The Sun.
London, England, 1853-07-21 00:00:00

ROYAL SOCIETY OF LITERATURE.

At the last meeting of this society, Sir John Do,ratt,
V.P., in the chair,
Mr. Va uohxi
ninsc
wocmyha
lumiienhudAnenirncract.
oitee dan
containitnacckp ysalpe
stated
atn
ardt
eme from
rdruo
ctihnh
atmthe t
hohreeeß
he v
la
13air:ddi
tDr.
i eia
as-
l‘Hceliruntsacekiunsme it'
historical notice than any other document which had
as yet been published ; and that another cylinder had
lately been noticed by Colonel Rawlinson, which, i x.i.Dr.
Hincks' opinion, was nearly the same as the one i II the
Museum, but not so interesting, as much of the ch rono-
logical matter appeared to be wanting on it, or, at all
events, had not been noticed by Colonel Rawlinson.
Both decypherers agree in referring the two cylind era to
the same monarch—Tiglath Pileser. The date t d the
Museum cylinder can be approximated very mi;arly.
The king who wrote it is the same who is mention *d on
the Bavian inscription of Sennacherib as having been
conquered by the Babylonians 418 years before th a first
year of Sennacherib. At this period Nineveh was
destroyed, and Kalah-Sherghat became the sel tt of
Government, and certain images and gods were ca cried
to Babylon, which Sennacherib subsequsntly brought
back with him from that city. Now, as Sennachti rib's
conquest of Babylon was in B.C. 702, the pre-
vious fall of Nineveh must have been in B.C. 1120,, and
the date of the cylinder may have been a few -si ears
later, about B.C. 1110. In the inscription, Tii ;lath-
Pileser speaks of four of his ancestors, all of whom be: tr the
titles of the Kings of Assyria, and notices especiall: y one
of them, " Shemsiyao' " the son of " Ishmi-Daka a," a
name which Dr. Hincks considers to be certain. He
states also, in the same inscription on the cylinder, that
he rebuilt a certain temple at Kalah-Shergat, whicli his
great-grandfather had taken down, and which had been
originally built by Shemsiyao, 641 years before. IChese
years must have terminated with either the taking I ilown
of the temple or its re-edification. In the former case,
Shemsiyao must have lived B.C. 1750 ; in the 1( utter,
B.C. 1840. Tiglath-Pileser adds that he made ti tblets
and inscribed sculptures containing a record of hist con-
quests, and that he put them up in the temple ;: and
that he at the same time found tablets and inscribed
sculptures of his ancestor " Shemsiyao"—which wore of
course in a character then legible, and similar to that
which he used himself—and that he put these
sup i
m the
temple, by the side of his own. Dr. Hincks suggests
that they are probably there now, and may yet be
found, whenever the great mound at Kalah-Sh argat
shall be thoroughly explored. The accuracy of the date,
641 years, like that of 418 years on the Baviaii, in-
scription, is worthy of remark, as it is clearly not in-
• tended as a mere approximation, as in that case round
41.0thswould have been used. It is probably taken
canon of the kings' reigns, fragments
fromfr° -. 1-... en found among the Assyrian collections
I ezme
which have ~. '"im.
in the British Must...
Mr. Birch read extra,.
ceived from Colonel Rawlins..
he had much difficulty with regal.'
in the inscriptions. Two words -cent,
suni• the other Nitisri ; the question is,
have the sanse or different meanings, Colon-.
son thinks the forma is the' ease, anfi. adds dig" ..-
°Pilljui the 19_11,2 oenuine notices of Egypt are, whok.,

4s from a letter he had just re-
,n, in which he stated that
4 to the name of Egypt
one reading Mu-
whether they
•1 Rawlin-

.1,1 his