Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1900-11-10


which person could walk around in
| an hour and quarter. 1t is divided
, into two parts by stream which runs
| through it. On the eastern side is the
temple OF Bel with all its surround
i.ings. the residences of the priests and
the temple library on the western
side the people lived These ancient
cities We're destroyed by rebeilions and
ccnquests. and rebuilt again and one
| civilization followed another and all
| have been covered up by the accumu-
! lations of ages BY methodical excs-
! walton each of these civilizations is
reached and studied. and about g; feet
below the desert the remains of high
| civilization are found.
The excavations are carried on by a
| force Of about 400 native workmen su-
| perintended in gangs Of about 20 men
each b! some of the old experienced
Arabs. who have been with former ex-
peditions. Great care Is taken TO pre-
! vent The breakase of the tablets which
being of unbaked clay and lying in the
Suisha BILE from il.
DR.. Hilprecht'S idea. formed in pre-
vious years. was that at Nippur there
ing anything Of which there, was any
knowledge. A fair conception OF former
results was that the civilization ran back
| ~ own wars ID '. Fragments oil vases
found there enabled him to frame
scaffoldins of historical period ante
dating that. His plan during the last
| year was To discover how FAR into the
past this civilization did extend in al the
different parts Of Nippur.
tie began first in the eastern and south
ern limits Of the city; and toposra phical
maps were prepared by the architects.
The outlines Of the city were clearly pic.
tured, and the trenches made by excav.-
ZION. They succeeded in finding the great
Eastern gate of Nippur which dates from
the early part of the fifth millennium B.
G. It was 20 feet below The desert con
structed Of baked bricks laid in bi,umen
Ehe bricks were fiat on one side and con-
Nex on the other. which peculiar form
was used by the earliest builders in Baby
lonia The men who built those bricks
used the same as were used IN the tower
BY digging down the peculiar system Of
fortitication Of that period was discov-
cred. The walls were 80 feet thick al the
base and sloped up on each side. The
quick eyed Arabs would point out where
the lines came of the walls built upon
them by later civilizations The exact
limits OF the city proper were determined
and a street was outlined. AT the foot OF
the wall the weapons used by the OLDEST
nha6 nd 1sev were found; Having no me-
smallest. they made baked clay balls OF
different sizes from marbles to much iars-
er sizes. Also the remains of spears.
After 5000 years b. c. the temples are
characterized by stage tower above
which is an altar to the rising sun. The
question that arose was whether this was
a Semitic indication or was IL the char
3cteristic form of a Babylonian temple,
or of the Sumerian races? On former ey-
petitions. DR.. Hilprecht came TO the con-
clusion that the stage tower did not ex-
list in early days. but from the knowledge
gained in the present expedition, after
digging deep trenches into the centre OF
that mound, that the stage tower existed
millenniums before there was a temple
al Nippur
He traced ii in the walls of the temple.
10 or Is feet into the solid mass. He found
il in five or six other spots. While dig
sins for the walls, he came across.a ire
mendous building. entirely below the
sr we're SHer go Of ong 81 ne
top of it. II had al least two stories. Ine 4
windows We're little holes, no, for light.
but for air ,.o The houses . We're used for
Sacted in the open air From the indica-
tons and the objects found. the play
things for children. etc, he believed the
building could not be later than 1900 years
B. {. Tradition follows after this that
the old power or Nippuf faded somewhat.
From the condition of the wallis il APP
pears that the materials We're taken for
building purposes by later genera tons.
DR.. Hilprecht said that while he person
ally regarded the discovery OF this oldest
building the chief and most important
result of the expedition, perhaps others
would regard the discovery Of the great
Temple Library. At Nippur. the oldest Ii
He said that personally he. had never had
a doubt since he first saw Nippur. IL years
ago. when he examined the little fraS-
mentS Oh the surface that III that group
OF mounds the Temple Library would be
found There was no absolute proof, but
only q private conviction. There was
on shelves. They We're found IN the west
ern centre of the southern round % the
so-called temple. When he began the ex-
caVation he found large number of re-
mains al lodges about two feet wide
little raised from the ground, of uDbaked
clay. They We're arranged III rows. hmm
glorious sight. The ablets had suffered
from the moist earth. and had to be dried
and carefully handled. They had also
been crushed by the falling buildings
esta blished by what was inscribed upon
them and that there was a library sspd
archives of some kind. He found that the
tablets contained grammatical sentences.
written half dozen times. As by pupil
prscticins upon them. Then there were
! list OF words for chairs. stools and other
articles: lists of words OF animals, birds
| or plants. There were the grammatical
and arithmetical and astronomical h.er-
allure of the Babylonians. In addition
| 10 these were lists OF the kings OF dynas-
ties following each other, and the years
81 their reign, and what the king did eaci:
year. There were large numbers OF
| astronomical. astrological and mytholos
| ical tablets, and beautiful hymns, as well
as a large number of historical tablets:
There was practically every branch OIL
literature known 10 the Babyionians rep
resented in that library.
| To make quite sure il was temple IL
/ brary. there were found tablets which
showed how many robes. how many
garments. the god Bel had OH
< such and such day; how many
| temples ,Lere We're beside the chief tenn
| pie what their revenues were, etc. There
| fore there was not the slightest doubt
| that the explorers actually stood i'll that
early temple library known only by copies
| found in the Royal Library Of Ninevch
| about 500 years Il c.. and this library
was a ruin at the time of Abraham.
There was no tablet in il later than ZOO
wears b. {.
| Thousands of tombs were excavated
and examined. Most of them were Of a
date 500 TO 500 y. &. There were others
up to 1000 3. c. But DR.. Hilprecht found
I one tomb that he was certain belonged
to the fifth millennium b. c. IL was
| found far below the lowest trench Of the
ttemple The burial was long before the
DAYS of Solomon. Many objects of gold
I it.
| Speaking of the relations of the expedi-
4 ton to those of other nations, DR.. Hill
\ precht said that DR.. Kaldewey of the
| German expedition recognized the fmpor-
lance of the American results, and thu
necessity of keeping Germany at the
l front had voted an appropriation OF 81, 900
marks per annum for a methodlcal expio-
lration of Babylon itself. A second Ger
| man expedition was in course of fOrma-