The central Presbyterian. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1856-1908, 1880-04-07
Biblical Research.

Rawlinson's paper on the clay cylinder
of Cyrus, lately discovered by Mr..
Pinches among the Assyrian fragments
recently acquired by the British Museum.
The cylinder is too much broken to adj
nit of complete translation of the text,
which originally consisted of forty-fve
lines of minute writing. 1t describes how
Nabonidus, Kingof Babylon, while taking
measures for the temporal security of his
power by fortifying Ur and other places,
neglected the temples and robbed the
priests, in order to obtain money for his
works, Consequently, the gods were an
cry, and summoned Cyrus, Kingof An
san, by name, to assume the sovereignty of
the country. Cyrus had already conquered
the land of Gut, and the people of the
black heads, and had ruled them with
law and Justice Under the guidance of
Merodach, accordingly, Cyrus marched
against Babylon, which he entered
without battle and fighting" and there
captured Nabonidus The Babylonians
at once submitted to the conqueror, who
thereupon put forth Decree The pur-
port of the latter was that he was Cyrus,
the great king, the powerful king, the
king of Babylon, the king of Sumer and
Accad, the king of the four races, and
son of Cambyses, the son of Cyrus and
grandson of Teispes, all of whom are
called kings of the city of Ansan. CYRUS
then goes on to say that he repaired
Babylon and the other cities of Baby
tonia, and rebuilt the temples of the Baby
lonian gods, under the auspices of Nero
dach, whose worshipper' he professed
to be; that all the kings of Western Asia,
including Ph@nicia brought him tribute;
and that he restored to their places the
gods of the cities of Assur, Agane, and
other places as far as the frontiers of
GUT. Finally, he asks Bel and Nebo to
grant him length of days, and prays
Merodach to bless him and his son, Cam
byses. Ansan seems to have been the
native name of Elymais, the city of
Ansan being situated in the plain of
Mal-Amir. In this case, the Aryan
Persians must have crossed the noun
tains from Ispahan as early as the reign
of Teispes and superseded the older
Turanian population of Mal-Amir. Of
tins old population we possess two in
scriptions copied by Layard and pub
hshed in his collection of inscriptions
pilates 81, 80, SO, 80. Sir H. Rawlin
son remarks of them: "Layard, in his
paper on Khuzistan, mentions twelve
different localities in Elymais where
cuneiform inscriptions are either known
or believed to exist; yet of this grand
historical collection we have only two
short and badly copied specimens.
What a field, then, does Elymais present
Tor an enterprising arch@ologist Gut,
mentioned more than once by Cyrus, is
the modern Kurdistan Perhaps the
most curious and unexpected fact which
results from the inscription is that CYRUS
was not the infexible monotheist he has
hitherto been imagined to be. No doubt
the inscription was drawn up by the
Babylonian priests, which will account
for the reasons given for the overthrow
Of Nabonidus, as we'll as for the wav in
which Cyrus receives the titles of the
ancient Babylonian monarchs; but if is
plain that the Persian conqueror had by
his actions afforded good grounds for
their description of him. He was, in
tact a polite prince, wholly Indifferent
IN religious matters, and only anxious
to gain favor among the conquered pop
lawn VI lazy lOuld w men dealing
with the Babylonians he professed him
self follower Of their gods, Just as when
dealing with the Jews he appeared as a
stern monotheist, and could, therefore be
addressed as the Lords "anointed" rs
xiv: y. 1t is noticeable that no mention
IS made Of Belshazzar, and that section
Of the Babylonian people itself is said to
have been secretly in favor of the in
vader. 1t is also noticeable that Assur
now Kileh Sherghat, the old capital
Of Assyria, had survived the fall oil
Nineveh The people of the black
heads it may be observed, are spoken
Of in the early Accadian inscriptions of
Uhaldea, where they denote the Accadian
population itself In the present inscrp-
jnon they seem to mean the Turanian
Mlndred Of the Accadians, in the noun
famous districts Of Elan and Media. I'll
IS interesting to find che inscription stating
mat Merodaeh had summoned Cyrus bT
name ma to march against Babylon and over
Dnrow Nabonidus, since a similar states
nent is made in Is. xiv 4 the place of