Washington standard. [volume] (Olympia, Wash. Territory) 1860-1921, 1882-03-24

stones, anu evidently connected with
the Euphrates. The discovery of these
remains would seem to indicate that
here had stood the hanging gardens,
built by the Babylonian King for his
Median Queen. and the supposition re-
celves additional support from the re-
covery OF a small Inscribed tablet.
which clearly proves the fondness of
the Babylonian Kings for horticulture.
A scribe attached to one of the palace
or temple libraries of Babylon has trans
mitted to us list of the gardens or
paradises OF the BabylOnian Monarch,
Meroiachbaladan, the contemporary of
Sargon. Sennacherib and Hezekiah.
This monarch appears to have been q
lavish patron of horticulture. for the
list furnishes the names of more than
sixty gardens and parks in and about
Babylon constructed by the royal order.
Leaving Babylon, we now cross the
Euphrates and pass southwest to glance
at the work which has been carried out
on the ruins of the Birs Ninroud, the
traditional site of the Tower of Babel,
but really the ruins of the seven-staged
Ziggurat. or observatory tower of the
great Temple of Nebo. at Borsippa.
Excavations in the Birs have brought
to light several chambers of the ancient
temple, and also afforded much infor-
nation regarding the construction of
the stage tower. From this site Mr..
Rassam has brought some fragments
from the great mass of vitrified brick,
which has so long been puzzle to
travellers, and it is to be hoped that
some student of science may explain
the cause of this vitrifactiOn. Babylon
may claim to be the mother of Ninevah
and the cities of Assyria. yet among
the cities of its own land there are
those which could lay claim to far more
ancient traditions. and even to being
the ancestors of Babylon itself Ali
students of history and antiquity will
welcome the discovery made by Mr..
Rassam of the sites of two of these an
cient cities, whose records and tradi-
tions carry us far ba * to the days
when, perchance. Babylon was yet "a
little village" While in the neigh
borhood OF Ragdad, Mr.. Rassam
heard from the Arabs of
some ruins. on the bank of a half-dry
canal. called by the Arabs Yusullieh,
where plenty of written stones were
to be found" The mounds to which
his attentions was directed were called
Deyr, and were situated on the north
bank of the canal about thirty miles
southwest of Bagdad. Tine test trenches
cut in the mounds did not bring to
light any very important remains. only
a number of inscribed bricks of the
time of Nebuchadnezzar. and no in
formation was afforded rs to the site
represented by the ruins. But if the
mounds of Deyr were drawn blank. Il
more fruitful spot was awaiting the
touch of the explorers wand to burst
forth into a rich harvest of discoveries.
While working at Deyr Mr.. Rassam
paid visit to the mounds called by the
Arabs Tell Abu Hubba, where his test
trenches soon rewarded him for the dis
appointment of Deyr. The mounds of
Abu Hubba are very extensive. cover
ference, and the position of the walls
and citadel are clearly marked by
mounds and embankments of debris
Like most Babylonian editices, the
buildings at Abu Hubba are built with
the angles to the cardinal points.
The citadel occupies the southern
portion of the enceinte, and its highest
point was on the southwest face, which
was once OH the banks of broad canal
or branch of the Euphrates. the bed
of which is now represented by
the dry channel of the Ruthwaniyeh
Canal. In the interior of the ediiice
an interesting pair of rooms were
discovered and cleared of debris
by the fortunate explorer. and it
is from records found in these cham
bers that we have been able to ascertain
the name of the city and the nature of
the edifice whose ruins are buried be-
meath the mounds of Abu Hubba. In
excavating trench t lowing a wall in
the central portior ~ the mound, a
doorway was found .iing into large
gallery or chambe: III !, hundred feet in
length and about hirty-five feet in
width. In this e. mber were the re-
mains of large br,, |. altar nearly thirty
feet square. and evidently the great
sacrificial altar of the temple. In the
wall of this chamber a door was found
leading into smaller room, which, from
its construction and position. Mr.. Ras-
sam considered to be the record cham
ber of the edifice. In his explorations
at Ballawat, which we fully described
some time since. Mr.. Rassam found the
memorial records of the builder of the
great temple of the Assyrian war god
placed in a stone cist and buried near
the altar. The scarcity of stone in
BabylOnia caused the builders of the
temples at Abu Hubba to inclose the
records in cist made of terra Gotta,
and to bury this beneath the floor of the
chamber. The shaft sunk by the ex-
cavators employed by Mr.. Rassam
brought these precious records to light,
and from them we are able to ascertain
the name of the city and temple whose
ruins have been discovered. The first
three lines of the largest of the founda-
ton records brings our speculative
thoughts to q focus and center our
minds on the traditions of one of the
most ancient cities of Chaldea: "To the
Sun-god, the great lord, dwelling in
Bit-Parra. which is within the city of
Sippara." Here, then. we have re-
stored to us the ruins ana records of q
city whose traditions go back to the
days before the flood, when pious Xis-
uthrus. by order of his God, "buried
in the city of Sippara of the Sun the
history of the beginning, progress. and
the end of all things antediluvian.
And now we recover. twenty-seven GEN.
turies after they we're buried, the rec
ords of the pious restorers of this an
cient temple. Such discovery as this
almost makes US inclined to dig on in
hopes OF finding the most ancient rec
ords buried there by the Chaldean
Noah.
There are many points of history
raised by this inscription. but it will
suffice to say that from the earliest days
of Babylonian history the city of "Sip-
para Of the Sum- was a prominent CEN
ter of social and religious life. The ex-
cavations, therefore, at Abu Hubba
have restored to US the ruins of the
great temple of the sun-god, "the
House of Light" in the Chaldean He'll.
Opolis. The monument reveals to US
the fact that there was second city of
Sippara, whose ruins are probably
marked by the mounds of Deyr, and