Daily Kennebec journal., 1897-07-12
THE RUINS OF BABYLON.
American Explorations That Icy Bare the
First Chapters Of Civilization.

To have unearthed the ruins of the
oldest city in the world, the founda-
tions Of which were laid some six or
seven thousand years before the Chris
tian era, says the London Times, is a
reward of which an explorer might in
deed be proud. Such good fortune
seems to have fallen to the lot of Mr..
Haynes. who for nearly five years has
been in charge of the American expedi-
ton engaged in excavating the great
mounds of Nuffar, in Northern
Babylonia, the site of the ancient city
of Nippur, the sacred city of Mullil, or
the "Older Bel" of the Semites.
The history of the expedition which
since 1888 has worked upon this site is
remarkable one; and it's great work
has been so quietly done that it has at
tracted but little attention except
among students of Assyriology. TIE
work was undertaken by the University
of Pennsylvania, the funds. which have
amounted to about $4,000, being pro-
vided by a small committee interested
| in the work. The expeditions of 1S8S-90
partook rather of a prospecting survey
and were under the direction of DR..
Peters. The trial trenches produced a
harvest of about 10000 tablets and in
scribed objects, among them several
records of Sargon I. and his SON
NaramSin, whose date, B. c. $500, was
| by many regarded as the starting poin.
of Babylonian history.
Troubles among the Arabs and the
usual difficulties with the Porte delayed
the work for three years, in 1898 the
explorations were renewed under the
charge of j. H. Haynes, and they have
been carried on continuously ever since
and have produced results such as
were never dreamed of even by the
most ardent advocate of Babyloniar
explorations, and the history of civiliza
ton has been carried back to an an
tiquity never thought Of
The methods of systematic research
such as were employed by Curtius.
Schliemann and Petrie, working on
strictly scientific principles, laying bare
stratum after stratum of the ruined
city, noting with care the position of
every object. no matter how minute
and, above all. the aid of photography,
had never been applied until now and tbs
result is a complete revolution in our
knowledge. By this method the history
of the excavated city may be read like
book, each stratum as it is uncovered
furnishing us with a chapter of it,
long-lost history The story of NippuI
as read in it's ruins is indeed a remark
able one.
The great mounds of Nuffar are sit
uated on the east bank of the now dry
Shat-en-Nil, a great main artery navi
cation canal which once connected
Babylon with the Persian Gulf. The
central feature of the ruins is vast
conical mound-called by the Arabs
Birt el Amir "the Amir's daughter"
which rises to a height of nearly ,!
metres above the surrounding plain
This mound marks the site of the great
ziggurate or temple stage tower frs
built by Ur-Gur or Ur-Bahu, as he was
formerly called-about B. c. $500, and
subsequently repaired and added to b.
later kings. This vast structure was
the central point of the explorations by
Mr.. Haynes
We have long been familiar with an
other of the great stage towers erected
by Ur-Gur at Mugayyar the ancient
Ur; but the one at Nippur is the first
that has been thoroughly explored.
and is built, like most of these Babylon
ian towers, with the angles to the car
dinal points. 1t appears to have con-
sisted, like that of Ur, of three stages
only, not seven, like the later towers al
Babylon and Khorsabad. Each stage
had a thick coating of plaster, COM
posed of clay mixed with chopped
straw; and to protect the lower stage
from the winter rain it was faced with
kiln-burnt bricks and coating of btu
men.
The ascent was on the southeast side,
and here it would seem Mr.. Haynes has
made most important discovery. Two
walls of burnt brick. $40 m high, 1892
m long and seven m from each other,
were built out into the temple court
yard, and this causway was filled in
with crude bricks, and formed broad
roadway leading up to the tower. The
whole temple inclosure is surrounded
by massive wall, Of which more than
80 courses are still visible.
The arrangement of this temple and
tower of Ur-Gur bears a most striking
resemblance to the early Egyptian
pyramids. especially Medium and the
stepped pyramid of Sakkara, while the
causeway recalls that of the second
pyramid of Khafra, which connects 1t
with the so-called temple of the Sphinx.
The question often suggested by arch
| aeologists has been, Were these step
ped pyramids connected with the tenn
pie towers of Chaldea or borrowed
from them? There is now, however. a
possibility of our reversing this Ques-
tion, in the light Of these discoveries at
Nippur. The pyramid, we know, was
but an elaboration Of the Mastaba, and
the resemblance between these and
the towers at Ur and Nippur Is most
striking. Dr. Hilprecht and Mr.. Haynes
maintain, upon very good grounds.
that Ur-Gur was the first to build
these ziggurats. and there is certainly
no trace of such edifices in any OF the
older cities, those at TellO or Lagash
and Abu Habba, the ancient Sippara,
! being both later.
At no period in early Chaldean his
tory was there SO Close contact De
tween Egypt and Cha1tea as during
the dynasty Of ur-uur Dungi and