The Tiffin tribune. (Tiffin, Ohio) 1868-1887, 1876-03-02
OHALBRA AND The HEBREWS.
Old ChaIdean WrItIng--TestIm0Hy oil
The CgneIF0rm Characteristic Re
cords and Those OF the Bible.

writings fOOnC IN tne ruins OF NINE
ven and Babylon, the topics OF thes'
writings being the creation of th'
world, the fall of man, the flood, th'
tower of Babel, and the times OF the
patriarchs, together with ChaldeaI
fables and legends of the gods. The
writings are found on terra Gotta tab
lets taken from the ruins of Assyriar
and BabylOnian Libraries. Most o.
the tablets were found in fragments
ami portions of them are missing
/ Mr.. Smith estimates that there are
still in the ruins of the great library,
at Nineveh, not less than %, 700 frag'
ments of these broken tablets, which
can be recovered. Those portions Ot
the writings to which Mr.. Smiths
book relates, have especial interest
because their accounts of the creation
and fall Of man, of the flood, the tow.
er of Babel, &C., are substantially tbs
same as those found in the Hebrew
Scriptures, except that the Chaldear
accounts are longer and give mor'
particulars.
The old schemes OF ancient history
which could not get back into thu
past beyond the Assyrian empire, W ere
wholly uEable to explain the Chat
deans. 1t was seen that they were
the most intellectual snd cultivated
men in Assyria, and the best theory
that could be eontrived was that they
were a learned class of Assyri2ns. II
is understood, now, that Assyria was
preceded by the greater and more
highly civilized kingdom of Cheldea
and that the history of Chaldea proba.
bly, counted as many millenniums as
that of Assyria counted centuries
The Chaldean writings show a high
degree of intellectual culture, and
touch almost every topic OF human
interest. Ancient Chaldea had great
libraries and its "wOnderlul litsra-
ture." as Mr.. Smith calls it, was cop
pied by the less cultivated Assyrians
Some of the kings of Assyria estab-
| lished great libraries, which were fill
ed chiefly with copies of Chaldaen
books. Results of the highest impor-
tance might be reached il the ruins
of Chaldea should be exca7sted as ex-
tensiVely as explorers have evacuated
the much less ancient ruins of Nine
yah.
Since Mr.. Smith became aware oi
Chaldea as a great fact of the remote
past, there has been 8 struggle be-
tween this fact and his old unhesitat-
ing belief in Usher's system of Chro-
nology, and he is not yet completely
free from the influence of that old ab-
surditY. At the same time, even he
is constrained to admit that the Chal-
dean writings he translates are not
only much older than the Hebrew
Scriptures, but also much older than
the time of Abraham, whose nonnadic
family resided for time at "Ur OF
the ChaIdees." He tells rs frankly
that he has sought to reduce the an
tiquity of Chsldean history as much
as possible. that his dates are "the
lowest we can fairly assume" that
several of them may be much more
ancient" and that "many scholars"
find it necessary to give the history of
Chaldea a far are9ter antiquity. He
gets back to the twenty-tbird century
previous to the Christian Era, quotes
from a tablet the names OF twenty
great Chaldean cities which existed
and were old at that period, and
makes this very important admis-
sion "Phe fact that the Chaldeans,
1000 years ago, believed their cities to
be of such antiquity, shows that they
were not recent foundations and
their attAinments, at that time, in the
arts and sciences, proves that their
civilization had already known ages
Of progress.n The tablets he trans
lates, and which ne finds to be Older
than the time of Abraham, must have
been written in much earlier "ages of
progress" In fact, they must belong
to the older literature Of the country,
for it is necessary to suppose that in
tellectual growth in Chaldea followed
the same law that has regulated intel
lectual development in, other coun-
tries. r
The Chaldeaus had several versions
OF the stories of the creation, the flood,
the Tower of Babel, etc., that shows
that these genealogical legends were
already ancient, when reduced to
writing; and they had also some 9TH
er stories of the same class which are
not found in the Hebrew Scriptures,
one of these being an account OF the
fall OF "Satan aud his angels" and
the consequent "war in Heaven"
which took place previous 10 the Gre
vi 4hO Oh6A0CalS 0hA
Egyptians had lists and names of the
mythical kings, who are said to have
reigned previous to the beginning Of
regular human history. The Hebrews
had ten "patriarchs. The tenth
mythical king of the Chaldeans built
the ark in which he escaped destrue-
ton by the flood. The tenth Hebrew
patriarch, Noah built an ark and es-
capped destruction. Mr.. Smith says OF
these lists "I can not think it acci-
dental that in each case we have ten
names."s Remarking that the names
are not alike, he adds 'What con-
nection there may be between the
three lists we have at present. no
means of knowing" 1t Is not irea-
sopabIe to suppose that the cosmolog-
ical legends OF the Hebrews and Chal-
deans arose Independently. Oar peo.
pie must have borrowed from the 9TH
er. But they existed in ChaIdea long
before the Hebrews began existence
IS a people. Mr.. Smith treats this
point as follows: 80 -
zone question which will be asked
and asked in vain, is: Did either o.
the two races, Jews or Chaldeans, Dor
row from the other the traditions o.
these early times, and IL so, when ?'
There is one point in connection with
/ this question worth noticing: These
traditions are not fixed to any locali.
| ties near Palestine, but are, even on
the showing of the Jews themselves,
fixed to the neighborhood OF the
Euphrates Valley and Chaldea In
particular this Of course is clearly
stated in the Chaldean inscriptions
| and traditions. Eden, according to
the Jews, was by the Euphrates and
Tigris. Surrippak was the city OF the
ark, the mountains east of the Tlgris
were the resting place of the ark,
Babylon was the site of the tower,
and Ur of the Chaldees the birthplace
of Abraham. These facts, and the
| further statements that Abrshsm MI
grated from Ur to Harran, in Syria
and from thence to Palestine, are al
so much evidence in favor Of the hy-
pothesis that Chaldea was the origi'
nal home of these stories, and tina!
the Jews received them originally
| from the ChaldeaEs.
But he shrinks a little from this
conclusion, and hesitates to decide the
question. without further informa
| ton. .nThe remarkable intelleetus
development of the ,Chaldeans Il
shown distinctly by that portion o.
/ their literature which has been recov-
cred from the ruins. The BRITISH
| Museum has a great collection o.
their books, more or less incomplete
OF these, only a small portion are
NEUROLOGICAL. In this collection srl
| tablets from Senkereh, one Of the old
Chaldean cities, which Mr.. Smith de-
scribes as "the earliest known speci
! mems OF these literary tablets
Among them are works on the fol
lowing topics :. 81. Mythology anC
Cosmogony 2. Grammatical works
list of words and explanations
| Mathematical works, calculations
tables, cube and square root measures
4. Astronomy, astrology, and omens
5. Short historical inscriptions 6
Historical cylinders /; 4. Biographies
tablets s. Law and law cases, sal
and barter wills and loans" Amonl
the Chaldean books collected aud pre-
served at Nineveh, were works OF
various branches OF natural history
Mr.. Smith states that grammar AM
lexicography" received special atten
ton, 'tthere being many works OF
these subjects, including lists Of tn
signs and explanations, declensions o
Il nouns. coniugatiOn Of verbs, example