Los Angeles herald., 1910-04-17

members of the first expedition called tablet HILL
Once this eminence stood the great temple OF
Enlil which made the city, in its prosperous days,
the religious of Babylonia. In connection with
the temple a large library and a school where
thousands of tablets made and kept These tab
lets found in three separate layers, strata,
corresponding with three periods in the history of
Nippur The strata were at varying depths, covered
with deposits of dust and debris that stood for inter-
walls when the city neglected or ruined.
BY far the richest stratum was the lowest. and
hence of course, the Oldest The tablets found here
covered roughly, the period between Sargon l of
Akkad, the first Semitic conqueror of Babylonia and
of the greatest heroes of the ancient world and
the time of the sack of the city by invading host
probably the Eamites; that is, from about 5000 b. c.
TO about 1000 B. c.
The invaders cared nothing for Babylonan culture
and civilization as they found It, They overthrow
the temples of EMIL and to show their contempt for
the god they embarked upon a gratuitous course of
destruction that Investigators will deeply de-
pore. They went into the temple library and
chives with hammers and shattered the precious tab
lets that formed the great heritage of Nippur Pos
sibly they moved by spirit of bravado to defy
the dire curses inscribed upon the books. History
does not say whether the maledictons upon the de
stroyers reached their mark but certainly modern
archaeologists have lively grudge against the van
dals
AS result Of the wanton destruction a perfect
tablet Of this period is almost never found and a
hopeless tumble is all that is left of Nippurs golden
age
Professor Hlprecht came upon the precious frag-
ment relating to the Babylonian deuge story last
October while unpacking two boxes of the shattered
IdDlelS COLecleu Dy lne IOuEID expedition 1900.
For ten years he has been making his way through
the vast mass of material, publishing several books
his discoveries Fifteen years will probably
be required to complete the task Each day has held
and will hold the aluring promise of further tr-
umphs.
Professor Hilprecht running over the 433
specimens i'll the two boxes and separating the
of them, written in Sumerian, the ancient sacred
language of Babylonia from, a few written in
Akkadan, the Semitic dialect of the country Pick
ing up one of the Akkadan fragments which was bad
ly defaced and almost llegble he noticed the word
"a-bubi," meaning "deluge." Now, all the tablets
in the lowest stratum, in which this found, dated
before 1000 B. c., he was Immediately led to hope
that he held what theOlogiss and Assyrioogists have
ever sought in vain, authoritative indication Of
early Babylonian beliefs concerning the flood. The
fragment of unbaked clay, probably hardened in
the sun, dark brown in color two and three-quarter
inches at its greatest width, two and three-eghths
inches at its greatest length and seveneighths of
inch at its greatest thickness. 1t evidently the
reverse Of complete tablet the diverse having been
broken off The inscription was encrusted with a
sediment of hardened clay and nitre crystals.
Vast Amount of Work
Il tried at once TO clean the tablet with a brush
sufficiently recognize what followed" says Profes-
sor Hiprecht but my efforts proved in vain the
crystals aud dirt being too firmly attached to the In
-ised characters Next | turned my attention To the
other contents of the boxes to whether perchance
could find another fragment of the same tablet Again
met with success
"Unablp TO restrain my curiosity and imIaticucc
any longer left for the time being all the uupackpd
fragments in the basement of The museum With the
exception of the supposed 'deIugc' story, which took
to my study For three continuous weeks person.