The daily morning journal and courier. [volume] (New Haven, Conn.) 1894-1907, 1898-02-05


which the professor, probably to the re-
greet of European students, has handed
over to the Pennsylvania museum.
Without in any way disparaging the
work of DR.. Peters, of New York, it
may safely be said that the second part
of his sistory could never have been
written If Professor Hilprecht had not
succeeded in separating the various
strata of the ruins of Nippur and
above all, as Mr., Sayce says, Of crea-
ting the science of Babylonian palace
graphy. From the thousands of frag-
ments, mostly small, of vases smashed
! by the Illamites in 22S0 B. c., in the
courtyard of the temple of Nippur Pro-
| fessor Hilprecht has restored the ear
| Hest chapter of written human history
so far known. The older inscriptions
are being deciphered, and the publica-
ton has been begun. A volume, how
ever, is shortly to be published, giving
a translation of number of later date.
1t is a condition under which -Amnr-
cans and other explorers are allowed
by the Porte to dig, that their finds
shall become the property of the SIAM
boul museum. The result Is that there
has already accumulated In this city a
large and invaluable collection of cune-
form inscriptions from Nippur and it
is with portion of these thac Profess
sor Hilprecht has lately been occupied
and of which his Forthcoming volume
will treat.
While the American expedition in 1893
was working at Nippur it came upon
room nineteen or twenty feet below the
surface. The ceiling was, Of course,
gone. and the walls were in great part
ruined. gang of workmen was or
dered to clear away tine rubbish that
covered the floor, and upon beginning
their task the men noticed numerous
clay tablets. The rom was carefully
searched and cleaned, and seven hun
dred and thirty tablets were collected
by Mr.. Haynes the head of the work
ing party. Many Of them were broken
and more or less damaged, but con-
siderable number were intact and in an
excellent state of preservation. Their
examination leads to the conclusion
that the room had been used for stor-
Ing the business tablets-papers, had
almost written; tablets, however, is the
correct name-of a wealthy firm Of
merchants. The tablets themselves are
of dried clay, of various sizes, many Of
them of the size and shape of an ordi-
nary fiat tablet Of soap with rounded
edges. Any one can see that they are
covered with writing in cuneiform
characters, which are usually sharply
c"t and have in many instances re-
manned as clear andtydistinct as on the
day they were inscribed. The firm to
which they belonged was Murashu
Sons of Nippur who lived at the time
of Artaxerxes i (464 to 424 B. c. and
Darius II (423 to 405s B. c., in whose
reigns the documents are dated, just as
II a modern merchant. instead Of dat
ing his contract A. D. 1897, were to
: write in the sixty-frst year Of the reign
of Victoria. The tablets have been
written by many different hands, and
extend over a period of upward of fifty
years. Professor Hilprecht remarks
that, although he has examined upward
{ of forty thousand cuneform texts,
ranging over nearly every century dur
ing the four thousand years before
Christ. these are made Of exceptionally
] pure and soft clay. and are baked with
greater care than Is usual with Babylo-
Man tablets. Among other points
I which they set at rest is the conclusion
which Assyriologists had arrived at
upon other grounds. that Darius lived
after and not before ArtaXerxes.
: There are proper names of special in
terest to the general reader occurring
S in these tablets. For example, Semird-
' mis-, which we take from the Greek, APP
; pears as Shameramu, and Professor
t Hilprecht in his forthcoming book OH
= IA b1efc criyne MANY othprs
Babvlonia was at an early date a
: country of many languages. There is,
: however no period in its history in
> which the foreign element in its popu-
: lation is so conspicuous as during the
centuries following the fall of Babylon
in 5S3 B. c. The conquests of Nebu-
: chadnezzar in the west were followed
by the removal of thousands Of cap
y tives to his own land--the fertile plains
= OF Mesopotamia The overthrow Of the
= Babylonian empire by the victorious
armies of Cyrus caused the settlement
: of Persian soldiers and merchants ir
the newly acquired province. The con
. slant invasions of nomadic tribes, at
ways keeping as near as possible to one
! of the two rivers-Tigris and Euphrates
which inclosed Mesopotama. helped
: also to modify the character of tht
II people and it's language. Professor
Hilprecht remarks that the population
5 of Babylonia at the time of ArtaxerXe!
= I appears to have been about as thor
:, oughly mixed as that of the states o.
- New York and Pennsylvania at thu
y, present time. and as the emigrant!
> from almost every state in Europe
:. bring the local and personal names o
> their native lands to the different set
- Elements of the new world, so Mede
- and Persians, Arameans and Sabean
- Judeans and ~Edomites. and other peo
- pies. transplanted those of their forme
- abodes to ancient Babylonia. The oil
y, Babylonian names begin to decreas
. and foreign names take their places.
"a Thus the names Ashkeon and Hesh
70 bon, familiar to readers of the Bible
figure in these newly found tablets
10 Indeed, the number of Jewish name
J. known from the Old Testament is unu
&c sually large, especially from the book
n, of Ezra and Nehimiah Professor Hi
f. precht considers it certain that a con
IA siderable lumber of the Jewish exile
= carried away by Nebuchadne2zar wer
l., settled in and around Nippur, anc