Little Falls transcript. [volume] (Little Falls, Morrison County, Minn.) 1876-1894, 1886-02-19
WONDERFUL ANTIQUITIES.

WONDERFUL ANTIQUITIES.
some OF the Late Discoveries-Import
Anciant RECORDS Unearthed--.Nsw Fruits
ofArchaeoloYy. ..,'@s I 7 @f5 Fl. a
New York Sun. E Il %5@s II! WI - E, ~.
Mr.. Wood, the archmologist, while
speaking recently Of the sculpture and
architecture Of the temple OF Ephesus,
said his discoveries enabled him to
prove that Pliny described that ia
NOUS structure in an inadequate and
slovenly manner. This striking re-
mark is one among many Illustrations
Of the fact that archaeology is throw
ing a light upon the history, society,
and arts of the ancients that is not
afforded by the fragments of their lit
erature that have reached us.
Nearly every month the explorers of
ancient remains are making discoveries
that contribute facts of wonderful in
terest to the history OF the past.
When Professor Mommsen examined,
a few months ago, some fragments of
recently discovered papyri bearing up
on Roman history, he expressed his
deep regret that they We're mot dis
covered thirty years ago, that he
might have had the benefit of their
revelations in writing his history"
What, would not Niebuhr have given
could he have known as much about
the topography OF Casar's Rome as
any tourist is now able to see at q
glance? Almost day by day the re-
construction OF the skeleton of the
worlds ancient metropolis is advanc-
ing. Only few months ago the rich
ly sculptu1ed marble coffin of the
heir of the Emperor Galba was un-
earthed. Beside the whitened ashes of
this murdered Caesar lay the remains
Of the members OF his family, in whose
veins flowed the blood of Pompey the
Great. Investigators hail with es-
pecial delight the discovery of objects
that are celebrated in the pages OF the
ancient writer's. Thucydides wrote
twenty-three centuries ago that Peis-
istratos set up in Athens a marble
dedicated to the Athenian Apollo in
elegant verse, which the historian
quoted. This very marble was dug
up while ago and tho cutting of the
letters was still perfectly fresh.
Embalmed for many centuries in the
dry sands of Egypt lay the archives
OF Ell Fayoum, whose rich historic
treasures, now being deciphered in vi
emma bid fair to prove one of the most
wonderful discoveries of the age. It is
only within the past four months that
we have known that these ancient rec
ords give us a consecutive history of
Egypt for nearly one thousand years.
Among these thirty thousa nd frag-
ments, preserved unframed for nine
centuries under many feet of sand,
written in eleven different languages on
papyrus, parchment, and linen paper,
the learned men who are now bringing
them within'our reach find great stories
OF materials illustrating Egypt's social
and political life from the first to the
tenth century of our era. Professor
Karabacek says that several doubt
ful facts and dates that have been
stumbling blocks to historians OF the
Roman empire are settled by these
papyri. Here are found graphic and
detailed descriptions OF the decay of
paganisn1, OF the rise and spread of
Christianity, of the inroads of Islam
and its ultimate triumph. Here has
been discovered a fragment of Thucy-
dides of the third century, seven hun
bred years older than our earliest
manuscript of this author. Among
these records are quite a number
written in the Merolric- Ethiopian
characters, the key to which has not
We. been discovered.
OF exceptional interest, also, are the
discoveries that Mr.. Petrie of the
Egypt exploration fund has made
this year in the Nile delta. Midway
between Alexandria and Cairo, near
the line of railroad, he has found the
site of the once busy and wealthy city
OF Naukratis. It was the chief COM
mercial city of the delta, the home of
many thousands of Greeks, whose
potters made it famous tor their glaz-
ed and painted wares. Here Mr.. Petrie
has dug down to the first foundations
OF the city, exposing layer after layer
OF pottery fragments each forming q
separate chapterin the history OF the
Greek art, and the whole showing the
evolution Of Greek pottery from it's
beglnning in archaic Egyptian forms
to the p erfect work OF later ages.
Many specimens of these potteries and
Of the prescriptions Mr. Petrie has found
are now on exhibition in London, and
they attest the historical, artistic,
and literary Importance Of his dis
coveries.
The vast number of inspections
and documents brought to light at
Ephesus by Mr.. Wood are said to il.
lumine what Neibuhr remarked was
the most obscure period in Greek his
tory. So also our own important ex-
cavations at Asses, the labors of
French savants, at Delos, the fruitful
researches of DR.. Schliemann, the
treasures found in the buried temples
OF Assyria and Babylonia, arereviving
more clearly in the minds of men the
knowledge OF many literatures, varie-
ties of art, and national histories that
was long buried in the earth. What
wonderful inspiration is afforded to
the students of the Biblical literature
by the archaeological work now in pro-
gress inPalestine and far advanced in
the Euphrates valley. New fire and
force and meaning are added to the
glowing words Of Isaiah and to the
cutting sarcasms OF jeremiah, now
that we have before lis in the truthful
records which the earth has shielded
from destruction, the very kings and
empires whom they so bitterly de-
nounced. - .......
How to Eat Grapes.
millions Of people in grape-raising
countries says DIR. G. f. Page, steat
grapes as they ought to be eaten, viz,