The daily morning journal and courier. [volume] (New Haven, Conn.) 1894-1907, 1896-03-02
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BIBILONIIN DISCOVERIES
some Valuable Records Which Have Been
Recovered from tho Ruins.
(ErOm tho london Times

uncovered from inc HuinS.
(From the London Mmes.)
During the last few years the work
OF archaeological explorations in Baby
lonia has been almost entirely confined
to he labors of the American expedition,
who have been engaged for several
years in the systematic exploration of
the great mound of Niffer, in central
Babylonia, the site of the ancient city
OF Nipur, and to the partially resumed
work of NJ de Sarzec at Tello, the an
Gent Lagash. The discoveries made by
these explorers have been of great i'm
portance, but they chiefly related to the
earliest days of the Chaldean empire,
as far back as 1900 befoe the Christian
era. Important as these discoveries are,
as furnishing us with the material by
which to study the dawn of civilization
in Chaldea, there has always been a
desire that we should obtain some in
scribed records, possibly historical in
scriptions, of the period of the New
Babylonian empire (B. c. 606- 53S), es-
pecially of the reigns of Nebuchadnez-
Ear II. and Nabonidus With the ex-
ception of the Babylonian chronicle of
the reign of the latter monarch and a
few historical notices in his cylinder
Inscriptions, we have but little indica-
ton of the existence of historical rec
ords. A discovery of the greatest inn
portance has just been made by Father
Scheil, who has for some time been ex-
ploring in Babylonia. In the Mujelibeh
mound, one of the principal heaps of
ruins in the enciente of Babylon, he has
dus, the dast Of the Babylonian kings
(B. G. 555-5S8), which contains a mass
of historical and other data which will
be of the greatest value to students of
this important period of Babylonian
history. The monument in question is
a small stella of diorite, the upper part
Of which is broken, inscribed with
eleven columns of writing, and which
appears to have been erected early in
the kings reign. Itlresembles in some
measure the celebrated India house in
scription of Nebuchadnezzar, but is
much more full Of historical matter,
Its value may be estimated when it is
stated that it contains a record of the
war of revenge conducted by the Baby
barians and their Mandian allies against
Assyria, for the destruction of the city
by Senntcherib, in 3. C. sos; an account
of the election and coronation of Ma
bonidus in B. c. SIS, and the wonderful
dream in which Nebuchadnezzar APP
peared to him, as well as an account of
the restoration of the temple of the
Moon god at Kharran, accompanied by
a chronological record which enables
us to fix the date of the SO called Soy
THAN invasion. There is also valuable
reference to the murder Of Sennacherib
by his son in Tebet, b. G. 6S1.
1T will be seen therefore, that we have
thus recovered from the ruins of Baby
Ion a most valuable record. The in
scription opens with a very graphical
recital of the terrible sack Of the holy
city Of Babylon in b. G. sos: "Over all
he uttered; mercy be showed not, tc:
this land an evil curse from his heart
Babylon he came, he descecrated the
temples, poured out the dust, erased the
sculptures and broke off the services .
Still more important is the statement
that he took the hand of the Prince
Merodach and caused him to enter into
the midst of the city of Assur," where,
we are told, he established his seat for
twenty-one years" After that time he
returned as the inscription says, 'the
king of Assyria, who by the power of
Merodach, the overthrow of the land
had accomplished, the son the offspring
of his body with his sword thrust him
through" The return of the statue of
the god to it's temple in Babylon was
probably the work of Esarhaddon, who
in B. c. ST. was doing all he could to
coneiliate the Babylonians. The muir
der of Sennacherib seems to have
caused great satisfaction in Chaldea,
for it is mentioned also in the Babylon
ian chronicle. The second column con-
tains an account of the terrible revenge
exacted by the Babylonians some years
after which, assisted by the king of the
Urmanda, or so-called Modes, the Bar
barians, they ravaged the whole of the
south of Assyria. 1t is remarkable how
Biblical is the phraseology of this pas
sage: 'He (Merodach) granted him an
NO Nerves 0uakIng
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