New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1890-07-19
THE RECORDS OF ASSYRIA.
DIR. r. F. HARPER SPEAKS OF THE PETERS
EXPEDITION.
THE SITE OF THE ANCIENT NIPPUR-
,sY TELEGRAPH TO THE TKrBUNE.I


Chautauqua July ls-Dr Robert Francis Harper.
of Yale, the Assyrioogst, who accompanied the ex-
petition to Babylonia under Dr. John A Peters, OF the
University of Pennsylvania. is at Chautauqua and has
furnished some new and important particulars OF the
expeditions work Dr. Peters is still in the East, and
nay not return to this country for another year.
"The scene of operations" says Dr. Harper
"was at Ner the site of the ancient Nippur midway
between the Tgris and Euphrates. The country Is
now a malar1al swamp. The mound which we ex-
cavated for tablets is large that at Babylon and
is one Of the biggest in Mesopotamla. The expedition
left this country on June 90, 1888. 1t was led by
Dr. Peters. Herman V. Heprecht and were the
Assyrologists whose business it to decipher the
inscriptions on whatever tablets found, and Field
went as the architect and surveyor to classify the
ruins. We took with photographer and an Arab
interpreter. We reached Nifer in February, 1880
The site is about 1875 miles south Of Bagdad. We be-
gan digging February g. We found 200 or 300
valuable tablets, and thousands Of Others whose
value has not yet been ascertained. Our trenches
about six feet wide, and the finds were
made at depths varying from five 10 sixty feet The
tablets mostly small about the size OF your
hand, and they are Of baked and unbaked clay. The
inscriptions relate principally to commercial contracts
such agreements to the sale of houses The sea-
for excavation ends on April l. The country
then becomes uninhabable. We stayed, however untll
April 49, though near losing one Of our mum
since left the expedition ! understand that Dr.
Peters has been excavating at Aexandreta with good
results. The French explorer DeS Arzaca and Ger
man party are also meeting with success in the neigh
borhood but the Turkish Government has recently
walked up to the fact that the relics discovered are
of value and excavations hampercd by thousand
restrictions and great difficulty is experienced in get
ting permits to work at all"
The Peters expedition is the second that has ever
gone from this country. The first was that under DE-
by Miss Catherine Wolfe, but it made no attempt to
excavate DR.. Harper Is now an instructor at Yale.
He is one of fifteen twenty living AssyriologstS.
This afternoon he told an audience of of the effects
Of recent researches in Babylonia In the tablets
that have been discovered" he said We have Baby
lonan record Of the deluge complete than that
in Hebrew and of much earlier date Babyonian story
resembling that Of Moses psalmody more extensive
than the Hebrew from which the Hebrews have taken
the chief characteristics OF their paralelism, and his
tory beginning earlier than any running parallel with
Hebrew history, for many years, but more complete.
Without il Hebrew history would be puzzle. We
know that the AssyTan and Babylonian Languages
are similar and closely allied 10 the Hebrew. not
We can read to-day documents written 5000 years ago
in Assyrian. We have history at frst hand, when
in Hebrew is obscure The theory of some As
syr0lOgists that the p0lytheistc story OF the delugc
was adopted by the Hebrews and received a mono
deciphcrings OF AsSyTian tablets NAV have on Old
theistic coorng shows how important an effect future
Testament history
Starr religious dress. Tonight the Harvard
Quartette gave concert. DR.. John A. Broadus OF
the Baptist Theological seminary at Louisville has
c. F. Warner. New York, and Mrs. A. W. Train
Evansville, Ohio.