The daily morning journal and courier. [volume] (New Haven, Conn.) 1894-1907, 1901-10-10

DISCOVERIES IN ARMENIA.
German Investigations of Chaldean Re
mains.

bIoCON LIMBO LIN aILNlI4NlA.
German Investigations of Chaldean Re
mains.
The interest of the German govern
ment In the Bagdad railway has led II
to dispatch important missions to Ar
menia for the purpose of making arch
geological explorations in Armenia. The
first of these expeditions was intrusted
to DR.. w. Belck alone, and In 1898 and
1899 he was accompanied by the Assyri-
ologist, DR.. G. F. lehman. The re-
port of these expeditions has just been
issued and the results to science are
most important. The first indications
of civilization in the mountain lands
bordering on Lake Van were made
known by the French traveller, DR..
Schultz, who copied a number of in
scriptions on the rocky walls Of the for
tress of the city of Van. Schultz, I'M
( fortunately, was killed by the Kurds,
but his diaries and copies of inscrip-
| tions were recovered and published by
the French government in the Journal
Asiaticue
Layard, who visited Armenia in 1S49
copied number Of Inscriptions, and
/
country, and excavated at Toprak
Kaleh, the ancient palace of the Vannic
kings, copied or took casts of several
more; but the work Of the German ex-
petitions has greatly increased our
knowledge Of the country. The mem
bers collated all Inscriptions previous
ly copied, and increased the material
for the study of ancient Armenian his
tory by nearly two thousand lines-in-
Guiding the discovery of a most import
ant and fairly lengthy bilingual inscrip-
ton in Assyrian and Vannic. The most
important result of the expedition has
been to define clearly the extent Of this
empire, which had almost entirely dis
appeared from the field of history. The
capital city was Van, on the lake of
that name, called Dhuspas-the Tosps
of the Classics-but the royal residences
seems to have been at Toprak Kaleh,
called at a. later period "Rusas town.
The northern boundaries of the empire
are uncertain, but several inscriptions
were found in Russian Armenia. On the
east the Inscriptions were found as far
as Lake Uromiyeh, and one on the
rocky heights near RowandiZ, on the
summit of the Pass Of Keli-shin. twelve
thousand feet about sea level. This in
scription was FIRST discovered by Sir
Henry Rawlinson, and was set up dur
ing the joint reigns of the kings Ispunis
and Menuas about B. C. $780, West
ward, on the rocks at Palu, on the Eu
pirates, near Malatiyeh, the inscrip-
lions of Menuas are also found,
The recovered Inscriptions record
wars against the Hittites, the Assyri-
ans and later against the Barsuas who
appear not to be the Persians, but pos
sibly some Of the Aryan vanguard. The
earliest Inscriptions are those Of Sardur
and Ispunis, and are written In Assyri-
an, the Vannic scrihes not having
adopted the cuneiform syllabary, which
they borrowed, to their own language
This, however, they soon accomplished, /
and during the Joint reign Of Menuas
and his father the inscriptions are all
in the Alarodlan language. One of the /
most important results of these re- /
searches has been to settle the name I
Of the people They are called the |
Khaldians, from the name of the ma
tional god Khaldi, and are to be iden- |
titled with the Chaldaioi of the Greek !
writer's, who figure prominently in |
Xenophon.
Among the obkjects of art obtained, I
and now in the museum at Berlin, are I
several bronze bulls shields ETC., from
Toprak Kaeh. The museum also pos
sesses some inscribed with names of
Argestls and Rusas, kings who We're +
with Sargon of Assyria
(B. C. 72D. These monuments show
The source from which the Persians
derived the artistic forms with which
they decorated the palaces at Persepo-
ls
The resemblance of the Persian sculp-
lures to those of Nineveh Is indlsputa-
BILE. The difficulty was to account for
his, since the Assyrian palaces had
been destroyed long before the time of
Darius. The Armenian artists got
writing, from Assyria; but they repro
luced the bulls, etc, in mal-propor-
Toned form The throne of the god
<haldi found at Toprak Kaleh Is evil
lently copied from one of Sargon or
and in the work of the
Persian artist we see all those forms
exactly reproduced, and the throne of
Darius is an exact copy of that Of Khal-
Ii, and SO of the Assyrian original.
These few notes Will show how impor-
ant have been the results OF these two
expeditions which have been working
luietly among the mountains of Arme-
Messenger.