The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1899-11-02
tites are one of theproofs OF this incur

tites are one of theproofs OF this incur
| sion.
! The Hittite inscriptions are certainly
very rude, bearing on their face the char
acter of picture writing. The first let
| ter Of the alphabet, for instance, is the
rude drawing Of an ox's head. Now, the
word for the first letter of the alphabe
in Greek is Alpha.
1t was long admitted that the Greeks
borrowed their alphabet from the Phoeni
clans, and for many years it was con.
tended that the Phoenicians themselves
had their alphabet from Egypt. but il
has been proven lately that the very
names of the letters in Egyptian were sc
different from those of the Greek that il
was impossible that the Phoenicians
should have borrowed their letters from
an Egyptian source.
In Egyptian the first letter Of the al
phabet is designated by an eagle, which
could hardly have been confused with
the bull or OK, yet the name of this first
letter in Greek evidently goes back to
some language in which the first letter
stood for a bull or an OK.
The Hittites furnish this original most
satisfactorily, not only for the first let
ter, but for all the others when We allow
for the variations which the ages brought
about in changing and simplifying the
forms of each letter. RI. Gender does not
hesitate to announce most emphatically
that 1.-The whole alphabet can be found in
the Hittite system and the Mongol sylla-
bIes describe the same symbols. which
are to be inferred from the Semitic names
of the letters. The Greek names, wheth-
er the same with or varying from the
Phoenician, equally point to the same
hieroglypfic signs"
The Hittite exits which have been dis
covered from time to time and unfortu-
nately remained undecipherable are now
for the first time intelligibly translated
by Dr. Gender. Take, for instance, the
rude picture which is has relief on rock
representing two long robed persons seat
ed facing each other with a table or al
ter between them. The larger figure 10
the left holds a cup and a sceptre. with
the peculiar mace" head noticed by
both Egyptians and Assyrians as peculiar
to Hittite and allied tribes. Assyrian
kings on has reliefs bear similar scep-
ire. out the IIdCe HS1u 10 IhuSi 0Aiie'iiSA'
The small figure to the left has also a
sceptre. Both haze high, cylindrical caps,
or crowns. The text is very irregularly
written, but may be thus translated:
"The Kink causing this province of his
Government to be ruled by me, servant
of him, Sumaubi, what was mine is mine
to rule And the speaker IS Kesir, a ser
vent of this great king and he having
spoken to me it is mine. Prince Kesir.
The name of this mighty monarch is
not at all uncommon. but the prince in
question appears to have lived between
22O1 and 21S7 B. c.
Inscriptions in a single unknown Ian
guage are always difficult TO decipher,
for there is nothing to guide discoverer.
The Egyptian hieroglyphics were not I'M
derstood until the Rosetta stone was dis
covered. which had an inscription on it
in which the hieroglyphics were trans
lated into Greek. Here lay the clue to the
whole question.
The same has been the case with the
Hittite inscription. Until the latest dis
coveries of the French expedition to Cap
parocia there was but single Hittite
inscription combined with one Of another
language. The triumph of DR.. Gender in
the decipherment of these inscriptions an
the tracing of the alphabet back TO these
tribes which Israel drove out of Palestine
is one of the greatest of any scholar of
modern times.