The St. Louis Republic. [volume] (St. Louis, Mo.) 1888-1919, 1901-01-06
Early Ideas Of Assyrian Art
Were Gained in 1918.

Tbs earliest study on tia ground was b,
Rich Osls-1O. who gathered some few SCUM
lures and formed an idea OF Assyrian ART
The French CorSsil Botta excavated Khor,
sabad BOUNDED 20 u. o. in 1876, and Lay.
ard excavsted Nimrud in 1857: these wer.
both Assyrian sites. The older Babylonian
civilization was touched az Erech by Loftu,
IN ls+s-54. and this age has attracted the
most important excavations made since. a,
Tello by sarxeo Cs7e-sD. and at NIppur BY
Peters and Haynes of Philadelphia during
the last few years
The cuneiiorm charscters vsr. sbsoiu,.1v
unexplained until Grotefend in 800 resolved
several OF than by taking Inscriptions which
ne presumed might contain names Of Per
sian Kings and comparing them alongside
OF the known names: thus-without a sin
gle hHed point to start from-he tried a
series or hypothesis until he found one
which ntted the facts. Bournouf din is26
and Lassen QS35-iD rectIfed and comnIe,ed
the alphabet. But the cunelform signs wars
uSed 10 write many diverse languages. az
the roman alphabet IL used at present and
TIE short Persian alphabet was only a frso-
ton OF the great syllabary OF COO signs used
Ior Assyrian Rawlinson had Independently
nlaue OUT inc Persian alphabet. using the
Zend and Sanskrit for the language Ha
next. from thu trilingual Behistun inscrip-
ZION IN Persian, Assyrian and Vannlc re-
sOIVed the long Assyrian syllsbary, using
hebrew for the language. Since then
other more obscure languages written in
cuheiform have been worked with more or
less success; the most important IS the
IuTanian language. used by the earlier IN
habitants OF Babylonia before the Semitic
INVASION this is recorded by many sylla-
oaries and dictionaries. and TRANSACTIONS
complied by the literary Semitic Kings.
IAe general View OF the civilization which
has been obtained by these Iabors OF the
Ghawra Il
portant 10 the world than any other
Cuneiform was the literary script OF ,bs
"orld Tor at least 5000 years, the oalv
fleolum or writing from the Mediterranean
TO the indian Ocean. The BabylonIan cul-
lure was almost certainly the source OF the
Oldest present clvilization-tha Of China.
And the arts were developed prob, hlv
even earlier than in ERypt. The drst a.,
habitants were called Sumirfan Tor rivar
folk) In distinction from the Accadian DOR
hlshIandl people who came from Flam
down into the Euphrates Valley, bringing
with them the use Of writing. Their
earnest writing was OF figure symbols
elke tne Egyptian and Hittite); but as in
the valley clay tablets were the only ma
terlal Tor writing. the figures became grad
uaiIy transformed into groups Of straight
lines and spots. impressed on the clay:
hence the signs were formaIized into wha,
We call cuneiform. The Semitic Invaders
were using cuneiform character by about
1000 p. c.
The early civilization was INTENSELY re-
IE1ous. the main buildings being the tenn
pies, which were placed on enormous piles
or hrickwork. The sculpture was az a
high level In the time OF Naram-Sinn, about
900 B. c.; and yet below his ruins at Nip
there are no less than thirty-hve feet
depth OF earlier ruins which must ..tend
back TO 900 or 1000 r. C. In early times
stone implements were used alongside OF
copper and bronze. as We find In Egypt
5000 B. c. Pottery was well made, and also
reliefs In terra Gotta. Personal
or engraved gems and goldwork were COM
mon.