The Sun.
London, England, 1854-11-22 00:00:00

ROYAL ASIATIC SOCIETY.

Nov. 10.—The Right Hon. Holt Mackenzie in the
chair. This was the first meeting of the session.
A communication from Colonel Rawlinson was read,
which consisted chiefly of some notes on Assyrian no-
menclature, in rectification of the statements published
by Dr. Hinckes in the Literary Gazette in April and
August last. As regards the chronology of the reign of
Sargon and Sennaelierib, Colonel Rawlinson agrees gene-
rally with Dr. Hinckes in placing their dates from B.C.
722 to 680; it must not be forgotten, however, that these
dates are derived entirely from Ptolemy's canon, and
should, therefore, any error exist in the dates of the canon,
the conclusions arrived at, though relatively right, will
be positively wrong. Col. Rawlinson therefore defers pro-
nouncing any further opinion until the verification or
otherwise, of Ptolemy's dates has been shown by the astro-
nomical calculations which Mr. Bosanquet proposes to
apply in test of the various eclipses recorded by Ptolemy.
Col. Rawlinson agrees with Mr. Hinekes that there were
probably two distinct sons of Sennacherib, the eldest
named Asshur-nadin-iddin, and not simply Assur-nadin,
as read by Dr. Hinekes, and the younger, Asshur-akh-
iddin, who was the Esar-Haddon of Scripture. Colonel
Rawlinson reiterates what he published in the Athenceum
of the 18th of March last, that Esar-Haddon was suc-
ceeded by his son Asshur-bani-pal, and proceeds to show
that of the three eons which Dr. Hinckes has attri-
buted to Esar-Haddon under the names of A.ssur-
yuchura-bal, Assur-bani-bal, and Shamas-ake-iddan, the
two former represent the same individual, and the latter
no other than Esar Haddon himself. Dr. Hinckes
represents the first two as reigning in Assyria succes-
sively after the death of their father, and the third con-
temporaneously in Babylonia ; but this triad is cer-
tainly fictitious, and depends altogether on a mistaken
reading of the cuneiform names. The name Nabu-
isia-yuchur, which Dr. Hinckes has applied to Nabopo-
lesser, the father of Nebuchadnezzar, involves a double
error—first an erroneous reading of one of the charac-
ters, which has led him, in the second place, to assign
the name to Nebopolassar instead of Nabonidus.
The reading of the name in question as Nabunit,
and the identification of it with Nabonidus, which
Colonel Rawlinson published more than three years ago,
has since been abundantly confirmed by a hundred
examples. There is, however, just a possibility that the
name may be phonetically rendered as Nabo-imduk or
Nabo-induk. Dr. Ilinckes's reading of this name being
erroneous, the other readings founded upon it are equally
wrong, so that the names of Nabu-bin-yuchur, Sharnsi-
bin (Ben Fladad), and Assur-yuchura-bal, together
with a number of historical illustrations, must be aban-
d

-oiled. The only addition Colonel Rawlinsea has to
make to his sketch cf Assyrian histery is that of the
son of Asshur-bani-pal, many relics of whom have
been found in the south-east palace at Nimrod. The
name of this prince nay be provisionally read as Asshur-
emit-ili, and as he probably reigned from B. C. 645 to
625, the Scythian inroad and the destruction of Nine-
veh by the Medes must both be placed in his reign.
A considerable portion of the Birs-i-Nimrud has been

laid bare, so that the architecture and plan of the temple
are clear, hut the results of the excavations have not
equalled the expectations formed of them.
A communication was also read from Professor
Wilson, consisting of a correspondence between him-
self and Sir J. Bowring, upon the subject of
the Buddhist books known to have been carried
from India and translated into Chinese, in the first
six or seven centuries of the Christian era. Sir John
has taken up the inquiry with much zeal, and, with the
assistance of Mr. Edkins, a gentleman who is develo-
ing himself especially to this particular field of Chi-
nese literature, has succeeded in obtaining copies of
several of the works in question. These works have
been sent to England, and with them some notices of
their contents. They are of an interesting character,
but are evidently not among the most ancient of the
Buddhist authorities. One of them is said to be a
Chinese version of the work translated by Burnouf from
the Sanscrit, under the title of "Le Lottus de la bonne
loi." Inquiries for other works of this kind are being
actively prosecuted, and it is extremely desirable that no
time should be lost, as the Tae-ping-wang people (the
insurgents) everywhere destroy all libraries and books
excepting their own, which are compositions of the most
♦ulgar character.