The Minneapolis journal. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn.) 1888-1939, 1904-11-04
OLDEST CITY
IN The WORLD
FOUR TEMPLES HAVE BEEN
BUILT ON SAME SITE.
Ruins Uncovered in Babylonia Show
They Were a Part Of the Ancient
b City Of Adab, Dating Back to the
/. Fifth Millennium- Remarkable Re
suits Of Recent Excavations.
Professor Max Kellner, DID,, Com
bridge Theological School, in Boston

-
bridge Theological School, il Boston :
+ The eldest city in the world has just
been uncovered in Babylonia. Such f
was the announcement which met our
eyes in the newspapers a few days
since;. it had familiar sound, and we
shall hear it again, for there are many
such cities still lying beneath the
mounds Of Babylonia and Persia.
The scattered ruins Of the orient have
long attracted the interest of men, part
ly indeed because they represent cities
once inhabited by peoples contemporary
with the 1sraelites Of Old Testament.
interest which is gaining a:place in all #
who care for advancement of mankind.
! When the excavation unearthed the
black obelisk of Tholmaneser Of AS
syria (s60-825 B. o., with it's bas-re-
lief .picturing Jehu, King; Of Israel, kiss
ing his feet, or the Khorsabed inscrip
tion Of sargon. l722-7o51 81! which de-
the kingdom of Israel, or The Taylor
prism Of Sennacherib .s(705-6S1), with
the account of his attack upon Haze
kiah Of Jerusalem, it was naturally
Bible students who greeted the discov-
cries with the greatest. enthusiasm;
past corroborating the statements Of
the Old Testament.
But the interest took on wider as
/ pect as the excavations went deeper
and deeper into the history, Of civiliza-
ton. Assyria seemed as if yesterday.
pals library at Nineveh, where copies
were found of many Of the oldest liter
world, seemed modern in comparison
with what the mounds Of Babylonia
, might have in hiding; the oldest city IN
%ho rs haS1 o,r%I Nd b.
+ T.. What Has Been Done.
It was not until the middle of the
nineteenth century that any real effort
was made in the work Of exploration.
The French, the English, the Germans.
, cans, have taken a hand in the fascinat-
: ing work, and the beautiful collections
! on exhibition at the Louvre in Paris,
the British Museum in London, the Roy
, al Museum in Berlin. and at the Uni
) veersity Of Pennsylvania give some idea
of what has been accomplished.
It is the French who have taken the
l.. lead. In 1878 they began work on the
3 site of Telloh, and there, in 1881, M. p.
y de, :Sarzee uncovered ,Lagash, the old,
r the Oldest known at that time, and a
ian priest, King Gudea, reigned $500
! B. c., fully 500 years before the days
a Of Abraham; Eight ,dioritee statues Of
10 4Ts todaT yn6
a few months another has been un-
earthed, and near by the head which
3. q belongs TO it. :: 49,,
y American exploration in the orient
y began with; the Catherine Lorillard
= Wolfe expedition under the leadership
g Independent in 1s84eiss5. This expedi.
u tion identified the mound Of Abu- Habba
with the ancient city Of sS:lppar, the
N, biblical, ,sepharvain;; At sippar there
was a temple to- the sun god, whose
J, foundation can be traced as far back
n as Naram-Sin This placed Sippar be.
n fore $3.50 B. G., almost 1000 years before
d Lagash, and made it the oldest known
n city in the world. - s59Z
st MIA sent out an expedition which has
been at work more or less continuously
ever since at Niffer, the site Of the an.
cient Nippur. A great temple dedicated
e to the god Bel was discovered. An IN
fsE ssl Of " saGn p9 Gb hdffb y B,
y Hilprecht in 1898, made sargan the
k founder. of this temple. and conse.
Il quently plaeedo:thes date Of Nippur be
~ fore $500 B. c. Thus Nippur became
p the oldest known city in@thesworld
d Rich Discoveries Made in Persia.
<, Not only have the French been exca.
"a waiting in Babylonia,. they have been at
y work in Persia as we'll. Susa, the CAPT
s. 8 tai Of Persia, where Nehemiah once
Il served as cup-bearer to ArtaxerKes, and
the capital of Elan long before, has
st yielded rich returns. It was there that
I'd in December, 1901, and January, 1902
the now-famous diorite stele containing
k, Hammurabi' code was dis Gered-the
n oldest collection of laws in the world
'. No discovery Of modern times has eff
d, fected such a thoro readiustment il
d, our thought Of ancient life and culture
S, for it revealed the existence inathe thirc
d. millennium beforsI Christ (22501 Of a civl
$, Ezation comparable in many respects
lie with OUR own. Sh'1oS% @"'sS5s.I
= Last year the, University Of Chicago
# entered the field. Under an trade
n granted to DR.. Edgar J.. Banks. excaya
th tions were begun at Bismya in Baby
#, lonia. This ruin, consisting of gro9!l