The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1905-03-19
HILPRECHT'S TEMPLE LIBRARY
DIR. PETERS IMPUGNS THE En-
PLORERS PUBLICATIONS.

statement issued yesterday by Or. John
p. Peters, rector Of st. Michael's Church,
this city and an Assyrioogisr Of note, re-
garding the complaints made about the
Pennsylvania man recently.
DIR. Peters was one Of the men who as
sisted Dr. Hilprecht in his early career and
was engaged in the work Of eKceSating
IN the temple Of NipPtir. He prefnces the
statement by explaining thar 6se0ahoved
TO disclose facts Of which he Il EGGPLANT
because the matter OF the publication OF
tablets alleged to have come from temple
library at Nippur has become "a public
scandal" and because his name has been
connected with the matter.
DR.. Peters says that In the early part
Of the year 1900 DR.. John Henry Haynes,
then field director OF the University OF
Pennsylvania expedition 20 BahylOT1A, e1-
caysting at Nippur discovered In thesouth-
eastern mound Of the ruins a large collec-
ton Of unbaked tablets, inscribed with
Cuneiform characters. Prof. Huprecht,
the scientiho director Of the expedition,
DR.. Peters says. arrived on the scene just
as this excavation was completed and
took charge Of the tablets, which had been
all. or almost all boxed before his arrival
He DIR. Hiprechtl announced says
DR.. Peters. that these tablets formed part
Of the long sought Temple Library OF
Nippur. This was the beginning Of a sue
cession Of curious developments With re-
gard 10 this library. Hilpreoht de-
cared that when be had first seen the
mounds Of Nippur and ridden over them
on horseback, more than ten years before,
he had identified the southeastern mound
"a containing the library Of the temple,
and made various other statements quite
at variance with known and Teoprded
facts -zf
-This, however," DR. Peters adrs. 'is a
matter Of comparative insiNifcance and
may. perhaps, be diagnoSed ASH case OF
emcmbran,e. stimulated by too vivid
lima ginatiOn.
the alleged library. he eontin1qs, was
discovered five years ago. UPto TINS GATE
no list Of it's contents has been published,
no TRANSACTIONS or decipherments of any
Of the tablets found I'm II have been given to
the public, nor have any 81 hdeTasS except
Prof. HilpreCht himself, been allowed TO
examine the tablets said to have come from
this so-Called library
nr Peters saws that Prof Hiprecht has
made four publications, differing only
slightly from each other in arrangement
and phTaseology, descriptive OF the dlsoov-
cry Of the library and It's general contents
Now, says Dr. Peters, referring TO these
publications, ION examination u proves
that the astronomical tablet from the
temple library given by Hilpreoht as an
illustration Of the contents OF that branch
Of the NIppur library not only does not
come from that library, but was not even
found at Nippur. II was bought for the
expedition from an antiquity dealer named
Khabaza by Prof. Robert Francis Harper,
now Of the University Of Chicago, IN the
alCa.aN lnfOun the IhTaTV
was discovered, when Nippur was virgin
soil and the library twenty 10 twenty-tour
feet beneath the surface Of the ground
"Of the two multiplication tables given
by HiPrecht as specimens OF the mathenat-
iCal Instruction impaired in the temple
library, one.does indeed come from Nippur.
N was found by me ten years before the
discovery GfNthis temple library, when
the regiG- in which the library lay was
still untouched aud the library, according
10 Prof Huprecht's own statements, lay
20 TO "a feet beneath the surface Of the
ground. Furthermore, il was found in
different portion Of the ruin mounds lar
away from the southeastern mound which
Prof. HipreCht describes as the temple
library The other multiplication table
was purchased by Daniel z. Noorian for
the eNpt dition In 1882 eleven years before
the discovery Of the temple library, and
came, as we know positively, from Abu-
Habha. the ancient Sipparn,'
The drawing Of a temple scholar mem
toned by Prof. Hilprccht, DR.. Peters says,
was In fact discovered at Nippur by DIR.
Haynes, just where DR.. Peters does not
know. This much he does know, though,
that il was mot a clay tablet az all, but a
fragment OF a stone vase with the outlines
of a goose upon it
In summing up DR., Peters says that OF
eight specimens Cpictunes) OF every descrip-
ton given by Prof Hilprecht as coming
from the library, four are positively identi-
fed as found elsewhere, three Of them ten
or eleven years before the library was dis
covered, and Of the five inscribed objects
three certainly do not come from the tenn
pie library and two Of them not from Nip
DR.. Peters says that the one tpecimen gwen
by Hilprecht in the publications teterred
90 from the administrative or biHmess
section Of the library, a clay envelope
tablet covered over with seal Impressions,
81 the museum marks put on II by Hill
precht himself are correct, was purchased
by him for Prof. j. ID. Prince, now Of Co.
lumbia University, in. 1852 eleven years
lefore the, library was discovered.
furthermore. if the museum marks are 70
be trusted, DR.. Peters says, this tablet il
one Of small collection given by Prof.
Prince to the University Of Pennsylvania,
the contents Of which came, DR.. Peters
thinks he can saw with confidence, entirely
from Babylon DR.. Peters admits, how
ever that the museum markings may be
wrong in this case and that the tablet ma y
really belong 10 the NOOrlau COLeCIlOn,
Prof. HlIrccht" SAYS the rector, has
not donied and cannot deny the facts here
stated with regard TO these various OBJ
jects.'
Or. Peters saws that Prof. Hilprecht once
offered an explanation Of these facts to the
American Philosophical Society which
amounted practically To- an admission that
the facts as stated with regard 10 the
ACQUISITION Of the tablets. were correct
but that he was nevertheless convinced
from internal evidence that the tablets did
oil originally come from tho temple library
OF Nippur.
1T is" SAYS Dr. Peters, unnecessary u
traverse such statement and prove, as Il
can be proved that this h not the fact
Tho essential thing at present Is that In hii
publications protesting 20 describe the con
tents Of this temple library, Prof. HlpreCh
has given 10 the public under the name
and Impress Of the Department OF ArchR
ology OF the University Of PennsylVahia
specimens falsely labelled and described
This Of necessity leaves the scholarly work
in doubt as to any statement made by hin
in regard TO this library and raises yeT7
serious questions as to the efficiency AMI
honesty Of the control Of the objects fount
at Nippur.'
-Hnprecht has stated that two-third
Of the tablets found in the library az Nippu
Ngarn ..tyan 10 him T1hav ehould fkara