The Findlay Jeffersonian. [volume] (Findlay, Hancock County, Ohio) 1870-1881, 1876-02-11
KING MES4'S PILLAR.


from GaligndnTS Messenger, Paris:
This famous stella has now been
| placed for public inspection in that
| part of the Louvre, which is set apart
for Hebrew antiquities. 1t bears the
| Oldest description in the world as yet
deciphered, and is historical monu-
ment without rival, contemporaneous
with the Bible, dating back 900 years
of black basalt, having almost the same
form as the tables of the decalogue. 1t
| measures forty inches in height, twenty
| eight in width, and fourteen in thick
ness, and for $500 years has remained
in the same position in the country of
| the Moabites, on the shores of the Dead
Sea, at the spot, as it is supposed, where
the frontier of the territory joined that
of the tribe of Reuben. The column of
| Mesa was not buried. 1t had remained
erect in the full light of day for twenty
eight centuries In 1870 NJ. Clermort-
Ganneau, attached to the French con-
sulate at Jerusalem, heard something
about stone placed at the entrance of
small village near the Dead Sea, and
covered with mysterious characters.
Attracted by those reports, he sent two
intelligent Arabs with instructions to
bring him an impression of the inscrip-
ton, by using the same process as is
employed in printing Offices for obtain
ing proof of type in form, viz; to spread
sheet of moisted paper on the letters,
and by means of brush to drive the
pulp into the cavities. The operation
succeeded perfectly, as may be seen
from the impression which is exposed by
the side of the pillar itself in the Louvre.
But at the moment when Yacoub, one
of the Arabs, was preparing to depart,
he was attacked by the Bedouins and
badly wounded; but his companion was
fortunate enough to get on his horse and
escape with the greater part of the i'm
press. NJ. Clermont-G Ganneau, some time
after, sent another Arab with instruc-
tions to copy by hand the inscription.
and the man fulfilled his mission with
great intelligence; the copy and sketch
of the stone which he made are also
exhibited at the Louvre. Eventually,
the same enthusiastic functionary sue
ceeded in translating the famous in
scription.
SIT refers TO King Mesa, the chief of
the Moabites, spoken of in the Second
Kings. iii, f. He was a tributary of the
monarch of Israel and paid each year
the almost inconceivable tribute of
100, 900 lambs and as many rams. Mesa
resolved to rid himself of the heavy
burden aud declared war against the
King Of Israel; the latter aided by the
sovereign of Judah, fought the Moabites
and compelled their chief to take refuge
in the last fortress which remained to
him. Mesa, perceiving that his cause
was lost, sacrificed on the ramparts his
Oldest son to propriate the god Chamos.
The Bible, which relates the fact, adds:
Great indignation prevailed among the
Israelites, who left and returned to their
own country King Mesa took the
trouble, so to speak, of completing the
the somewhat obscure record of the
Bible, as, according to the inscription
OF the stella the armies of Israel and
Judah were completely worsted and
dispersed: Il. Mesa, seized the vessels
of Jehovah, which dragged in the dust
before the idol of Chamos, etc. The
Moabite monarch records, moreover,
that he took possession of a large num-
Der of towns and territories belonging to
the Israelites, and that he put to death
1000 men, women and children, etc.
These facts will give an idea of the value
of the monument, which, as previously
stated, bears the oldest inscription that
has yet been deciphered. That on the
sarcophagus of Echmounazar had hith-
| erto held the first rank, but the one of
which he speaks is older by four CEN
| turies.
There remains to describe how u.
Clermont Ganneau succeeding in pro-
curing the original of the Inscription.
He organized for that purpose real ex-
pedition, composed of bold and enter
| prising men, to whom he paid in ad
vance one-half of an important sum in
| gold, which was to be the reward of their
services. Unfortunately the Bedouins,
who, without knowing the origin of the
stone, attributed to it the magic virtue
of a talisman, broke up the pillar with
hammer and shared the fragments
among themselves. With immense dif-
| ficulty the pieces were successfully pur-
chased and joined together, and missing
| portions being replaced by blackened
plaster. The monument is, therefore,
integrally restored by means of the orig
inal inscription and by the aid of the
rubbings first taken. The text is in
Archaic Phnnician characters, the most
ancient alphabetical words known in
history, according to Lucan:
Ph9enices primi, fame 81 credtur nusi
| Mansuram radibus vOcem signare tiguris.
On that point the objection may be
made that inscriptions more ancient
than that of the stella of Mesa exist,
and among others that of the Obelisk of
| Luxor; next, fragment of an Assyrian
inscription in cuneifor:u characters
found on several bricks at Nineyeh and
Babylon. EgyptiOn horizontal AMI YER
| tical ones are TO be seen on the ruins of
the great temple of Phile, which are
assuredly anterior TO that of King Mesa,
but they have, however, all remained
undecipherable The reason l., tba.
with almost all the eastern nati-as there
were two sorts OF writings, the hieratic
| or sacred, for the use of priests, who
alone possessed the key, and tile vulgar
text. In spite of all the science of
ChampolIion and the works OF so many
Orientalists, the sacred hieroglyphics Of
Egypt will remain eternally secret.
Generations will pass away; they may
lcse themselves in contemplating the
hieratic figures engraved on the gates of
the temple of Karnak, but the priests,
| who were alone initiated, have taken