Northern tribune. [volume] (Cheboygan, Mich.) 1875-1885, 1883-04-14

Progress of the Work OF Discovery
Among the cities OF BabylOnia.

Before the society of Biblical archao
lOgy in London, on March g, HOrmuzt
Rassam read an interesting paper givin1
an account of his recent explorations Ii
Assyria and BabylOnia. The discovery
which had generally been received as thu
most important by the AssyriOlogists
was that OF the ancient city OF Sippara
or Sepharvaim, one Of the Oldest anG
most influential of thelBabylonian cities
he then proceeded to give an account OF
the way in which he was induced tC
make explorations on the site!Of this city
en- 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 rec
sgnized to be that of the later BabylO.
MAN empire. The arab who showed
these fragments to me told me they came
from the mound of Dair, about six miles
distant, on the banks of the Yussifieh
canal. Owing to the flooded state of the
country at that time, Mr.. Rassam and
his guide had to take a somewhat cir
euitOus route to the spot, anil in the
sOurse of this journey they passed by
some ruins which proved far more at
tractive 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 all area of abOnt 1,5OO by
400 feet and according to MIR. Rassam's
estimate, has buried beneath it at least
400 chambers, cOurtyards and corridors.
Mr. Rassam made hasty inspection of
the site, and the discovery of num-
srOus inscribed bricks and fragments
Of pottery soon proved this to be a site
worth exploration. The work at Dalr
not proving successful on account of the
extreme solidity of the walls and debris,
Mr.. Rassam moved to AbOo Hubba. Con-
siderable difficulty was experienced in
obtaining w0rkmen. owing to the exOr-
bltant ideas OF wages entertained by the
inhabitants of the neighbOring villages:
but, by availing himself of the passing
bands of Shah pilgrims, chiefly Per-
slams and Kurds, Mr.. Rassam was able
10 begin work and shortly to reduce the
Arab wOrkmen to terms. So well did he
succeed that in short time he was al
lowed to occupy rooms adjacent to the
shrine of the local saint, Seyd Abdallah,
and to store his antiques within the
sacred precincts. After few days work
the eXcayatOrs came in contact with the
walls OF an extensive edifice, and, fol-
lowing 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 extensive explorations
carried on during the expedition of Mr..
Massam having uncovered more than 1870
chambers, with the court yards and
passages, a much more extensive knOwl-
edge OF the size and Importance of the
building Is now attainable. In one of |
the chambers on the eastern face of the |
great 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 nearly all--have |
been preserved and transmitted to Eng |
land. These records chiefly relate to the |
tithes, dues, and piOus donations re-
ceived by the temple authorities from
B. c. 625 to the fall of the Persian en-
pire. In addition to these records. in
other portions of the building were
found terra Gotta barrel cylinders bear
ing inscriptions of Nabuchuadnezzar
and NabOnidus and memorial tablets
Of the kings of the Chaldean empire.
MIR. Rassam then proceeded to give a
description of the architectural features
exhibited by the ruins Of AbOO Hubba.
The buildings were different in STYLE
from those found at Babylon or Nineveh,
and from careful inspection he gather
I'D that the city was divided into two
one vast religious CEN
ter, consisting of a temple, priests quar-
'ers and schools; the other the civil
quarter. with royal residences and Of
ices attached. Each block of buildings
vas surrounded by strong breastwork
vail, faced with kiln-burnt bricks. The
central or religious portion had evident
~ at some time been allowed to fall in
TO decay. and much debris filled the
DOM. Upon this debris fresh paving
lad been laid, the walls had been raised
md the rooms reinhabited. 1t was the
recognition of this fact that led him to
earch beneath the asphalt pavement i'm
he temple for ancient records and he
vas rewarded by the discovery of the
offer containing the ancient foundation
ecords OF the temple. Having described
lis work at Aboo Hubba, Mr.. Rassam
rave very interesting account of the
urrounding country, especially of the ,
lussifieh canal, the ancient Nahr Malka. !
lie then briefly described his work upon I
hese mounds of Tel-Ibraheen, about 10 c
niles east of Babylon-the site of the s
ncient city of Kutha-a city which.
Ike Sippara of Sepharyaim, was a great
ellgiOus center and also one Of the
tiles from which the Samaritan colon
5ts were taken. The works upon the
uins of Babylon, which he had conduct-