The Princeton union. [volume] (Princeton, Minn.) 1876-1976, 1879-11-12


Heart, to where those new lands lie
Let US bid the old good-by
Cheerilyi
THE TOMB OF JONAH.
A Highly Interesting Historical Locality.
London Athenaum.1
The second Assyrian expedition which
MIR. Rass8m has undertaken for the Trus-
tees of the British Museum has now ter
minated by the return of Mr.. Rassam to
England, and the results which have
been obtained will be found to be of the
most valuable character. Mr.. Rassam
was in the short space of time which
he was able to devote to the work, able
to explore more or less completely the
sites of the Assyrlan cities of Nineyeh,
Calah, Assur and the Babylonian cities
Babylon, Borsippi (Birs Nimrud) and
Telgul (Tel HOY, as we'll as to make a
slight examination of number of small
er sites, which he passed en- route IN his
journey. On the site of Nineveh lie was
able in this expedition to penetrate into
a mound which had long been closed to
all explorers, the Nebby Yunus, or Tomb
of Jonah. The mound is crowned by
mosque, and the land is the
property of religious corporation, out
owing to his intimate acquaintance with
the people Of the village, Mr.. Rassam was
able to obtain leave to excavate in the
mound. Here he found remains of pal
ace erected by Sennacherib, and possibly
extended by Essarhaddon, his son. The
inscription of the latter King from this
site gives him the title of King OF the
Kings Of Cush, Ethiopia) and Muzri
(EgypD, which proves that the ed1fce
was erected late in his reign, after his
conquest of Egypt, IS 66S B. G. The ex-
ploration of the two palaces on the Koun-
llk Mounl-that is, those of Sennacherib
and Assurbadipal-has been continued,
and large number of Inscriptions OBJ
tanned. The Temple of Venus, on the
Mounds of Nimrud, which was discover
ed during the last expedition, was thor
oughly explored; and one OF the seats of
the priests brought to England. On ac-
count Of the great opposition met with
in the former explorations, no attempt
was made to explore the Mound of Bala-
wat, which had proved SO prolific in
1877.
A short visit was paid to the mounds
of Kileh Sherget, which marks the site
of the ancient City Of Assur, the .metrop-
oils of Assyria. These vast ruins have
never yet received the thorough explora-
ton they deserve, and yet here we might
find, as Mr.. Cassam by the recovery of
an extremely early br1ck legend, the ear
Hest record of the Assyran empire. The
explorations in Assyria have not this
year furnished any such piece de resist
ance as the Balawat gates, but they have
produced much that is valuable tor the
study Of Assyrian history and topography,
and among thousands of Inscriptions OBJ
tanned we may expect much new matter.
In this expedition Mr.. Rassam extended
his operations into the fields of Babylonia,
and his explorations of the ruins of Ba-
bylon have clearly proved the rich ma
ture of the treasures which lie under
meath its ruins. His explorations on the
Mujelibi have proved that it was from
this mound that the famous collection of
the Egibi tablets came, and the close re-
lation of the edifce where they were
found to the Royal palace proves beyond
doubt that they were the Imperial Chan
cellors Of the Exchequer of the Kings of
Babylon.
Mr.. Rassam's excavations in the Mule
hibi Mound have proved that this is the
site Of the fan GUS hanging gardens, for in
its runs he found wells, acqueducts and
ponderous masses of stone, all proving
that the building ha lbeen erected, as the
Greek writer's say, % initiate mountain
Nho Ill lo
salt which is found only in the Armenian
Hills, and the immense masses must have
floated down the river. In mound to the
south of the mass 81 city ruins called Jum-
luna, Mr.. Rassam discovered the remains
of a rich halllor palace with columns COM
posed Of enameled bricks and mosaic. The
cornices were of painted bricks, ard the
roof of rich Indian black wood. From the
position of the palace or banquetting hall It
would appear to have been situated on the
site Of the state festivals and banQuets.
The inscriptions found there prove the ed
ifce to have been erected there by Nebu-
chadnezzar. and probably beautifed by his
successors. The able explorer also COM
menced series of excavations in the
mound OF Bris Nimrud-a building
which has been considered by many to
represent the Tower of Babel. In this
mound Mr.. Ranssam found the remains
Of several richly decorated chambers. In
these edi6ces, both at Babylon and the
Birs Nimrud, Mr.. Rassam found that tho
mode OF decoration was by painting on
enameled bricks and plaster walls covered
with painted designs; no traces were
found of the sculptured slabs
such as adorn the Assyrian palaces.
Some two years ago an interesting guam
tity of relics were found on the site of an
ancient Chaldean city, near the Shal-el-
HE. Mr.. Rassam, therefore, extended
his operations SO far south as to visit this
site. This mound is called Tel HE.
Here Mr.. Rassam carried on short Sc
ries of explorations, and he discovered
| a number of interesting relics of the an
cient city of which tins mound marks
the site, The cones and bricks from this
were found to bear inscriptions of Gudea,
an early Chaldean King.