Kimball enterprise. (Kimball, Brule County, Dakota [S.D.]) 188?-1883, 1883-04-20
ANCIENT ASsYRIA.

ANCIENT ASSYRIA.
Progress of tho Work Of Discovery
Among h Cities of Babylonia.
Before the society of Biblical archseol-
ogy in London, on March 6, Hermuzd
Rassam read an interesting paper giving
an account of his recent explorations in
Assyrla and Babylonia. The discovery
which had generally been received as
the most important by the Assyriologists
was that of the ancient city of Sippara,
or Sepharvaim, one of the Oldest and
most influential of the Babylonian cities.
He then proceeded to give IN account of
the way in which he was ledto make ex-
p!orations on the site OF this city. In
1851, while spending the night iii 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 i'll a
character which he recognized to be that
OF the later Babylonian empire. The
Arab who showed these fragments 70
him told him they came from the mound
of Dair, about six miles distant on the
banks of the Yussifien canal. Owing to
the flooded state of the country at that
tune, Mr.. Rassam and his guide had to
take a 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 ! 800 by 400 feet, and ac-
cording to Mr.. Rassam's estimate, has
buried beneath it at lest 800 chambers,
made a hasty inspection of the site, and
the discovery OF numerous inscribed
bricks and fragments of pottery soon
proved this to be a site worth explora-
ton. The work at Dair proving not SO
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-
.ant ideas of wages entertained by the in
habitantS of the neighboring villages;
but, by a~vailing 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 workment to terms.
So well did he succeed that in a short
adjacent to the shrine of the local saint,
Seyd Abdallah, and to store his an
tiques within the sacred precints. After
a few days work the excayators came
in contact with the walls of IN extern
sive editice, and, following the lines of
these remains, soon ascertained the plan
of the building. There have already
been described i'll the Times the main
features of the building, but the extern
sive explorations carried on during the
expedition of MI. Rassam having un-
covered more than $50 chambers, with
the court-yards and passages, a much
more extensive knowledge Of the size
and importance of the building is now
attainable. In one Of the chambers or
the eastern face of the great
that there were found nearly 10000 in
scribed tablets. These precior records
being of unbaked clay and nos 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, 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. G. 625 to the fall of the Persian en-
pire. In addition to these records, in
other portions o the building were found
terra Gotta barrel cylinders bearing in
scriptions Of Nabuchuadnezzar and Ma
bonidus and memorial tablets of the
kings of the Chaldean empire. Mr. Ras.
sam then proceeds to give a description
Of the architectural features ex-
hibited by the ruins of Aboo Hubba.
The buildings were different in style
from those found at Babylon or Nineveh;
and from a careful inspection he gath
cred that the city was divided into two
p~ortions--the one a vast religious center,
consisting Of a temple, priests quarters
and schools; the other the civil quarter,
with royal residences and offices attached.
Each block of buildings was surrounded
by a strong breastwork wall, faced with
klln-burnt bricks. The central or relig-
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
r%einhabited, It "a the recognition of
this fact that led him to search beneath
the asphalt pavement in the temple for
ancient records andhe was rewarded by
the discovery ofthe Golfer containingthe
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 Yussiien canal, the
ancient Nahr Malka. He then briefly
described his work upon the mounds of
Tel-Ibraheem, about 10 miles east of
Babylon-the site of the ancient city of
kutha-a city which, like Sippare of a
Sepharyaim, was a great religious center
and also n of the cities from which
the Samaritan colonists we're taken. The
works upon the ruins of Babylon, which
he had conducted, had been most sue
c%essful. resulting in the discovery of the
site of Hanging Gardens" In the Ba-
bel mound, situated without the enceinte
OF Babylon, MI. Rassam found
traces of extensive hydraulic
works. The mound is next in height to
n 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 q large subterran-
ear channel: Upon clearing this, Nj.
Rassam POUNDS water connection with the
Euphrates. His excavations in the
mound Of Birs Nimroud, on the west Of
the Euphrates, resulted ia the discoy-
cry. of richly-decorated chambers and
halls, and in the recovery of a curious
bronze plato forming part of the thresh.
old of the temple Of Nebo-the patron
deity of-tho 1otar noIylo~:..