Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1886-08-19

FepFeSeut CHe IuueFal OF important
personages and are very long, double
columned, consisting of men, horses
lead by grooms and female figures
though these may be men in female
attire.
The cruel way in which the prisoners
of Asyria were treated would indicate
that burial was sometimes very print
tive. The cuniform writings, pictures
etc., found on walls and palacies,
monuments, and other carved remains
shows butal cruelty, captiyes are left
impaled to die, men are tied in groups
and whipped or their heads are cut off.
Sometimes the prisoner is seen kneel-
ing and an officer holds his tongue
with an iron tongs while his eyes are
bored out with hot iron. Head
less bodies and swinging heads on
various hangings show cruelty which
ought to be forgotten. Even the Gods
sanctioned almost all the cruel tortures
for the greatest and most prominent
God may be seen handing the King
the very instrument to torture the
captives. All such appear to have
been buried in heaps in large ditch.
Yet after all the brutal savagery Assy-
ria honored her important dead with
great monuments. Indeed some Of the
first. and finest mounds or monuments
arose in Assyria. Monuments erected
to honor the dead arose out of the idea
of newly made graves being rounded
or headed up, thus attracting attention
to the memory Of the dead and caus-
ing the admirer to exaggerate and
increase the size of the mound to suit
his view of the dead heroes greatness
At this date 700 years before Christ
it was also customary to burn the dead
as Mesha King of Moab did with his
own son G K. III 27) King Mesha
tried to appeased this God Kemosh
by burning his eldest son, who was
crown prince, on the wall of the city
before both armies. In this case
scripture is confirmed by the discovery
in (l868 by Kline) of the very origi-
nal stone which the King erected ever
his sons ashes. He erected a small
monument of stone feet high 2 feet
thick and II broad containing thirty
four lines cut on it in the Phoenician
characters. The Hebrews buried with
and without collins. Jacob and Joseph
were put in coins and carried to
Canaan, but this seems mainly for the
purpose of carrying the body to dis
tant places,
A period following the decline of
Greece and the rising of Rome gives
us abundant museum relics. In this
time bodies were mainly buried in
collins of wood of all sizes, shapes and
various kinds of material. About 800
B. c., it was fashionable to make
coffin which would closely fit in size
and shape to the body. The lid was
covered so as to represent the person
lying down in a peaceful sleep. The
faces of both men and women indicat-
ed high order of intelligence The
most elaborate art-fnish was bestowed
on collins Of important and wealthy
personages, often polished and were
highly adorned and painted. The
faVorite color being black, many over
laid with gold leaf The sycamore
collins showed the highest finish and
most graceful style.
The Romans buried mainly in collins
of various kinds. Often the coffin
was made of slabs of stone-a crude
vault When the Romans went to
Britain, they buried some in merely
grave Globes, and others in wood and
stone collins. The stone collins are
being continually found around Lon
don at the present time where large
excavations are carried on. The
British Museum contains many sam
Piles of old Roman collins. The cofins
is generally large rectangular box, the
lid separate single slab and the box
itself is generally cut out of single
stone with sides to inches thick.
Mostly of crude masonry-rarely is
the fine carving and polish of the old
Egyptians seen on the collins The
reason for this is that the Egyptian
firmly believed in after bodily and
spiritual life while the Romans had
only doubts or vague beliefs of" exist
ence after death. The Druids and old
Saxions often buried bodies simply in
their clothing without cofins-especi-
ally under some large tree. Roman
funerals were not so significant as
other nations because Of their religion
and beliefs. The Roman tended to
cultivate art so that marble or metal
statuary of men could be made and
preserved e. g. fine original marble
statuary of nearly every Roman En-
peror has been found around Rome
and in the villa of Hadrian.
The statue of Augustus Caesar,
who is chiefly known in ecclesiastc
literature as saying Cali the world
shall be taxed" and thus compelling
Christ's mother to walk many miles