, 1881-10-23
ASSll,lCLCGN.

d E:CH FISu nF INSCRIPTIONS NEAR THE:
Dus: I:IEi:I;- s1I:1A-
The REV. ilanry ii. .}essup, u. d., who is
1luw III the Holy Land, writes III the New
York u,screcr under d;ic Of Sept p, i,sclos-
ins a letier received Us him from Mr.. Julius
Loytvel, dated Beirut Septel,ber, anneas,l-
cn;, the discovery OF some valuable AssyriaIi
inscriptions ,,c..; tile :scu1ptured tablets OIL
the Dog River. Following is the letter:
Bt:anuT, Sent; y, 1ssi--t:er y. H. Jessn1,:
DEAn SHIFT will interest yon aud your frien'is
10 hear that some new <Assyrian inscriptions
buvc been discovered near tue Dog RIVER. As
they were illesible: from an accut:niataon "t
yeEr1uple Growth, I mad them cleants3 ami OH
Saturday, the 10Th inst, went to The Do: River
To make Lhe nrst stiucczes. ! ha': sent these
slueczcs ~ our German friends anu l am very
auxiuus 10 know what the .1SsyrloioEstS vii.
SAY. a great part Of tue inscription is in very
:-uod preservation. and will le easily read by the
ietrn4u. The INSCRIPTION is not sj,l tho south
side III the river, lise the other sculptures 50
often described hv travellers. hut it is ~. rock
under the old :Qucduct on the NORTH side "f the
end Of the anc,cnt bridge. and beside the
anc!cnt road. Tie iucloscd little sketch, for
which have partly used Tho pnn Of the j:'blical
Archaeological Society. will show you the exact
The rock on which the inscriptions are cut is
eisar metres forty ceutinleares lung, and twelve
metres IN hight, with the modern alueilnct uu
tho top. The Inscriptions bare b t1er{u hcen COW
erct. with ..tec, plants. like the rest sf the
cleared away TWO or three years ago. when the
proprietor was making !. w:ltcr-csln1 close 10
the ruek- 4 stone fell u'lt .! the rock. and was
brought to the kna1. by Tho river, where Dr.
Hartmann. Chancellor nf Tho German Cu:i-
suate IN Beirut, s1* It. with the ASsyrla.'
covered with soil, but tocS no further steps.
uc s:a>ke several times fo me, but had no
opportunity 10 30 10 the river. went with
tou!shrd 10 find such tsne Inscriptions. j set to
work III once. and worked bard for more than
five hours iu the SUIT The worS must have
tue rock nus not been hcWn smooth. tie face
being all rt,G9h :11u Irregular. the inscriptions
following tho sna3n u the lurS- The stIuccZes
] WIS not prepared for 80 much work and the
difficulty connected with it.
Lust Saturday, tho Eth. went asai1 and OBJ
tanned very fine squcc*cs, aftcr Toy men had
worked the whole day on Friday to lead the
water .w which w5 e eon,antIy 1 w. 1nn:n eyer
photographed. in the hope thai tho photographs
will be useiut In reading the Inscriptions send
you copies OF three photographs.
should like to hear the opinion OF your
Assyriolug:sr with regard to these newiy-dis- "
covered Inscriptions, and whether they would
With many kiud regards, l am, dear sir, yours
very faithfully IEI-tCS IOfTEED.
Dr. Jessup in Il note to the Ol,scrrc,, says:
The six Assyriau tablets rhe south side Of
the river arr. all regarded by MIR. Layurd as the
work of Sennacht-rit. the founder uf the palace
t}f k0uyunjik, and wtose army WIS miraculous
~ destroyed on the plain OF lhlllstia- Dr. Hob
li,son ttiiaks it more likely that these 1ub!cis
were cnl by several successive Assyrian mon
nrchs, 1lo less than five Of whom either invaded
this coslu1ry pasSe11 through it IN their way
TO Egypt These were IQl, liglath Pilcscr. Shall
1naucssr, Sa:sron. ind Se''acncrib: These new
inscriptions not less thu twenty-five centuries
old. will no doubt give tho names Of some Of
these -Assyri:n ,,,onarchs nud throw new light
.,n their expeditions down the Syrian coast 1t
scc,ns remarkable. thai, with the water Of the
auc,luct constantly dripping down the facc ut
7tc rtsck- there shuui1 be no iHcrustaucu Of the
carbonate Of lime. The rank growth OF vcscta-
saIl:suiuc TINT, ere.: With the succZes i'll hand.
1t will be easy to ,ciphsr :ho inscription This
is, however, the worK OF exIMrtS who are nut
deferred ty aus. ordinary difficulties.