The Scranton tribune. [volume] (Scranton, Pa.) 1891-1910, 1897-01-16
From the New York Herald.


discoveries of a commission that the
University of Pennsylvania sent to
make excavations on the site of the
old Nippur, the Oldest city of the world.
This commission. of which the ReN.
John u. Peters, y. D.. was the first
director, and Professor Herman V. Hll-
preCht the permanent ASSyriologlst,
discovered the unexpected and Sclentl-
tically sensational fact that the ancient
Babylonian mound contained not only
the ole cities known collectively as
Nippur, but also a still more ancient
city in which were found cuneiform in
scrption dating back to the year testl-
mated) $3.50 b. G. This showed with
conclusiveness that civilization is CEN
turies older than we believed. for the
beginning of the world has, until these
discoveries been placed at 4,004 B. c.,
and this date appears in all our modern
editions of the Bible.
But greater things have developed
since Dr. Peters gave the Herald the
information it published at that time.
Since then Professor Helprecht has re-
turned fresh from the scene with fur
ther information of a most interesting
nature He reached here last week.
Professor Hilprecht's first announce
ment, on being interviewed by the
Herald, was that he can now posi-
lively and authoritatvely add 1000
years more to the age of the world.
nation at hand in August. placed the
probable date of the beginning of civil
izatiOn a 1000 Is. G. Professor Hlprecht
now declares that his knowledge of the
development of cunetorm writing jus
titles him in saying that the earliest
writing found could not have been de-
VelOped in less than 5000 wears.
This places the beginning of civiliza-
tion at about the year 5000 b. G.
PROF. HILPRECHT.
Professor Hilprecht is one of the half
dozen men in the world who have 50
mastered all the developments of cunei-
form inscriptions that he can at a
glance determine the age of the writ
ing. 1t was he, who three years ago,
enunciated the principle of the develop
ment of the CuneifOrm writings from
pictures and of their gradual change
rom the semblance of the pictured
things to the signs of the later forms
The truth of the theory is admitted
now by all the students of archaeology.
1t forms an important part in the proof
that he brings to support his announce
ment.
The discoveries were made in the uni
VersityS excavations at Nippud. Eight
years ago, when it was decided to send
out an expedition for Babylonian re-
search, Professor Helprecht and the
Rev. DR.. John =. Peters. then profess
sor of archaeology at the university,
decided upon Nippur as the spot that
offered promise of the most ancient
finds
They We're not mistaken. The Eng
lish, German and French scientists at
work in Babylon and Tello have little
chance of finding anything nearly 50
ancentas the bits of vases that the
American eXcavators dug up under the
Temple of Bel
From the beginning OF religion in the
East there has been a firm belief which
thousands of years have not been able
to shake, that nothing about a temple
must be ever destroyed. The vases on
which were written the temple archives
were kept for thousands of years, and
We're broken only by accident The wor-
shippers believed that never could any
temple prosper or bring peace and hap
pness to its people that did not stand
on the outlines of the first temple that
had been built there. If the old temple
was in ruins they did not remove the
fallen walls, but built upon them
The came pratice is still adhered tC
in Constaninople and other modern
cities, which. are continually rising on
their oil walls. The spectacle Of a
house being torn down and taken
away is seldom offered in the East.
BUILDING ON RUINS.
In days when Noah built his ark the
kings and high priests of Babylonia had
the same belief, and some of them ir
making alterations in the temple left
such inscriptions on clay as this:
But previous kings have not kept
the boundary of temple; they have moi
searched out its foundation stone, anC
gathered their architects to lay out the
lines on the true places of the former
temple: and the gods We're not in favor
and did not look kindly on the people.
And so they built their own temple!
with care and precision that they
thought would meet with the approva
of their detieS.
All this may not seem at first to hav,
very much to do with the work of tn,
Pennsylvania expedition, but it has.
it had not been for this belief of th
Worshippers of Bel there would hav,
been no such rich veins of the Stra Il
of civilization as the scientist un
earthed there, uncovering their find
with more pride and joy than the.
would have had in discovering a golt
mine. From seven thousand years be
fore Christ the inscriptions of tn
worlds history, scratched in clay ant
baked to hardness against which tim
and weather have had no effect, ha,
been placed here, as by the human rae
for the enlightenment of races tina
should come afterward.
1t was this spot which, of all the othe
places in the world, promised the rich
est return for the enthusiasts none
and labor, that the two archaeologist
of the University of Pennsylvania de
cided upon in their council before tn
first party was sent out, eight year
ago. Fortune placed the enterprise /
the right place, and Hilprecht and hi
sturdy assistants saw the work don
properly. They fell to and began t
pick and pull the temple to pieces in on
place and another to see how it wa
built, and who built it. They ha
guessed pretty definitely that the
would unearth strata of civilization,
and they found the idea truer than the
had hoped.
And here enters the reasoning o
which Hilprecht's claim that there wel
civilized men seven thousand years |
G. must stand or fall.
ONE TEMPLES LESSON.
High outer and inner walls surround
ed the temple, and, in parts, are sti
standing. The hilltop, over the towe
is ninety-seVen feet above the desel
level and fifty feet above the surround
ing debris The Arabs call the hi
Daughter of the Prince"
on the exterior the temple gives litt
indication of its real antiquity. TT
walls as they We're found at frs
seemed to have been built by Kadasl
nan-Durgu, who lived only 1,200 yeal
before Christ.
1t took very little work, however,
show that the bricks bearing his nan
formed only a thick veneer, or exit
wall, on the real body of the tempt
They were put there by the pious kin
10 prevent the wearing effects of win
and rain and sand, as We're also Il
canals that carried the water away an