The North-Carolina standard. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1834-1850, 1850-10-09
THE ANCIENT WORLD.

At of the recent sessions of the Ethonoloqical
section of the British Association, which has had its
annual meeting for the year at Edinburgh Scotland,
highly interesting paper read by the Rev. Dr..
Hincks "On the Language and Mode of Writing Of
the Assyrians," which led to still more interesting
dscusson-or rather, for he had it all to HIMSELF to
long speech from Major Rawlinson, the celebrated
Archeaologist and Champoon of the Oriental
world, in explanation of the Persian and Assyrian
hieroglyphics. In winding up his remarks, he gave
animation of the ruins Of Nimrod, we'll as of the
researches of Mr. Lotus in the ancient Chadea of
whom and which We have yet heard but little in
the United Sates,l which is so instructive that We
copy it from the condensed report in the London
.Athensnum of August 24th. Major Rawlinson said
cesslon to our chronological materials, adding that
"every letter he got from the countries now being
explored, announced fresh discoveries of the utmost
importance
In Lower Chaldea, Mr.. Lotus, the ge9logist to
the Commission appointed to fix the boundaries be-
tween Turkey and Persia, had visited many cities
which no European had reached before, and had
every where found the most extraordinary remains.
AT one place, Senkereh, he had come on pavement,
extending from half to an acre-entirely COW
cred with writing which was engraved upon baked
tiles. &c. At Wurka, [or Ur of the Chaldees)
whence Abraham came out, he had found innumera-
BILE inscrip,ions they were of great extent, but
they were exceedingly interesting, giving many royal
names previously unknown. Wurka (Ur, or 0rchoe)
seemed to be holy city, for the whole country, for
miles upon miles, was nothing but huge metropolis.
In none of the excavations in Assyria had cofins
ever been found but in this city OF Chaldea there
were thousands upon thousands. The story of Ahra-
hams birth at Wurka did not originate with the
Arabs, as had sometimes been conectured, but with
the Jews, and the Orientals had numberless fables
about Abraham and Nimrod. Mr.. Layard, in exoa-
vatlng beneath the great pyramid at Nimrod, had
penetrated mass of masonry, within which he had
discovered the tomb and statue of SardanapaIus &C.
conpaned by full annals of the monarchs reign en-
graved on the walls. He had also found tablets Of
all sorts, all of them being historical but the CROWN
Ninevet, or Koynupin. had evidently been destroyed
by fire, but one portion of the building seemed to
have escaped its influence and Mr. Layard, in exca-
vatng this part of the palace, had found large
filled with what appeared to be archives of the en-
pre, ranged in successive tablets of terra Gotta, the
writings being perfect when the tablets were
first stamped.
They were piled in huge heaps from the floor to
the ceiling. and he wrote to him Major Rawnson)
stating that he had already filled FIVE large for
despatch to England, but had only cleared out one
corner OF the apartment. From the progress already
made in reading the inscriptions, he believed we
should be able pretty well to understand the conten Is
Of these tabets-at all events, should ascertain
their general purport, and thus gain much valuable
information. A passage might be remembered in the
book of Ezra, where the Jews having been disturb
ed in building the Temple, prayed that search nigh,
be made in the house of records for the edic of Cy
rus permitting them to return to Jerusalem. The
chamber recently found might be presumed to be the
house of records Of the Assyran kings, where CO.
pies of the royal edicts duly deposited. When
these tablets had been examined and deciphered, Ire
believed that we should have better acquaintance
with the history, the religion, the philosophy and
the jurisprudence of Assyria, 1900 years before the
Christian era. than we had of Greece or Rome dur-
ing any period of their respective histories.