The Northern Pacific farmer. [volume] (Wadena, Minn.) 1878-1885, 1883-04-19

Some men require maiden meek
Enough to eat at need the leek;
Some lovers crave classic nose,
A liquid eye or faultless pose;
none of these. I only seek
A cultured mind.
|
ANCIENT ASSYRIA.
| Progress of the Work of Discovery
Among the Cities of Babylonia.
Before the society of Biblical archaol-
ogy in London, on March G, Hermuzd
Rassam read an interesting paper giving
an account of his recent explorations in
Assyria and Babylonia. The discovery
which had generally been received as
the most important by the psychologists
was that of the ancient city of Sippara,
or Sepharvaim, one of the Oldest and
most influential of the Baby lonian cities.
He then proceeded to give an account of
the way in which he was led to make ex-
plorations on the site of this city. In
1881, while spending the night in the
house of the sheik of the village of Ma
hamoodia, about Is miles southwest of
Bagdad, he was shown by an Arab
some fragments of brick and
pottery bearing Inscriptions in
character which he recognized to be that
of the later Babylonian empire. The
him told him they came from the mound
of Dair, about six miles distant on the
banks of the Yussitien canal. Owing to
the flooded state of the country at that
time, Mr.. Rassam and his guide had to
take somewhat circuitous route to the
spot. and, In course of the journey they
passed by some ruins which proved far
more attractive to the skilled explorers
eye than the mounds indicated by his
guide. These were the mounds and
earthen ramparts known as Tel
Aboo Hubba-"the mound of the father
of KISSES" The citadel covers an
area of about l 500 by 400 feet, and ac-
cording to Mr.. Rassam's estimate, has
courtyards and corridors. Mr.. Rassam
made hasty inspection of the site, and
the discovery OF numerous inscribed
bricks and fragments of pottery soon
proved this to be site worth explora-
ton. The work at Dair proving not 80
successful on account of the extreme So
lidity of the walls and debris, Mr.. Ras-
sam moved to Aboo Hubba. Consider.
able difficulty was experienced in OBJ
tanning workmen, owing to the exorbi-
tant ideas of wages entertained by the in
habitants Of the neighboring villages;
but, by availing himself of the passing
bands of Shah pilgrims, chiefly Persiana
and Kurds, Mr.. Rassam was
able to begin work and short.
ly to reduce the Arab workmen to terms.
So we'll did he succeed that in a short
time he was allowed to occupy rooms
o1i To 81, rir Of 1,o int
Seyd Abdallah, and to store his an
tiQues within the sacred precints. After
a few days work the excavators came
in contact with the walls Of an extern
sive edi6ce, and, following the lines of
these remains, soon ascertained the plan
of the building. There have already
been described in the Times the main
features of the building, but the extern
sive explorations carried on during the
expedition of Mr.. Rassam having I'M
covered more than 1870 chambers, with
the court-yards and passages, much
more extensive knowledge of the size
and importance of the building is now
attainable: In one of the chambers or
quadrangle Mr.. Rassam stated
that there were found nearly 10000 in
scribed tablets. These precious records
being of unbaked clay and not of the
harder baked material such as was in
general use, crumbled when exposed to
the air, but by an ingenious process of
baking Immediately after discovery,
large numbers-indeed,n nearly all-have
been preserved and transmitted to Eng
land. These records chiefly relate to
the tithes, dues, and pious donations
received by the temple authorities from
B. c. 625 to the fall Of the Persian en-
10
other portions of the building were found
terra Gotta barrel cylinders bearing in
scriptions of Nabuchualnezzar and Ma
bonidus and memorial tablets of the
kings of the Chaldean empire. Mr. Ras'
sam then proceeds to give description
Of the architectural features en-
hibited by the ruins of Aboo Hubba.
The buildings were different in style
from those found at Babylon or Nineveh;
and from careful inspection he gath
cred that the city was divided into two
portions--the one vast religious center,
consisting of temple, priests quarters
and schools; tile other the civil quarter,
with royal residences and Offices attached.
Each block of buildings was surrounded
by a strong breastwork wall, faced with
ious portion had evidently at some time
been allowed to fall into decay, and
much debris filled the room. Upon
this debris fresh paving had been laid,
the walls had been raised and the rooms
reinhabited, It was the recognition of
this fact that led him to search beneath
the asphalt pavement in the temple for
ancient records and he was rewarded by
the discovery Of the Golfer containing the
ancient foundation records of the tenn
pie. Having described his work at Aboo
Hubba, Mr.. Rassam gave a very inter-
esting account of the surrounding coun-
try, especially ofthe Yussifen canal, the
ancient Nahr Malka. He then briefly
described his work upon the mounds of
Tel-1braheem, about 10 miles east of
Babylon-the site of the ancient city of
Kutha-a city which, like Sippare of
and also one of the cities from which
the Samaritan colonists were; taken. The
works upon the ruins of Babylon, which
he hal conducted, had been most sue
cessful, resulting in the discovery of the
site of changing Gardens" In the Ba-
bel mound, situated without the enceinte
of Babylon, Mr.. Rassam found
traces of extensive hydraulic
works. The mound is next in height to
the Birs Nimroud. In the central por-
ton were found four most beautifully
constructed wells, lined with red stone,
close-jointed cylinders. These wells
were connected with large subterran-
can channel: Upon clearing this, Mr..
Rassam found a water connection with the
Euphrates. His excavations in the
mound of Birs Nimroud. on the west of
the Euphrates, resulted in the discov-
cry of richly-decorated chambers and
halls, and in the recovery of curious
bronze plate forming part of the thresh-
old of the temple of Nebo-the patron
deity of the later Babylonian empire.
Mr.. Rassam concluded an interesting
paper by hoping that every effort would
be made to obtain renewal of the
tirman necessary to carry on the import
ant work in Babylonia.
Mrs. James E. Wirman. of Harrison, O.,
writes: "Dr. Guysott's Yellow Dock and
sarsaparilla cured my daughter of dyspepsia
and Irregularities"