyria. It has been thought to
be the name of some kingdom with a definite geo-
graphical location and a capital city. It has been
located at several places in northern Babylonia,
but without satisfactory reason. The title is
rather the claim to a sort of world-wide dominion.
Well indeed might Sargon use it after he had
made expeditions into the west and laid the whole
civilized world tributary at his feet. The use of
the title by these kings may also imply some
successful raids in the far west." If there were
any such, no account of them has come down to us.

' On the inscriptions of these kings see Hilprecht, Old. Bab. Ins., i,
part i, p. 27, and comi>a.Te Keilinschrifl. Bibl., iii, part i, pp. 87-91. See also
Sayce, Proceedings of the Society of Bib. Arch., vol. xxi, pp. 19, ff. F.
Thureau-Dangin, Bevue Semitique, 1897, pp. 72, fF.

' On this title, King of the Four Quarters (shar kibrat irbitti), see espe-
cially Lehmann, Beitrdge zu Assyriologie, ii, p. 618; Hilprecht, Old Bab.
Inx., vol. i, part i, p. 25.
2G

378 HISTORY OF BABYLONIA AND ASSYRIA.

Besides the usual records of their building we
have from this dynasty only hundreds of contract
tablets, now scattered in museums nearly all over
the world. These tablets, uninteresting in them-
selves, are yet the witnesses of an extraordinary
development in commercial lines. The land of
Babylonia was waxing rich and laying the
foundations for great power in the world of
trade when its political supremacy was ended.
The end of the dynasty, and with it the end of
the dominion of Ur, is clouded in the mists of the
past.

At about this same period there was also in ex-
istence a small kingdom called the kingdom of
Amnanu,' with its chief city Erech. The names
of three of its sovereigns have come down to us
upon brief inscriptions,' the chiefest of them be-
ing apparently Sin-gashid. Unlike the kingdoms
founded in Ur and in other cities, this kingdom of
Amnanu seems to have exerted but small influ-
ence upon the historical development of the coun-
try. The name of the kingdom disappears, and
is attached to no later king until it is suddenly
used again by Shamashshumukin (667-647 B. C.),*
but apparently without any special significance,*
and rather as a reminiscence of ancient days.

' Comp. Winckler, AUorientalische Forschungen, i, pp. 231, 232.

'I R. 2, No. viii, 1, 2. IV R. 35, 3, Brit. Mus., 82, 1-U, 181, copied
by Peiser. All these are translated by Winckler, Keilinschrift. £ibl., iii,
part i, pp. 82-85.

' V R. 62, No. 2, line 2. Comp. Lehmann, Shamasshshumukin, ii Theil,
Tafel i and ii.

* See Winckler as above and comp. Lehmann, op. cit., i Theil, p. 75.

BABYLONIAN HISTORY TO FALL OF LARSA. 379

After Ur, in the progress of the development of
empire in Babylonia, came the dominion unto
Larsa, the modern Senkereh, on the bank of the
canal Shatt-en-Nil. The names of two of the
chief kings of this dynasty are Nur-Adad' and
his son, Sin-iddin/ but the order in which they
stand is still uncertain. Both of these kings built
in Ur, and Sin-iddin also founded a temple to the
sun god in Larsa, and dug a new canal be-
tween the Tigris and the Shatt-en-Nil. This work
of canal building, which became so important and
so highly prized in the later history, begins there-
fore at this early period. The king who built
canals saved the land from flood in the spring
and from drought in the summer and was a real
public benefactor. The names of the other kings
who ruled in Larsa and had dominion in Babylonia
at this time are either w^holly unknown to us or
are exceedingly difficult to place in correct order.

The times were sorely disturbed and it is easy
to understand why the Babylonian records are in
such disorder as to make it difficult to understand
the exact order of events. At this time a new
factor in Babylonian history was making itself
felt. Babylonia had long been the battle ground
between the ancient Sumerians and the Semites.
The day had now come when a new people ,the

1 His inscriptions are published, I R. 2, No. iv, and translated by
Winckler, Keilinschrift. Bibl, iii, part i, p. 91,

' Inscriptions of this are published, I R. 5, Xo. xx {Keilmschriji. Bibl,
iii, part i, pp. 92, 93), and by Delitzseh in Beitrage zur Axsyrlologie,
pp. 301, ff. (see also Keilinschrift. Bill., iii, part i, pp. 90, 91).

380 HISTORY OF BABYLONIA AND ASSYRIA.

Elamites, must enter the lists for the posses-
sion of the deeply coveted valley. The rulers of
Elam appear to have made many attempts to get
a hold upon parts of Babylonia. One of them was
Eim-Anum/ who actually did get control at about
this time of some parts of the country, and was re-
ferred to in business documents as Kim-Anum the
king. As no historical texts have come down to
us from his reign, it is impossible to say how long he
ruled or what influence he had upon the country.

To this same period of Elamite invasions be-
longs Kudur-Nankhundi,* who made a raid into
Babylonia 2285 B. C, reached Erech and plun-
dered its temples, carrying away into captivit}' a
statue of the goddess Nana. His influence upon
the land was apparently very slight, for apparently
no documents exist which are dated in his period.
It is probable that he was not successful in estab-
lishing any dominion over the country at all.
But his failure would not daunt other princes ; the
prize was great and men would not fail in its win-
ning for want of a trial.

Probably soon after Kudur-Nankhundi the suc-
cessful raid was made. The Babylonian inscrip-
tions have preserved for us no mention of the
king's name who swept down into the valley

' For business documents in his reign comp. Sayce, Proceedings of the
Society of Biblical Archceology, xix, p. 73, and Scheil in Recueil de Travanz
relatifd la Phil, et archeol. Egypt et Ass., xx, pp. 64, 65. Comp. further
Lehmann, Zioei Hauptprobleme, p. 207.

3 III R. 38, 1 a. 12-18. See above, p. 319. The name appears in the
form Kudur-Nakhkhunte in old Susian.

BABYLONIAN HISTORY TO FALL OF LARSA. 381

and carried all before him. The Hebrews among
their traditions preserved the name of Chedor-
laomer' (Kudur-Lagamar) as the Elamite who
invaded the far west. To him or to other
Elamite invaders the weak kingdom of Sumer and
Accad was able to offer no effectual resistance,
and the kings of Larsa were quickly dispossessed.
The Elamites in a few short years had swept from
east to west, destroying kingdoms whose founda-
tions extended into the distant past. Their suc-
cess reminds one of the career of the Persians in a
later day.

Under the rule of these Elamite conquerors
Kudur-Mabuk ' was prince of E-mutbal, in west-
ern Elam. His authority and influence were ex-
tended into Babylonia, and perhaps even farther
west. He built in Ur a temple to the moon god
as a thank offering for his success.

He was succeeded by his son, Eri-Aku,' who was
still more Babylonian than his father. He ex-
tended the city of Ur, rebuilding its great city
walls " like unto a mountain," restored its temples,
and apparently became a patron of that city rather
than of Larsa, though he still calls himself king

' See further on Chedorlaomer below, p. 390. A very similar view of the
events is now taken by Winckler (in Helmolt's Weltgeschichte, iii, p. 96).

' An inscription of Kudur-Marbuk is published I R. 2, No. iii, Keilin-
schri/t. Bibi, iii, part i, pp. 92, 93.

^ Inscriptions of Rim Sin — that is, Eri-Aku — are found I R. 5, No. xvi, 3,
No. X, Mittheilungen des Akad- Orient- Verehis zu Berlin, i, p. 16, and are
translated by Winckler, Keilinschri/i. Bib!., iii, part i, pp. 94, 95. On the
reading of the name as Eri-Aku see Schrader in Sitzungsberichte K. Preuss.
Ak. Phil.-hist. Classe, 24 Oct., 1895, xli.

382 HISTORY OF BABYLONIA AND ASSYRIA.

of Larsa. The Elamite people were now become
in the fullest sense masters of all southern Baby-
lonia. Eri-Aku calls himself " exalter of Ur, king
of Larsa, king of Sumer and Accad," and so
claims all the honors which had belonged to the
kings of native stock who had preceded him. This
invasion and occupation of southern Babylonia by
the Elamites prepared the way for the conquest of
southern Babylonia by the north and the estab-
lishment of a permanent order of things in the
land so long disturbed.

With Larsa ends the series of small states, of
whose existence we have caught mere glimpses,
during a period of more than two thousand years.
As Maspero has well said : " We have here the
mere dust of history rather than history itself ;
here an isolated individual makes his appearance
in the record of his name, to vanish when we at-
tempt to lay hold of him ; there the stem of a dy-
nasty which breaks abruptly off, pompous pream-
bles, devout formulas, dedications of objects or
buildings, here or there the account of some bat-
tle or the indication of some foreign country with
which relations of friendship or commerce were
maintained — these are the scanty materials out of
which to construct a connected narrative." But,
though we have only names of kings of various
cities and faint indications of their deeds, we are
able, nevertheless, out of these materials to secure
in some measure an idea of the development of
political life and of civilization in the land.

BABYLONIAN HISTORY TO FALL OF LARSA. 383

As has been already said, the civilization of
southern Babylonia, in the period 4000-2300 B. C,
was at the foundation Sumeriau. But during a
a large part of this time it was Sumerian influenced
by Semitic civilization. The northern kingdom
even about 3800 B. C. was Semitic. Intercourse
was free and widely extended, as the inscriptions
of Sargon and Naram-Sin and the operations of
Gudea have conclusively shown. The Sumerian
civilization was old, and the seeds of death were
in it; the Semitic civilization, on the other hand,
was instinct with life and vigor. The Semite had
come out of the free airs of the desert of Arabia
and had in his veins a bounding life. It was natu-
ral that his vigorous civilization should permeate at
first slowly and then rapidly into the senile cul-
ture of the Sumerians. The Sumerian inscriptions
early begin to give evidence of Semitic influence.
Here it is a word borrowed from the Semitic
neighbors, there it is a name of man or god. This
influence increased. Towai'd the end of the period
the Semitic words are frequent, the Semitic idiom
is in a fair way to a complete peaceful conquest,
and political contest w^ould bring about the
final triumph of Semitism, though not the exter-
mination of Sumerian influence. It remained until
the very end of Babylon itself, and the rise of the
Indo-European -world powders. The conservatism
of religious customs gave to the old language and
the old literature, now become sacred, a new life.
The temples still bore Sumerian names when Baby-

384 HISTORY OF BABYLONIA AND ASSYRIA.

Ion's last conqueror entered the magnificent
gates.

Concerning the political development we know
altogether too little for dogmatic conclusions. The
whole may be summed up in the following manner:
The earliest indications show us the city as the
center of government. The chief man in the city
is its king, or, if there be no title of king, he is
called patesi. When the surrounding country is
annexed his title remains the same; he is still
king of the city. But after a time a new custom
comes into vogue. Ur-Ba'u is king of Ur, but he
is more, he is also king of Sumer and Accad. By
that expression we are introduced to the conception
of a government which controlled not only segre-
gated cities, but a united country, northern and
southern Babylonia. The position of the capital
was indeed fluctuating. The capital depends alto-
gether on the king and his place of origin. The
kingdom has its governmental center in Ur, but
Ur is not its permanent capital. The capital is
later found in Isin, and the kings of Isin are then
kings of Sumer and Accad when they have con-
quered and bear rule in the north and south. This
old title lives on through the centuries, and later
kings in other cities are proud to carry it on.
their inscriptions.

This union of all Babylonia under one king was
not the means of creating a national unity strong
enough to resist the outside invader. Sumerian
civilization seemed to have reached the end of its

BABYLONIAN HISTORY TO FALL OF LARSA. 385

development as a political factor. The raids of the
Elamites scattered and broke its power, and the
time was ready for a man strong enough to con-
quer the petty kings of Larsa, take the title of
king of Sumer and Accad and make a strong
kingdom.

386 HISTORY OF BABYLONIA AND ASSYRIA.

CHAPTER 11.

THE FIRST AND SECOND DYNASTIES OF BABYLON.

The origin of the city of Babylon is veiled in
impenetrable obscurity. The first city built upon
the site must have been founded fully four thou-
sand years before Christ, and it may have been
much earlier. The city is named in the Omen
tablet of Sargon,' and, though this is no proof that
the city was actually in existence about 3800 B. C,
it does prove that a later tradition assigned to it
this great antiquity. At this early date, however,
it seems not to have been a city of importance.
During the long period of the rise of the kingdom
of Sumer and Accad no king in the south finds
Babylon worthy of mention, though Babylon must
have been developing into a city of influence dur-
ing the later centuries of the dominion of Isin and
Larsa. From about 2300 B. C. the influence of
this city extends almost without a break to the
period of the Seleucides. No capital in the world
has ever been the center of so much power,
wealth, and culture for a period so vast. It is in-
deed a brilliant cycle of centuries upon which we
enter.

The name of the first king of Babylon is given

' IV R. 34, obverse 1. 8. Keilhischrift. Bibl, iii, part i, pp. 102, 108.

FIRST AND SECOND DYNASTIES. 387

in the Babyloniau King Lists as Sumii-abi (about
2454-2440 B. C.),' of whom we kno^Y nothing.
We have likeAvise no historical inscriptions of his
immediate successors, and our only knowledge of
their reigns is to be obtained from the fragmen-
tary notes of contract tablets, which sometimes
give indications of the life of the people. From
the inscriptions of later kings we also get word of
some building operations of two of them. These
kings are Sumu-la-ilu (about 2439-2405 B. C),
w^ho built six strong fortresses in Babylon, and
Zabu (about 2404-2391 B. C), who erected in
Sippar of Anunit the temple of Edubar to the
city's deity. After Zabu there was apparently an
attempted revolution, for we get hints that a cer-
tain Immeru'' attempted to ascend the throne.
His name does not appear on the King List, and
it is probable that he was not able to gain a se-
cure position in the kingdom.

The next rulers are Apil-Sin (about 2390-2373

• The dates which are set down with the names of the kings of this
dynasty must in all cases be taken as approximate only and as subject to
the greatest doubt. They rest in all cases upon the original sources, but these
sources contain numerous contradictions and discrepancies, and it is idle
to attempt to make from them a chronology that may lay any claim to ac-
curacy. See above, p. 338.

2 The name Immeru occurs on a number of contract tablets, but without
being called king. Events are, however, dated by his name, just as
though he were king. (See Meissner, Beitrdge zum alibah. Privatrecht,
Leipzig, 1893, Xos. 10 and 38 ; Peiser, KeiUmchrift. Bibl, iv, pp. 8, 9.) His
exact position is difficult to fix. He is located after Zabu by Meissner
{pp. cit., p. 4), and this has found considerable acceptance (so Lehmann,
Zwei Jimiptprob., p. 31, and King, art, "Babylonia" in Cheyne & Black,
E71C. Biblica.). Sayce, however, says he was a contemporary of Sumu-la-ilu,
and perhaps ... a vassal king of Larsa {Early Israel and the Surrowid-
ing Nations, London, 1899, p. 281).

388 HISTORY OF BABYLONIA AND ASSYRIA.

B. C.) and Sin-muballit (about 2372-2343 B. C),
whose reigns are likewise unknown to us.

It is a noteworthy fact that in the large num-
bers of business documents which have come
down to us out of the period of this first dynasty
of Babylon, none of these rulers down to Apil-Sin
is called king and Sin-muballit only in the form of
a passing allusion in one single tablet. It is diffi-
cult to explain this fact unless we accept the view
that the real kingdom of Babylon did not begin
until Hammurabi had driven out the Elamites and
so won for himself the title borne by the old kings
of Ur, Isin, and Larsa.

The son and successor of Sin-muballit was Ham-
murabi (about 2342-2288 B. C), with whom be-
gins a new era. It is the chief glory of his name
that he made a united Babylonia, and that the
union w^hich he cemented remained until the scep-
ter passed from Semitic hands to another race.
In this he far exceeded the success of Sargon and
Lugalzaggisi, whose empires were of but short
duration. Yet he had even greater difficulties to
meet than they. The Elamites were firmly fas-
tened in the country, and would hardly give it up
without a struggle. The activity displayed by
these Elamite princes in building was an indica-
tion of how much they valued their new posses-
sions. We are not yet in possession of facts enough
to enable us to follow the movements of Ham-
murabi in his conquest of the country. The
struggle was probably brief and without distinction.

FIRST AND SECOND DYNASTIES. 389

The people of the kingdom of Sumer and
Accad had no genuine national life, no divine
patriotism. When one king passed they cared
not, and as willingly paid taxes to another, if only
he made them no heavier. The Elamites were
soon driven out of Babylonia, and Hammurabi
assumed the titles of king of Sumer and Accad,
king of the Four Quarters of the World, as well
as the old title, king of Babylon. The ready ac-
quiescence of the people in the new rule of Ham-
murabi and the new leadership of the city of Baby-
lon is shown conclusively by the entire absence of
any uprising or of any attempt to throw off the
yoke. The time was ripe for the overturning of the
old Sumerian state, and in Hammurabi was found
the man for the new era. The manner of the con-
quest is unknown to us, and in the knowledge of
the fact we must rest content.

We know very little about the government of
the country which Hammurabi had thus organized
into a consolidated kingdom or empire. That he
had petty princes or viceroys under him is made
clear by sundry letters and dispatches to such offi-
cials which have come down to us.' But it is still
impossible so to order these little fragments as to
gain complete or satisfying pictures of his relation
to them. If Hammurabi be the same person as
Amraphel, who is mentioned in the Hebrew tradi-
tions (Gen. xiv), and many suppose, wdth consid-

' See Tlie Letters and Inscinptions of Hammurabi, by L. W. King, M.A.,
three volumes, London, 189S. ff.

390 HISTOEY OF BABYLONIA AND ASSYRIA.

erable reason, that lie is,' we have there evidence
that he was deemed in a later period to have had
a considerable body of allies with whom he was
associated in campaigns in the west. Of these
who are thus mentioned Chedorlaomer has not yet
been identified on any Babylonian inscription of
an early date, though the name may well corre-
spond with a form Kudur-lagamar,' for both parts
of which there is ample support. On an inscrip-
tion of late date (about 300 B. C.) a name has been
found which, whether it be read Kudur-nuchgamar,
or Kudur-lugkgamai', or what not, almost certainly

' See, for example, Hommel {The Ancient Hebrew Tradition^ London,
1897, p. 193, and elsewhere), Sayce {Early Israel, p. 213). Driver {Author-
ity a7id Archaology, p. 39) says, " There is little doubt " that Amraphel " is
a corrupt representation of Khanimurabi." But the name can scarcely be
called " corrupt " in view of the form Ammu-rabi. Comp. Zimmern, TJieol-
ogische Rrmdschau, i, p. 821.

"^ Kudur appears frequently in these Elamite names. Lagamar occurs as
the name of an Elamite deity in an Assyrian text (V R. vi, col. 6, 33), and
also in the inscriptions of Anzan-Shushinak (F. H. Weissbach, Anzanische
Inschriften, Abh. d. phil. hist. Classe. der k. SdcJis. Ges. d. Wissenschaflen,
xii, p. 125. Leipzig, 1891). Unfortunately a sharp controversy has oc-
curred over the name Chedorlaomer which was thought to appear in some
texts of the period of the Arsacidae (see Pinches, Journal of the Transac-
tio7is of the Victoria Institute, xxix, 1897, pp. 56, ff.), and Father Scheil
thought that he also had found the name in early tablets {Revue Biblique,
V, October, 1896, pp. 600, f. ; Recneil de Travaux rehtif . . . Egypt, et Ass.y
xix, 4, fif.). In the latter case King {Letters mid Inscriptions of Hammu-
rabi, London, 1898, p. xxix) has shown conclusively that the text was
misread by Scheil and that the name Chedorlaomer does not occur on it.
He has further demonstrated that the reading of Mr. Pinches is very
doubtful. Keen and successful though his criticism is, it can hardly be
denied that beneath all the obscurity there lies a real reference to the Che-
dorlaomer of Gen. xiv. Such, for example, is the view of Zimmern ( Theolo-
gische Rundschau, i, pp. 320, 321) and Driver {Authority and Archceology,
pp. 42, 43). See, for a learned discussion of the whole matter, the article
" Chedorlaomer," by Thiele and Kosters, in Encyclopedia Bihlica (ed. Cheyne
& Black), i, cols. 732-734.

FIRST AND SECOND DYNASTIES. oi)l

represents Chedorlaomer. The name of Ticlal,
king of Goiim, has not yet been certainly identi-
fied ; but in this same inscription a certain " Tud.
chula, son of Gazza," appears to be mentioned, who
possibly represents Tidal.' Arioch, king of Ella-
sar, is certainly to be identified with Eri-Aku, son
of Kudur-Mabuk, the well-known king of Larsa.
The narrative of their campaigns in the west ac-
cords well with what we know of the general situ-
ation, but forms only an episode in Babylonian
history, and cannot now be satisfactorily related to
the general movements of the time.

As soon as the conquest of Sumer and Accad
was completed Hammurabi showed himself the
statesman even more than the soldier. He dis-
played extraordinary care in the development of
the resources of the land, and in thus increasing
the wealth and comfort of the inhabitants. The
chiefest of his great works is best described in his
own ringing words — the words of a conqueror, a
statesman, and a patriot : " Hammurabi, the power-
ful king, king of Babylon, . . . when Anu and
Bel gave unto me to rule the land of Sumer and
Accad, and with their scepter filled my hands, I
dug the canal Hammurabi, the Blessing-of-Men,
which bringeth the water of the overflow unto the
land of Sumer and Accad. Its banks upon both
sides I made arable land ; much seed I scattered
upon it. Lasting water I provided for the land of
Sumer and Accad. The land of Sumer and Ac-

' See Pinches, King, and Driver, as above cited, on Chedorlaomer.

392 HISTORY OF BABYLONIA AND ASSYRIA.

cad, its separated peoples I united, with blessings
and abundance I endowed them, in peaceful dwell-
ings I made them to live."' This was no idle
promise made to the people before the union of
Sumer and Accad under the hegemony of Baby-
lon, but the actual accomplishment of a man who
knew how to knit to himself and his royal house
the hearts of the people of a conquered land.
There is a world of wisdom in the deeds of this
old king. No work could possibly have been per-
formed by him which would bring greater bless-
ing than the building of a canal by which a nearly
rainless land could be supplied with abundant
water. After making the canal, Hammurabi fol-
lowed the example of his predecessors in Baby-
lonia and carried out extensive building operations
in various parts of the land. On all sides we find
evidences of his efforts in this work. In Babylon
itself he erected a great granary for the storing of
wheat against times of famine — a work of mercy
as well as of necessity, which would find prompt
recognition among oriental peoples then as now.
The temples to the sun god in Larsa and in Sippar
were rebuilt by him ; the walls of the latter city
were reconstructed " like a great mountain " — to
use his own phrase — and the city was enriched by
the construction of a new canal. The great tem-
ples of E-sagila in Babylon and E-zida in the neigh-

' The Louvre Inscription Col. I l-II 10. See, for full references to the
original texts, Jensen in Keilinschrift. Bibl., iii, part i, p, 123, and comp.
also translation bv Winckler {Geschichte, p. 64).

FIRST AND SECOND DYNASTIES. 393

boring Borsij)pa showed in increased size and in
beauty the influence of his labors. There is evi-
dence, also, that he built for himself a palace at the
site now marked by the ruin of Kalwadha, near
Baghdad.

But these buildings are only external evidences
of the great work wrought in this long reign for
civilization. The best of the culture of the an-
cient Sumerians was brought into Babylon, and
there carefully conserved. What this meant to
the centuries that came after is shown clearly in
the later inscriptions. To Babylon the later kings
of Assyria look constantly as to the real center of
culture and civilization. No Assyrian king is
content with Nineveh and its glories, great though
these were in later days ; his greatest glory
came when he could call himself king of Babylon,
and perform the symbolic act of taking hold of
the hands of Bel-Marduk. Nineveh was the
center of a kingdom of warriors, Babylon the
abode of scholars ; and the wellspring of all this
is to be found in the work of Hammurabi.

But if the kings of Assyria looked to Babylon
with longing eyes, yet more did later kings in
the city of Babylon itself look back to the days
of Hammurabi as the golden age of their history.
Nabopolassar and Nebuchadrezzar acknowledged
his position in the most flattering way, for they
imitated in their inscriptions the very words and
phrases in which he had described his building,
and, not satisfied with this, even copied the exact

394 HISTORY OF BABYLONIA AND ASSYRIA.

form of his tablets and tlie style of tlieii- writing.
In building his plans were followed, and in rule
and administration his methods were imitated.
His works and his words entitle him to rank as
the real founder of Babylon.* Hammurabi reigned
fifty-five years according to the King Lists, but
forty-three years according to a native document
which comes to us from his own dynasty.

When the long reign was ended the son of
Hammurabi entered into his father's laboi^. Sam-
su-iluna (about 2287-2253) seems to have followed
closely in the footsteps of Hammurabi. He tells
us of building in Nippur and in other cities — some
of them still unknown to us — of increasing the
size of Babylon itself, and of continuing the works
upon canals." The profound peace which Ham-
murabi achieved by arms continues through his
reign and into the reigns of his successors. We
have no historical inscriptions, for the records which
have come down from their reigns are the so-
called contract or business tablets, from which no
connected story has yet been made out. From
them we learn of the high civilization of the coun-
try and of its continued prosperity. The names
of these kings, with their approximate dates, can
only be set down until some future discovery re-
veals records with a historical meaning.

' See Winckler, Geschichte, pp. 63, 64.

" The text of Samsu-iluna here referred to is published by Winckler ( Uh-
tersuchungen, p. 140) and translated by him, KeilhiscJirift. Bill., iii, part i,
pp. 131, ff.

FIRST AND SECOND DYNASTIES. 395

Abeshu' (Ebishum), about 2252-2228 B. C.

Ammisatana, about 2227-2203 B. C.

Ammisadugga, about 2202-2182 B. C.

Samsusatana, about 2181-2115 B. C.

The names of the kings of this dynasty are very
peculiar when one thinks that they are set down
as native rulers over the city of Babylon. The
origin of Zabu and its meaning are very doubtful,
Apil-Sin and Sin-muballit are good Babylonian
names, but the other eight are most certainly not
Babylonian at all. This at once raises the ques-
tion as to the nationality or race of these kings.
The names would seem to suggest that the men
who bore them were not Babylonian, but had
come from some other branch of the great Semitic
family. This seems now to be quite probable.
Their names are for the most part to be connected
with the Canaanite branch of the Semitic family,
and it seems probable that they owe their origin
to an invasion of Babylonia by the same race that
peopled the highlands of Canaan. How and when
they settled in Babylon remains obscure.

According to the King Lists this dynasty was
followed immediately by the second dynasty,
which in all things must have been very like its
predecessor. It is called the dynasty of Uru-
Azag,' and it has been conjectured that this re-
fers to a district of the city of Babylon. This

' Winckler reads Uru-azagga and supposes this to be a part of the city
of Babylon (Geschickte, pp. 67, 68, 328). See on this Hilprecht's criticism
(Assyriaca, pp. 25-27, 103), who reads simply Shish-khu and believes in the
nou-Semitic origin of the dynasty. To this Winckler replies in Altorkn-

396 HISTORY OF BABYLONIA AND ASSYRIA.

would make this dynasty consist of native princes,
who had originated in a separate part of the city,
by which they are named. The names of these
kings and the length of their reigns are here given :

1. An-ma-an, about 2150-2091 (60)

2. Ki-an-ni-bi 2090-2035 (56)

3. Dam-ki-ilu-shu 2034-2009 (26) '

4. Ish-ki-bal 2008-1994 (15)

5. Shu-ush-shi 1993-1970 (24)

6. Gul-ki-sliar (? kur) 1969-1915 (55)

v. Kir-gal-dara-bar 1914-1865 (50)

8. A-dara-kalama 1864-1837 (28)

9. A-kur-ul-an-na 1836-1811 (26)

10. Me-lam-kur-kur-ra 1810-1803 (8)

1 1. Ea-ga-mil 1802-1783 (20)

368 years.

We owe this list of kings and the length of each
reign to the Babylonian historians.' It is certainly
a surprising list of years of reign. As our confi-
dence in the length of reigns given to kings in the
first dynasty has been somewhat shaken by the
discovery of the Babylonian Chronicle, in which
Hammurabi receives forty-three years instead of
fifty-five years, we may feel a reasonable doubt as
to the accuracy of these long reigns. No inscrip-
tions of any of these kings have yet been found,

talische Forschungen, vol. i, pp. 275-277. Sayce has supposed tJruazagga
to be represented by " a part of the mounds of Telle or its immediate vicin-
ity " {Records of the Past, new series, i, p. 13), but later reads Sisku
(Early Israel, p. 281.) Hommel has attempted to connect the first king of
his dynasty with Prince An-a-an of Erech {Proceedings of the Society of
Biblical Archaeology, xvi, pp. 13-15), but without success (see Hilprecht,
Assyriaca, pp. 101, ff.).

' See further above on the Chronology, p. 339.

FIRST AND SECOND DYNASTIES. 397

and no business documents dated in their reigns
have come to light. It is not therefore to be ar-
gued that the kings had no existence. Inscriptions
of theirs may readily be supposed to be still in ex-
istence in the vast stores yet unearthed, or reasons
may easily be found for supposing that a system-
atic effort had been made to destroy all their rec-
ords. It has been supposed that during, perhaps,
the latter part of this term the disturbances and
movements began which resulted in the removal
of all rule from the hands of the Babylo-
nians and the transfer of it to invaders from the
Kassite country. However that may be, a long
period elapsed from the days of Hammurabi
until the passing of power into the hands of for-
eigners. Hammurabi had indeed builded well.
North and south together acknowledged the do-
minion of his successors. Peace at home and
abroad gave leisure for the pursuit of litera-
ture, art, and science. This great silent period
gives the necessary time for the progress in all
these things, which is evidenced by the works no
less than the words of the following centuries.
From the peace and stability which his genius
achieved we must now turn to the turmoil which
ensued when his influence was finally overcome.
Yet it was overcome in part only; the city of
Babylon, which he had made great, so continued.
Its supremacy there was none to question. It was
only the constant effort of men to possess it and
all that its traditions covered and contained.

398 HISTORY OF BABYLONIA AND ASSYRIA.

CHAPTER III.

THE KASSITE DYNASTY.

At about the year 1783 ends the long period of
stable peace, during which Babylonia was ruled
by kings of native blood. This land of great fer-
tility had tempted often enough the hardy moun-
taineers of Elam, even as in later centuries the
fair plains of northern Italy were coveted by the
Teutons, who surveyed them from the mountains
above. As long as the influence of Hammurabi
and the other founders of the united kingdom of
Babylonia remained the country was able to defy
any invader. But the development of the arts,
the progress of civilization, and the increase of
trade and commerce had weakened the military
arm. Babylon was becoming like Tyre of later
days, whose merchants were always willing to
pay tribute to a foreign foe rather than run the
I'isk of a war which might injure their trade. At
this time, however, Babylon still possessed patriot-
ism and national pride, and there is no reason to
believe that the foreigner seated himself upon the
proud throne of the Babylonians without diffi-
culty. It is indeed unlikely that the conquest of
Babylon was achieved by a definitely organized
army, led by a commander who purposed making

THE KASSITE DYNASTY. 399

himself king of Babylon, while still continuing to
reign in his own country. It is rather the migra-
tion of a strong, fresh people which here con-
fronts us. This people is called the Kasshu, and
their previous seat was in Elam, but it is difficult
to localize them more perfectly. It seems proba-
ble that they stood in some relation to the people
dwelling along the banks of the Zagros, who be-
came famous in later times under the name of the
Kossaeans ' (KoaaaXoL)^ and it has even been suggest-
ed that they are, in some way, to be connected
with another people, the Kissians {YiioaLot)^ who
were at one time settled in the country of Susiana,*
but are also believed to be mentioned in Cappado-
cia.' In the present state of our knowledge we
are not justified in identifying them positively

' Delitzsch believes that these are all one people {Die Sprache der Kos-
sder, p. 4). But see for reasons to the contrary Oppert {Zeitschrift fur
Assyrioloffie, iii, pp. 421, ff., and v, pp. 106, f.) and also Lehmann (J6/c?., vii,
pp. 328, ff. ; Zeitschrift der Deutsche Morgeiddndische Gesell., 1895, p. 306 ;
Zwei Eauptprobl., pp. 211, 212). Lehmann identifies the Kasshu with the
Kissians, and against this view may be quoted Rost, Utiiersuchungen, pp. 43,
44. The name Kassite, which we have here adopted, is colorless and leaves
the question undecided until more light has been obtained. It was proposed
by Sayce {Records of the Past, new series i, p. 16), but he, nevertheless,
identifies them with the Kossaeans {ibid., note 7). Kassite is now in gen-
eral use (for example, by Winckler, Geschichte, pp. 78, 79, and Hilprecht
(Cassite), Old Bab. Jyis., vol. i, part i, p. 28 ; McCurdy (Kasshites), Histonj,
Prophecy, and the Monuments, i, p. 143).

^ Myovrai 6e Kal Kiaacoc ol 'Sovmoi. Strabo, Geographica, xv, 2 (ed.
Augustus Meineke, vol. iii, p. 1014). Sennacherib (Taylor Cylinder, col. i,
line 64, tr. by Rogers in Records of the Past, new series, vi, p. 86) found
the Kashshi in the Kossaean mountains. Corap. Billerbeck, Das Sand-
schak Suleimania, Leipzig, 1898, p. 126, who locates them in the ^^ Luti-
Bagische Bergland."

^ Ptolemaeus, v, 6, 6, quoted by Rost, JJutersuclmnge^i, p. 44.

400 HISTORY OF BABYLONIA AND ASSYRIA.

with either or both of these peoples. It will be
safer simply to call them Kassites, and thus leave
their racial affinity an open question. Certain in-
dications there are which seem to show that they
did not come direct from their ancient home into
Babylonia, but were settled first in the far south,
near the Persian Gulf They entered Babylon
probably as roving bands, then in increased num-
bers overran the land and gained control, so that
they set up a foreign dynasty in place of the pre-
vious native Babylonian rule.

Concerning this Kassite dynasty our knowledge
is very unsatisfactory. The Babylonian historians
preserved in their King Lists the names of all these
kings, but unhappily this list, in the form in which
we possess it, is badly broken and many of the
names are lost. The list assigns to this dynasty
five hundred and seventy-six yeai's and nine
months.* On this representation the Kassites
must have ruled from about 1782 B. C. to about
1207 B. C. During this long period the Kassites
naturally did not remain foreigners, but were rap-
idly assimilated to Babylonian culture as well
as to Babylonian usages. They naturally wrote
inscriptions, as their predecessors had done; they
built buildings and worshiped the Babylonian
gods. But their rule did not bring forth so
rich a fruit as Hammurabi's had done, and the
records that have come down to us are much
more fragmentary. Of only one king in this

' See above pp. 340-342.

THE KASSITE DYNASTY. 401

dynasty do we possess any long historical inscrip-
tion, and his name does not appear upon the
King List, but stood where the list is broken be-
yond hope of restoration. The correspondence of
some of the kings with kings of Egypt has been
preserved, and by it a most welcome light is shed
upon the obscure peiiod. AVe possess only con-
tract tablets of other kings, the number of which
will be largely increased by the publication of
tablets that have been found at Nippur.

The names of the first kings in the list are :

Length
of Reign.

1. Gandish ' Perhaps about 1782-1767 B. C. 16

2. Agum-shi " " 1766-1745 B. C. 22

3. Bibeiashi' " " 1744-1723 B. C. 22

4. Dushi' « " 1722-1714B. C. (9)(19?)

5. Adumetash'.... " " 1713-

6. Tashziorurumash.*

> The name of this king is also abbreviated into Gande (Hilprecht, Old
Bab. Jns.,'i, parti, pp. 28, ff.), and even into Gan {ibid.,j>. 30). It also
appears in the form Gaddash on an inscription published by Pinches (Baby-
Ionian and Oriental Becord, i, pp. 54, 78; comp. Academy, 1891, p. 221).
The inscription is in the British Museum (84-2-11, 178), and is published
by Winckler {Untersuchungeii, p. 156, No. 6). Also Hilprecht, Zeltschrift
fiir Assyriologie, vii, p 309, note 4, and Old Bab. Ins., i, part i, p. 30, n. 3.

^ This name is written Guyashi by Pinches and Winckler, Delitzsch dis-
covered another sign before the GU {Assyriologische Miscellen, Sonderab-
druck aus den Berichten der phil-his. classe der K. Sachs Gesell. der Wiss.
Sitzung vom 8 Juli, 1893, p. 184). Knudtzon reads Bibeiashi, and avers
that the reading is certain after a new collation (see Lehmarm, Zwei Haupt-
jarob., p. 19).

2 The reading of the name is doubtful. It is sometimes read TJsh-shi.
Knudtzon {Assyrische Gebete, i, p. 60) reads Du ; while Delitzsch suggests
that it may be AD. Rost ( Untersuchnngen, p. 24) reads Abu (?) makhru.

* Reading doubtful. Delitzsch and Winckler read Adumetash, and so also
Lehmann. Rost is doubtful and suggests a comparison with Attametu.

'Reading doubtful, though the signs are reasonably clear. Winckler
reads Tash-shi-gurumash, because in the text of Agumkakrime the latter

402 HISTORY OF BABYLONIA AND ASSYRIA.

To US these names convey no real meaning.
They are only shadows of men. The name of the
first king also appears in a votive tablet under the
form Gande, and in still another little fragment as
Gaddash. He gives honor to the great god Bel,
and wrote his name and titles on the door sockets
set up by former Babylonian kings. But his
name is not written in the same skillful manner
as of former worthies. The rude workmanship
is eloquent of the change which had come through
a ruder race. The world's progress was put back
when the Kassites come to rule in Babylon.

But, though we know so little about this king
Gandish, we know even less about his followers for
a long time. These six kings fill a blank space
in the history which had been all aglow with life
and color in the days of the first dynasty.

After the sixth name the Babylonian King List
is hopelessly broken, and no names can be read for
a considerable space. It seems probable that Tash-
zi-gurumash may be the same as the king from
whom Agum-kakrime claims descent. If this be
true, we may have found by this means the name
of the next king on the list. There belonged to
the library of Asshurbanapal a long inscription ' in

calls himself a son of Tash-shi-gurumash, a name so like this that they
may, without violence, be thought the same (Delitzsch, Assyriologische
Miscellen, p. 185).

' This text was first published II R. 38, No. 2, and repeated in more per-
fect form V R. 33. It was collated by Delitzsch and then translated in
Kossaer, pp. 55, ff. It was again collated by Bezold and, upon his contri.
butions, translated by Jensen {Keilinschrift. Bibl., iii, part i, pp. 134, ff.).
For further literature see Bezold {Veberblick, p. 57).

THE KASSITE DYNASTY. 403

Assyrian characters which purports to be a copy
of an inscription of an earl}^ king of Babylon. Cer-
tain peculiarities of the Assyrian text make it
much more probable that it is a translation from
Sumerian.' The king whose deeds it recounts was
Agum-kakrime. In this text he calls himself the
son of Tashshigurumash. It is very tempting to
connect this Tashshigurumash with the sixth name
in the list of kings, and this is now generally done.
It is probably right, yet it must be admitted that
it is still somewhat doubtful. If Agum-kakrime
were really the son of King Tashshigurumash, it is
natural to suppose that with his father's name in
his inscription would stand the title of king, which
is not the case. The entire inscription sounds
rather like the text of an usurper who is attempt-
ing to bolster up his claims to the throne by sound-
ing titles and genealogical connections, as was done
in certain cases in later times.*

Whether Ao^um-kakrime was the next name in
the list or not, it seems almost certain that he
must have belonged to this same period and his
name must have followed very shortly upon the
list. In his inscription, after giving all his con-
nections of blood and all his ties to the gods, he
sets forth the lands of his rule in these words :
" King of Kasshu and Accad ; king of the broad
land of Babylon ; who caused much people to set-
tle in the land of Ashnunnak; king of Padan and

' Winckler {Geschichte, p. 79).

^ So, for example, by Sargon II and Tiglathpileser III.

404 HISTORY OF BABYLONIA AND ASSYRIA.

Alvan ; king of the land Guti, wide extended
peoples ; a king wko rules the Four Quarters of the
World am I." This is a remarkable list of titles. It
is at once noteworthy that the titles do not follow
the usual Babylonian order. Usually a Babylonian
king would write the title in this fashion : "King of
Babylon, king of the Four Quarters of the World,
king of Sumer and Accad, king of Kasshu."
The titles "king of Padan and Alvan, king of
Guti, etc.," would hardly have been used in this
form at all. The Babylonian kings would seem to
feel that they could not bear direct rule over a
land lying outside of the rule of the Babylonian
gods who alone could give the title to a king in
Babylon. Rather would such a king have called
himself " King of the kings of Padan, Alvan, and
Guti," which lands he would thus rule through a
deputy appointed by himself. It is to be observed
that later Kassite kings conformed very carefully
to this custom.' That Agum-kakrime violated it
is another proof that he belongs to the earlier
kings of the dynasty, in a time before the Kassites
had accommodated themselves to the customs of
their conquered land.

But the titles of Agum-kakrime serve another
and larger purpose for us than the furnishing of
a confirmation of the position we have assigned him
in the dynasty ; they furnish us with a view of
the extent of territory governed from Babylon

' These distinctions are due to the keenness of Winckler {Geschichte, pp.
80, 81).

THE KASSITE DYNASTY. 405

during his reign. His kingdom covers all Baby-
lonia, both north and south, which belonged to the
ancient empire of Hammurabi ; but it far exceeded
these bounds. Agum-kakrime still continued to
rule the land of Kasshu, and the land of Ashnun-
nak. Guti also, a land of which we have heard
nothing since the days of Lasirab, was also sub-
ject to him, as well as Padan, the land of Mesopo-
tamia between the Euphrates and the Balikh, and
Alvan (modern Holwan), which was contiguous to
Guti and lay in the mountains of Kurdistan. As
there is no indication in the inscriptions of the
previous dynasties that so large a territory had
been added to Babylonia since the days of Ham-
murabi, we are shut up to the view that the Kas-
sites had themselves achieved it. This would
make them greater conquerors than even the
mighty founder of Babylon's greatness.

The major part of this inscription of Agum-ka-
krime deals with the restoration to Babylon of
some gods which had been carried away in a pre-
vious raid upon the country. Agum-kakrime says
that he sent an embassy to the far away land of
Khani,' which was probably located in the moun-
tain country east of the Tigris, and south of the

' The location of Khani is now fairly well settled. Asshurnazirpal (I R.
28, col. i, 18, comp. KeUhischrift. Bibl., i, 124) alludes to " Mount Khana on
the side of the lands of the Lullumi," and Billerbeck (Sarischak Sul., p. 8)
would identify this mountain with the "Karadagh oder das Bergland zwis-
chen diesem und dem Hamrin." See further, Sayoe, Proceedings Soc. Bib.
Arch., January, 1899, pp. 13, ff., who locates "the country of Khana oa
the eastern side of the Babylonian frontier."

406 HISTORY OF BABYLONLl AND ASSYRIA.

Lower Zab, to bring back to Babylon the statues of
Marduk and Zarpanit. In order to understand
this move on his part it must be remembered that,
from the Babylonian point of view, there could be
no legitimate king in Babylon unless he had been
appointed to his rule by Marduk, patron god and
real ruler of the city. But Marduk had been car-
ried away by the people of Khani. It was all im-
portant, therefore, for the stability of the throne
that this god, at least, be immediately restored.
If Agum-kakrime had had sufficient troops at his
command, he would probably have taken the god
by force from this captors ; as Nebuchadrezzar I
and Asshurbanapal did in later times. He did
not do this, but sent an " embassy." In this ex-
pression we may see an euphemism for the purchase
or ransom of the gods by actual payment of gold
or silver. When these gods were taken away
we do not know. Perhaps w^e shall not go far
astray if we locate this event in the later reigns
of the kings of the second dynasty, at which time
we have also placed the beginnings of the Kassite
influence. The gods must have been removed by
a destructive invasion, for Agum-kakrime follows
the story of their restoration vrith the statement
that he placed them in the temple of Shamash, and
provided them with all the necessities for their
worship, because Marduk's own temple, E-sagila,
had to be restored before it was fit for his
occupancy. This ruinous state of Babylon's great
state temple points backward to a period of

THE KASSITE DYNASTY. 407

great weakness, to the period when Babylon was
tottering from the proud position to which Ham-
murabi had brought it, and was already an easy
prey for the foreigner.

The remaining lines of this important inscrip-
tion deal with temple restorations, and thus add
the name of Agum-kakrime to the list of great
builders who have already passed in review before
us. No other events in his reign are known to us,
nor is its length preserved. The indications which
remain would seem to show that he must have
reigned long and peacefully.

After the reign of Agum-kakrime there is a
sharp break in the chain of our information concern-
ing the history of this dynasty. It will be neces-
sary to make clear the reason for this break, and
to set forth briefly the means adopted for the
partial repair of the breach.

In giving the names of the kings of this dynasty
from Gandish to Agum-kakrime we have simply
followed the lists made by the Babylonian schol-
ars in ancient times. If the list were perfectly con-
tinued, we should have an easy task in follovnng
out the kings of the dynasty, and in setting forth
something of their activity by means of other
historical material. Unhappily the tablet con-
taining the list is broken off just after the name of
Tashshigurumash. The list is then resumed after
some distance by the name Kudur-Bel, alongside of
whose name stands the numeral VI as the number
of years of his reign. Following the name Kudur-

408 HISTORY OF BABYLONL^ AND ASSYRIA.

Bel there are found tlie names of ten kings of
the Kassite dynasty. There are thus preserved
the names of sixteen kings, to which we may add
that of Agum-kakrime, making seventeen in all.
At the bottom of the list it is stated that there
were thirty-six kings in the dynasty, and that the
sum of the years of their reigns was five hundred
and seventy-six years and nine months. For the
completion of the list we therefore need the
names of nineteen kings. How many of these
names can be obtained ? In the present state of
investigation it is safe to say that of these nineteen
missing names twelve have been secured with
reasonable certainty, and for the most part they
can be arranged accurately in order in the dy-
nasty. These names have been secured in some
instances from contract tablets dated in their
reigns ; in others from their own inscriptions ; in
othei-s from the so-called Synchronistic History —
an original Assyrian document giving very briefly
the early relations between Babylonia and As-
syria — in others from letters and dispatches which
passed between the courts of Babylonia, Assyria,
and Egypt.

Before proceeding with the history of the re-
maining kings of this dynasty it will be necessary
to say something by way of preface of the condi-
tions of political life prevailing elsewhere, in order
to the better understanding of the facts w^hich we
possess with reference to these reigns.

More than one hundred years before the begin-

THE KASSITE DYNASTY. 409

ning of the Kassite dynasty a new state, destined
to a splendid career of dominion among men, was
showing the beginnings of its life along the east-
ern bank of the Tigris. The land of Assyria in
its original limits was a small land inclosed within
the natural boundaries of the Tigris, the Upper
and the Lower Zab, and the Median mountain
range. Its inhabitants at this time were Semites,
and apparently of much purer blood than their
relatives the Babylonians, who had intennarried
with the Sumerians — a custom afterward contin-
ued with the Kassites and with many other peo-
ples. The chief city of this small Assyrian state
was Asshur, in which were ruling, at the period
of the beginning of the Kassite dynasty, Semitic
Ishaklcus, who were the beginners of a long and
distinguished line. Their land was admirably fur-
nished by nature. In it lived a people who were
not enervated by luxury nor prostrated in energy
by excessive and long-continued heat, but accus-
tomed to battle with snowdrifts in the mountains
and to conserve their physical force by its constant
use. It is no wonder that under such favorable
conditions this people should have risen rapidly
to power. In a short time we shall find them
able to negotiate treaties with the kings of Baby-
lonia, and soon thereafter the main stream of his-
tory flows through the channels they were now
digging. It is for these reasons that we have here
touched lightly upon the beginnings of their
national life.

410 HISTORY OF BABYLONIA AND ASSYRIA.

Two other lands require brief mention before
we can properly understand the movement of
races during the period of the Kassite dynasty.

In the northwestern part of the great valley
between the Tigris and Euphrates lay a small
country whose two chief limits were set by the
river Euphrates and its tributary the Balikh. In
the Egyptian inscriptions of the eighteenth and
nineteenth dynasties it is called Naharina — that is,
the river country — but it was called Mitanni by its
own kings. How long a people had lived within
its borders with kings of their own and a separate
national existence remains an enigma. No inscrip-
tions of the people of Mitanni, save letters written
to kings of Egypt, have been found. We should
indeed hardly know of the land at all but for the
discovery of the royal archives of the kings Ameno-
phis III and Amenophis IV, the kings of Egypt
who had diplomatic intercourse with it. From
these letters and dispatches we have learned the
names of several of the kings of Mitanni, among
them Artatama, Artashuma, Sutarna, and Dush-
ratta. Their chief god was Tishup, whose name
as well as the names of his worshipers is not
Semitic, but what their racial ties may be we do
not know. At the time when these kings were
writing dispatches to the kings of Egypt their land
was in some sort of union with Khanigalbat, a
land later known as Melitene and situated much
farther north and west in the mountains. Between
the kings of Mitanni and the kings of Egypt there

THE KASSITE DYNASTY. 411

were bonds of marriage, tlie kings of Egypt hav-
ing married princesses from the far distant " river
land." The fact that the proud kings of Egypt
were anxious to ally themselves to the kings of
Mitanni would seem to indicate that the land
was sufficiently wealthy or influential to make it
worthy of the attention of Egypt. The letters of
Mitanni were written chiefly in the Semitic lan-
guage of Babylonia, and in the cuneiform charac-
ters, with which we are familiar in the native in-
scriptions. One of these letters, however, pre-
served in the Royal Museum in Berlin,' is written
in the language of Mitanni, which has thus far not
yielded to the numerous efforts made to decipher
it.' The kingdom of Mitanni must take its place
among the small states which have had their
share in influencing the progress of the world,
but whose own history we are unable to trace.
But, though we cannot do this, we may at least ob-
serve that it seems to have been largely under
Semitic influences, for its method of writing was
borrowed from its powerful neighbors.

The last land to which our attention must be
diverted, before proceeding with the main story is
the land of Kardunyash.' Originally the word

' VA. Th. 422.

* Attempts to decipher this language have been made by Sayce (Academy,
vol. xxxvii, 1 890, p. 94 ; Zeitschrift fur Assyrioloffie, v, pp. 260-2*74), by
Jensen {Zeitschrifi fur Assyrioloffie, V, pp. 166-208; vi, pp. 34-72), and
by Briinnow (ibid., v, pp. 209-259).

^ W'mckler {Uiitersiichufig€7i, pp. 135, 136; Geschkhte, pp. 86, 87). For
references to the El-Amarna letters from Kardunyash see below.

412 HISTORY OF BABYLONIA AND ASSY'RIA.

Kardunyash seems to be applied to a small tem-
tory in southern Babylonia close to the Persian
Gulf. The termination, " ash " is Kassite, and it
has been supposed, with good reason, that the
Kassites first settled in this land by the Persian
Gulf, and used it as a base from Avhich to overrun
and conquer Babylonia. Whether this be true or
not, it is at least certain that the name Karduny-
ash comes to be used by the Kassite kings as a
sort of official name for the land of Babylonia.

We are now able to return to the Kassite dy-
nasty after a long excursus ; the better prepared
to gather together such little threads of informa-
tion as link them with their neighbors.

As we have seen above, the Babylonian King
List is so broken after the name Tashshigurumash
that some names are lost. Of these missing names
we have already secured the name of Agum-
kakrime. After him there lived six kings whose
names, together with all their words and works,
are lost.

The next king of the Kassite dynasty of whom
we have knowledge is Karaindash (about 1450
B. C). Like his predecessors and successors, he
was a builder, as his own brief words make
plain : " To Nana, the goddess of E-Anna, his
mistress, built Karaindash, the powerful king,
king of Babylon, king of Sumer and Accad,
king of Kasshu, king of Kardunyash, a temple in
E-Anna." In this brief inscription the king
places Babylon first in his list of titles, and the

THE KASSITE DYNASTY. 413

two Kassite titles, Kassliu and Kardunyash, at the
very last. This can only be due to a following of
the immemorial Babylonian usage. The old land
soon absorbed the peoples who came to it as con-
querors, and by the potency of its own civilization
and the power of its religion compelled adherence
to ancient law and custom. The Kassites had
conquered Babylonia by force of arms ; already
has Babylonian culture conquered the Kassites and
assimilated them to itself.

In the reign of Karaindash we meet for the first
time evidence of contact between the still youthful
kingdom of Assyria and the empire of Babylonia
— even then hoary with age. Our knowledge of
these relations between the two kingdoms comes
from the Assyrians, who made during the reign
of Adad-nirari III (811-783 B. C.) a list of the
various friendly and hostile relations between Baby-
lonia and Assyria from the earliest times down to
this reign. The original of this precious docu-
ment has perished, but a copy of it was made for
the library of Asshurbanapal by some of his schol-
ars, to whom our knowledge of the ancient Orient
owes so much. This copy is now in the British
Museum, and, though badly broken, fully half of
it may be read.' It has been named the Syn-
chronistic History, and, though it is not a history in

' Published II R. 66, and III R. 4, 3. See also Delitzsch, Kassaer, pp.
6, ff., and the valuable translation by Peiser and Winckler {Keilinschrift.
Bibl, i, pp. 194, ff.), which is based on a new collation by Winckler. See
.nlso above, p. 324.

414 HISTORY OF BABYLONIA AND ASSYRIA.

any strict sense, it is convenient to retain this ap-
pellation. The very first words upon it which
may be read with certainty relate to Karaindash,
and are as follows : " Karaindash, king of Karduny-
ash and Asshurbelnishishu, king of Assyria, made
a treaty with one another, and swore an oath con-
cerning this territory with one another." This
first entry evidently refers to some debatable land
between the two countries, concerning which
there had been previous difficulty. The two kings
have now settled the boundary line by treaty.
This shows that Assyria was already sufficiently
powerful to claim a legitimate title to a portion of
the great valley, and it was acknowledged by
Babylon as an independent kingdom. It is not
long before this small kingdom of Assyria begins
to dispute with Babylonia for the control even of
the soil of Babylonia itself. With this first notice
of relations between the two kingdoms begins the
long series of struggles, whether peaceful or war-
like, which never cease till the bloodthirsty As-
syrian has driven the Babylonian from the seat of
power and possessed his inheritance.

We are unhappily not in a position to be very
certain as to the order of succession of the follow-
ers of Karaindash, but his immediate successor was
probably Kadashman-Bel.' No historical inscrip-
tion of this king and no business documents dated

' The name was formerl}' read Kallima-Sin (Winckler, Tlie Tell-el-Am-
arna Letters, i, pp. 2, ff.), but see for the correction Knudtzon, Zeitschrift
fiir Assyriologie, xii, pp.2ti9, 270.

THE KASSITE DYNASTY. 415

in his reign have yet come to light in Babylonia.
We should be at a loss to locate him at all were it
not for the assistance to be obtained from the
archives of the Egyptians. As in the case of the
land of Mitanni, so also here are we in possession
of some portions of a correspondence with Amen-
ophis III, king of Egypt. The British Museum
possesses a letter written in Egypt by Amenophis
III to Kadashman-Bel, and the Berlin Museum
has three letters from Kadashman-Bel to Ameno-
phis III. The first letter is probably a copy of
the original sent to Babylonia. It begins in this
stately fashion : " To Kadashman-Bel, king of Kar-
dunyash, my brother ; thus saith Amenophis, the
great king, the king of Egypt, thy brother : with
me it is well. May it be well with thee, with thy
house, with thy wives, with thy children, with thy
nobles, with thy horses and with thy chariots,
and with thy land may it be well ; with me may
it be well, with my house, with my wives, with
my children, with my nobles, with my horses,
with my chariots, wdth my troops, and with
my land, may it be very well." ' The letter
then discusses the proposed matrimonial alliance
between Egypt and Babylonia and urges that
Kadashman-Bel should give to him his daughter
to wife. The letter further announces the sending
to Kadashman-Bel of an ambassador to negotiate
a commercial treaty between the two states, by
which certain imports from Babylonia into Egypt
were to pay a customs duty. The letters pre-

416 HISTORY OF BABYLONIA AND ASSYRIA.

served in Berlin seem to relate to the same cor-
respondence and deal chiefly with the proposed
marriage of the daughter of Kadashman-Bel to
Amenophis III, to which friendly consent was
finally given. Both the daughter and the sister
of Kadashman-Bel were thus numbered among the
wives of Amenophis III — full proof of the very
intimate relation which now subsisted between the
two great culture lands of antiquity, Babylonia and
Egypt. To find letters passing between Babylon
and Egypt about 1400 B. C, and ambassadors
endeavoring to negotiate commercial treaties, does,
indeed, give us a wonderful view into the light of
the distant past. This all witnesses to a high state
of civilization; to ready intercourse over good
roads ; to firmly fixed laws and stable national cus-
toms. It gives us, however, no light upon the
political history of Babylonia, which is the object
of our present search, and we must pass from it.
Kadashman-Bel had a long reign and was suc-
ceeded by Burnaburiash I.

The Synchronistic History ' sets down this king
as contemporary with Puzur-Asshur, king of As-
syiia, with whom he seems to have had a hostile
demonstration concerning the boundaries between
the two lands. As the Assyrian writer alludes only
euphemistically to their relation as unfriendly, and
says nothing of an Assyrian victory, it is safe per-
haps to conclude that Burnaburiash was success-
ful. Little else of his reign is known, though he

1 Col. i, lines 6-7.

THE KASSITE DYNASTY. 417

was also in a measure a builder of temples, for
a brick brought from the temple ruins at Larsa
shows that he had erected there a temple to the
sun god.'

Of the next king, Kurigalzu I, about 1410 B. C,
son of Burnaburiash I, our knowledge is also
very unsatisfactory. It is known from the letters
of Burnaburiash II that he stood in friendly rela-
tions with Amenophis III, king of Egypt, and it
is probable that his relations with the Assyrians
were friendly. The few inscriptions '' of his which
remain record simply the usual building opera-
tions. The titles which he uses in his texts are
"King of Sumer and Accad, king of the Four
Quarters of the World," to which in one instance
he adds the title " shakkanak (that is, governor)
of Bel," and in another case uses this latter title
only. The title of king of Babylon, which we
might have expected, is not used by him at all.
This maybe because he was not officially made
king by the use of all the solemn ceremonies
which the priesthood had devised. The city
of Dur-Kurigalzu (Kurigalzuburg) derived its
name from him, but it does not appear whether
he was its founder or only a benefactor and re-
builder. The compiler of the Synchronistic History
found no events in his reign in connection with the
contemporary Assyrian king, Asshur-nadin-akhe,

' I R. 4, xiii, Keilinschrift. Bibl., iii, i, p. 153.

'^ I R. 4, Lehmann in ZeUschrift fiir Assp-iologie, v, 417, and Hilprecbt,
Old Bab. Ins., i, part i, pi. 20, etc.

418 HISTORY OF BABYLONIA AND ASSYRIA.

which were worthy of narration, and he is there-
fore passed by without a word. His reign was
probably short, and at its conclusion, about the year
1400, he was succeeded by his sou, Burnaburiash
II, whose reign was long and prosperous, though
no Babylonian memorials of it have been pre-
served.

Four letters written by this king to Amenophis
IV {Naphhuriya, Ahli-en-Aton), king of Egypt, are
preserved in the Berlin Museum,' and two more
are in the British Museum/ No historical mate-
rial of great moment is offered in these letters.
They reveal a period of relative peace and pros-
perity, and deal, in considerable measure, with the
little courtesies and amenities of life. It is, for
example, curious to find the Babylonian king re-
proving the king of Egypt for not having sent an
ambassador to inquire for him when he was ill.'
When kings had time for such courtesies, and
could only excuse themselves for failing to ob-
serve them on the ground of their ignorance of
the illness and the great distance to be covered on
the journey, there must have been freedom from
war and from all distress at home and abroad.

The successor of Burnaburiash II apj^ears to have
been Karakhardash (about 1370 B. C), who had
for his chief wife Muballitat-Sherua, daughter of

' VA. Th. 149, 150, 151, 152. Der Tlionta/el/und von El-Amarna,
Heft i.

-Bu. 88-10-13, Nos. 21, 46, and 81.

^VA. Th. 150, 10, S., translated by Zimmern, Zeitschri/t fur Assyriot-
offie, V, p. 139.

THE KASSITE DYNASTY. 419

Asshiir-uballit, king of Assyria, so that the custom
of intermari-iage which prevailed between the royal
houses of Egypt and Babylon at this period had
also its illustration between the houses of Assyria
and Babylonia. This alliance made for peace be-
tween the two royal houses, but did not establish
peace between the peoples of the two countries.
When Karakhardash died his son, Kadashman-
Kharbe I, came to the throne. His mother was
Muballitat-Sherua, and so it happened that an
Assyrian king had his grandson upon the throne
of Babylon. This king conducted a campaign
against the Sutu, whom he conquered and among
w^hom he settled some of his own loyal subjects.
Upon his return from this expedition he found
himself confronted by a rebellion of the Kassites,
who were probably jealous of the growth of As-
syrian influence, and he was killed. The rebels
then placed upon the throne Nazibugash (also
called Shuzigash, about 1360 B. C), a man of
humble origin and not a descendant of the royal
line. As soon as the news of this rebellion reached
Assyria Asshuruballit, desiring to avenge his
grandson, marched against Babylonia, killed Nazi-
bugash, and placed upon the throne Kurigalzu II,
n S( m of Kadashman-Kharbe.' Kurigalzu II (about

' These facts are found in the Babylonian Chronicle P, first published in
translation by Pinches, Records of the Past, new series, v, pp. 106, fF., and
retranslated more accurately by Winckler, Altorientalische Forschungen,
pp. 115, f. With this chronicle is to be compared the Synchronistic History
in which there appear to be some errors. Comp. Winckler, ibid., and
also Rest, Untersuchungen, p. 54, etc.

420 HISTORY OF BABYLONIA AND ASSYRIA.

1350 B. C.) was probably made king while still
young, and his reign was long. We cannot follow
its events in detail, but may get a slight view of
some of its glories. Many centuries before his
day, when Kudur-nakhundi of Elam ravaged in
Babylonia, he carried away a small agate tablet,
which was carefully preserved in the land of
Elam. This happened about 2285 B. C, and now,
about 1350 B. C, Kurigalzu II invades Elam and
conquers even the city of Susa itself. The little
agate tablet is recovered, and the victorious Kuri-
galzu II places it in the temple of E-kur at Nip-
pur, with his own brief inscription engraved on
its back: "Kurigalzu, king of Karadunyash, con.
quered the palace of Susa in Elam and presented
(this tablet) to Belit, his mistress, for his life." ' It
is to this campaign that the Babylonian Chronicle
probably refers in its allusion to the campaign
of Kurigalzu against Khurbatila, king of Elam,
which resulted so victoriously. After the invasion
of Elam the victorious Kurigalzu II also fought
with Bel-nirari, king of Assyria, and worsted him,
as the Babylonian Chronicle narrates the story,
though the Assyrian Synchronistic History claims
the victory in the same conflict for the Assyrians.*
Nazi-Maruttash (about 1340 B. C), son of Kuri-
galzu II, the next king, also fought with the As-

' Hilprecht, Old Bab. Liscrip., vol. i, part i, p. 31.

^Comp. Chron. P, iii, 20-22, with Synchronistic History, i, 18, ff., and
see Winckler, Altorientalische Forschungen, i, pp. 122, 123, and Rost,
Untersuchungen, p. 54, note 1. Chronicle P has here read Adad-nirari
incorrectly for Bel-nirari.

THE KASSITE DYNASTY. 421

Syrians, led by their king, Adad-nirari I, who de-
feated him signally, and gained some Babylonian
territory by pushing the boundary farther south.
This is the Assyi'ian account ; what the Baby-
lonian story may have been we do not know, for
the Babylonian Chronicle is broken at this point.
Of the son of Nazi-Maruttash who succeeded him
under the name of Kadashman-Turgu we know
nothing, and of his successor, Kadashman-Buriash
(about 1330 B. C), we only know that he was at
war with Shalmaneser I, king of Assyria,' without
being able to learn the outcome. These constantly
recurring wars with Assyria are ominous, and in-
dicate the rapid increase of Assyrian power. They
point toward the day of destruction for Babylon,
and of glory for the military people who were be-
ginning to press upon the great city.

The following reigns are almost entirely un-
known to us. The names of the kings awaken no
response in our minds, and we can only set them
down as empty words ; they are Kudur-Bel (about
1304-1299 B. C.) and Shagarakti-Shuriash (about
1298-1286 B. C), though in their cases the Baby-
lonian King List has supplied us -with the length
of their reigns, and we know definitely and cer-
tainly their order in the dynasty.

The Babylonian Chronicle now again comes to
our aid, and with rather startling intelligence.
Tukulti-Ninib, king of Assyria, has invaded Baby-

• III R. 4, No. 1. Comp. Delitzsch, Kossi'ier, p. 10, and Hilprecht, Old
Babylonian Inscriptions, vol. i, part i, p. 31.

422 HISTORY OF BABYLONIA AND ASSYRIA.

Ion. We do not know wliat steps led to this
attack. Perhaps the old boundary disputes had
once more caused difficulty, perhaps it was only
the growing Assyrian lust for power and territory.
But whatever the cause this was no ordinary in-
vasion intended chiefly as a threat. The Assyrian
king enters Babylon, kills some of its inhabitants,
destroys the city wall, at least partially, and, last
and worst of all, removes the treasures of the tem-
ple, and carries away the great god Marduk to As-
syria.' Here was a sore defeat indeed, and the
end, for the time at least, of Babylonian independ-
ence. The line of kings is continued during the
period of war and invasion with the names of
Bibeiashu (about 1285-1278 B. C), during whose
reign the invasion probably occurred ; Bel-shum-
iddin, and Kadashman-Kharbe II, who together
reigned but three years (about 1277-1275), and
Adad-shum-iddin (about 1274-1269 B. C). But the
last three of these kings must have been only vas-
sals of Tukulti-Ninib, who was the real king of
Babylon for seven years, even though he was rep-
resented by these as his deputies.'' Here is the
city of Hammurabi, glorious in its history, ancient
in its days, ruled by a king of the small and rela-
tively modern state of Assyria. But the old spirit
was not quite dead, and after seven years of this
domination the Babylonians rose in rebellion, drove

' Chronicle P, col. iv, 3-6.

' See Hommel's acute suggestions for removing the chronological diflRcul-
ties in Winckler, AltorientaliscJie Forschungen, i, pp. 138, 139.

THE KASSITE DYNASTY. 423

the Assyrians from Babylon, and made Adad-
shum-usur (about 1268-1239 B. C.) king, while
Tukulti-Ninib returned to Assyria only to find a
rebellion against him headed by his own son.' In
this his life was lost, and he went down with the
decline of his once brilliant fortunes. On the other
hand, the reign of Adad-shum-usur was at once
the token and result of better fortunes in Baby-
lonia. In his reign the power of Babylon again
began to increase. He attacked Assyria itself,
and the Assyrians were scarce able to keep the
victorious Babylonians out of their country. Their
king, Bel-kudur-usur, was slain in battle, and in
the overturning Babylonia made gains of Assyr-
ian territory. The reign of Meli-Shipak (about
1238-1224 B. C.) was also a period of Babylonian
aggression against the Assyrian king Ninib-apal-
esharra,* and to such good pui'pose that the next
Babylonian king, Marduk-apal-iddin (about 1223-
1211 B. C), saw the Assyi'ians once more confined
to their narrow territory, stripped of all their con-
quests, and was able to add to his own name the
proud titles " king of Kishshati, king of Sumer and
Accad," ' in token of the extension once more of
Babylonian dominion over nearly the whole of the
valley.

But this change was too great and too sudden
to last, and the power of Assyria must soon re-

' Chronicle P, iv, 7-11.

* Synchronistic History, ii, 3-8.

3 VI K. 41, i, 20.

424 HISTORY OF BABYLONIA AND ASSYRIA.

turn and then again continue to develop. When
Asshur-dan became king of Assyria, and this was
probably while Marduk-apal-iddin was still reign-
ing, there was another reversal of fortunes, though
this time the change was neither so sudden nor so
great. Asshur-dan fought with the next Babylo-
nian king, Zamamashumiddin (about 1210 B. C),
and succeeded in winning back some of the cities in
the ever-debatable land between Assyria and
Babylonia,' and thus gave proof that the Assyrian
power was again waxing strong. The next Kas-
site king, Bel-shum-iddin (about 1209-1207 B. C),
reigned also but a short time, and the very brevity
of these reigns may, perhaps, as often, indicate that
the period was filled with strife. Assyria was cer-
tainly threatening the Babylonian empire, for the
long reign of Asshur-dan gave time for the carry-
ing out of extensive plans, and the power to realize
them was plainly not wanting. The failure of the
Kassites to hold inviolate the territory of Baby-
lonia resulted in a Semitic revolution in which the
dynasty that had ruled so long in the queenly city
ended. Its advent was heralded by war and by
internal dissensions in the last preceding dynasty ;
and its approaching end was indicated in like
manner.

1 Synchronistic History, iii, 9-12.

THE DYNASTY OF ISIN. 425

CHAPTER IV.

THE DYNASTY OF ISIN.

The cause of the downfall of the great Kassite
dynasty is unknown to us. It may have been due
to an uprising of the Semites against foreign dom-
ination, with the war cry of " Babylonia for the
Babylonians ;" a ciy which in various languages
has often resounded among men and won many a
national triumph.

The Babylonian King List names the new
dynasty, the dynasty of Isin,' but its origin is
still doubtful. It has been suggested that it be-
gan in Babylon and is named after a section of the
city known as Isin,'' but it is still possible that it
originated in the city of Isin, whose influence had
been marked at an earlier period of the history.
This dynasty reigned in Babylon a period of one
hundred and thirty-two years. The list is so badly
broken that but few of the names have been re-
tained, and we are once more forced to seek the
means of restoring the names from notices in
other documents. There were eleven kings in
this dynasty who were regarded by the Baby-

' Jensen reads Isin [ZeitscJirift fiir Assyriologie, xi, p. 90), and Craig
{American Journal of Semitic Languages and Literatures, xiii, pp. 220, 221),
supports him. Conip. also Rost {Untersuchungen, p. 10, note 2).

' So, for example, Kost, /. c.
29

426 HISTOEY OF BABYLONIA AND ASSYRIA.

Ionian historians as legitimate, and of these four
or five are entirely unknown to us.

The names of the first two kings of the dynasty,
who reigned eighteen and six years respectively
(about 1206-1189 B. C. and 1188-1183 B. C), are
lost and cannot yet be restored; so, also, are the
names and the regnal years of the next three
kings. The sixth king of the dynasty was Nebu-
chadrezzar I' (about 1135 B. C). This king ex-
hibits once more the spirit almost of a Hammu-
rabi. His victories are brilliant, and his defeats
only evidence the hopelessness of the caase of
Babylonia and the vigor of his efforts to save the
state. AVhen he began to reign Mutakkil-Nusku
was probably king of Assyria, and in him lived
the traditions of the glorious reign of Asshur-dan,
\vho had once more carried the Assyrian arms to
victory. Assyria was preparing to contest with
Babylonia the possession of the whole of the val-
ley, and the older land had need of a man of force
and character. In the reign of the next Assyrian
king, by name Asshur-rish-ishi, came the first great
contest, the beginning of the struggle for suprem-
acy between the two great nations. Nebuchad-
rezzar took the initiative and entered Assyria, but
was met by Asshur-rish-ishi, defeated and forced

^ Hilprecht has tried, with great learniug and acuteness, to prove that
Nebuchadrezzar I was the first king of tiiis dynasty {Old Babylonian In-
Hcriptions, i, part i, pp. 38-44), but without success. Delitzsch has shown
tliat the name of Nebuchadrezzar could not have stood in the first place on
the King List (Assyriologische Miscellen, p. 186), and Winckler has proved
that this view cannot be reconciled with Assyrian chronology {Unter-
Kitchuuffcn. pp. 28, 29, and Altorientalische Forschungen^ i, p. 131).

THE DYNASTY OF ISIN. 427

to retreat in a veritable rout, having burned even
his l)aggage to lighten his return to Babylonia.
Having collected reinforcements, he returned to
the contest, but was met by superior forces, again
defeated and forced to retreat, having lost forty of
his chariots. This terrible reverse found a coun-
terbalancing success else^vdlere, for Nebuchadrezzar
conquered the Lulubi, punished Elam on the east,'
and, most important of all, swung fearlessly and
successfully his flying columns into the far west,
even into Syria,' that goal of such mighty endeavor
in the distant past. In one of his inscriptions
Nebuchadrezzar calls himself "sun of his land,
who makes his people prosperous, the protector of
boundaries." Well might he make the boast, for,
though unsuccessful against the Assyrians, he had
maintained a kingdom, which without him had
probably fallen before the new and already almost
invincible Assyrian power.

Nebuchadrezzar I was succeeded by Bel-nadin-
apli (about 1125 B.C.), whose reign furnishes no
event of importance known to us. In the reign
of his successor, Marduk-nadin-akhe (about 1117-
1096 B. C), the Assyrians displayed in a still
clearer light the power ^vhich was finally to put
the destinies of all western Asia in their hands.
The throne of Assyria was now occupied b}^

' V R. 55-51, and Hilprecht, Freibrief Nebuchadrezzar's. See also S. A.
Smith, Assi/rian LetkTs, iv, and Meissner in Zcitschrift fiir Assyriologie,
iv, pp. 259, ff. (by latter mistakenly ascribed to Nebudiadi'ezzar 11).

'■Proceedings of the Society of Biblical Archceology, 1882, p. 10. and
comp. Hilprecht, Old Babylonian Inscriptio7ts, i, part i, p. 41.

4^8 HISTORY OF BABYLONIA AND ASSYRIA.

Tiglathpileser I, one of the greatest warriors of
antiquity. Against his kingdom Marduk-nadin-
akhe at first had some success, for he carried away
from Ekallati the images of the gods Adad and
Sala. These remained away for centuries, and
were only restored to their place by Sennacherib.
But such successes only nerved Tiglathpileser to
greater efforts. He invaded Babylonia and cap-
tured a number of cities in its northern half and
even took Babylon itself. Herein is the first great
blow against Babylonian independence. The As-
syrians did not hold the captured city, but Tiglath-
pileser I was the grand monarch of western Asia,
and the Babylonian king ruled only by sufferance.
The next Babylonian king was probably Marduk-
akhe-irba, who ruled only one year and six months
and then gave place to Marduk-shapik-zer-mati
(about 1094-1083 B. C), with whom there began
again a brief period of stable peace. The Assyrians
under king Asshur-bel-kala had given over for
the present the policy of crushing Babylonia, and
had adopted rather the plan of making an ally
and friend of the ancient commonwealth. After
the death of Marduk-shapik-zer-mati, a man of un-
known origin, Adad-apal-iddin, came to the throne.
Usurper though he was, Asshur-bel-kala continued
the same friendship to him, and even gave him
a daughter in marriage. The last king of this
dynasty was Nabu-shum (or -nadin), about 1082-
1075 B. C, of whose reign no tidings have yet
come down to us.

THE DYNASTY OF ISIN. 429

During the latter part of this dynasty the As-
syrians were chiefly occupied iu the internal
strengthening and solidifying of their kingdom,
while the Babylonians were unable to undertake
any extensive campaigns. After this period our
direct Babylonian information becomes more and
more fragmentary, and even in some cases of doubt-
ful meaning. The Babylonian state had lost the
key to western Asia and the Assyrians had found
it. Neither state was for the moment making any
great efforts, but the future belonged to Assyria
for centuries at least, and the sun of Babylonia
had suffered a long eclipse. From now onward
we must turn away fi'om Babylon to see the main
stream of history flowing through its rival's do-
minions.

We have followed the fortunes of the Baby-
lonian cities from the gray dawn of antiquity
down the centuries, through good report and evW
report. We have watched the cities grow into
kingdoms and have seen the kingdoms welded
into a mighty empire. We have followed its ad-
vance to the very zenith and have seen its decline
into subjection. It is a noble history, and even in
outline has enough of the rich color of the Orient
to make a glowing picture for the mind. From
its contemplation we must now turn to look upon
the development and progress of the kingdom of
Assyria.

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