The Louisiana Democrat. [volume] (Alexandria, La.) 1845-1918, 1896-09-16
TWAS EVER THUS.
How . Princess Called Down Another
go Woman $500 Years Ago.

TWAS EVER THUS.
How . Princess Called Down Another
Woman $500 Years Ago.
twenty-five hundred years ago q
princess of the royal family of As
syria wrote letter to q lady of the
imperial court, in which tho latter
was haughtily rebuked for presum.
ing to use the familiar title Of isis.
ter in addressing the royal lady.
In Baltimore an English translation
of this letter was published by the
Johns Hopkins university. DR..
Christopher Johnston has been
working for some time to puzzle out
the dignif1~d terms in which one
woman of those ancient days re-
buked another.
The letter was not written with
ink upon q sheet of tinted paper, as
would be done by.a fair dame today,
but was inscribed in ouneiform CHAR
acters upon tablet of baked clay.
1t is in Is lines, and the royal lady
did not waste words to express her
contempt at the others ,mperti.
nenoe. The tablet was written only
few years before the destruction
of Nineveh and the overthrow of
the Assyrian empire, which il gen.
orally placed by historians as hav-
ing occurred in 608 B. c. 1t is one
of the few remains of that period
which havo come down to the schcl.
ars of tho present day. 1t was dis
covered score or more years ago,
and many psychologists have tried
their hand at translation. DR..
Johnston, in working upon it. did
not have the original tablet, but q
picture of 1t. The royal lady who
wrote the letter, or who probably
dictated it to her scribe. was the
Princess Sheruaeterat a grand
daughter of the famous Assyrian
monarch Assurbanipal, called Sar.
danapalus by Greek writer's, who,
in addition to being a great con.
queror, was the founder of an ex.
tensive public library and a patron
of literature and the arts. The let
ter is translated by Johnston:
message OF the kings daughter to
Asshur -Sbarrat. Thou dost not prop
erly address thy lcttor to me, nor
use the title to me BETTING my sta
ton. People might say, Is she the
sister Of Sheruaeterat, the Oldest
daughter of Ashur-etil-ilani-ukinni,
the great king, the mighty king,
king of hosts, king of Assyria?'
But thou art only the daughter of
the daughter-in-law of the wife of
Assurbanipal, eldest son of Esarnsd.
don, king of Assyria. )"
+. DR.. Johnston suggests that this
sentence was probably crushing
blow for the recipient of the letter,
as the peculiar expression "daugh.
ter of the daughter. law of Assur-
banipal's wife, was most likely a
reference to some delectable bit of
court scandal in the famous Assyrian
empire. The doctor also said that
the rebuke wes a perfectly proper
one from what is known today of
Assyrian etiquette in letter writing.
IF the lady, Asshur- sharrat, I'D
dressed the princess as sister with.
out being so related" said he, "she
certainly committed gross breach
of etiquette and was guilty of an
impertinence which richly merited
a rebuke. Even if she was actually
her sister, it is doubtful whether
she could have so addressed the eld-
est daughter of the sovereign fami.
~. We find q prince speaking of his
father as the king, my lord, but
never as my father And among
private individuals, except in the
case of near relatives, it was the
invariable rule to address each per.
son by his proper title, with the ad'
dition of the words my lord. p
Baltimore Sun.