Martinsburg statesman-democrat. [volume] (Martinsburg, W. Va.) 1906-1921, 1911-05-12
Great King Ahab

Prof ErHst Selin, the Austrian
EsPytoIogist, reports that he has found
IN the lower Jordan plain near tn.
road between Jerusalem and Jericho,
remains Of a palace which he believes
is one Of those built by Herod the Great
The building, asserts Selin, might
easily be reconstructed after the orig
ilal plans. The expedition financed by
J 4cob II. 5chif OF New York has now
brought 10 light many remarkable
ruins in Palestine, Of which the Seln
| lind" is not the least.
The remains of larael's ancient CAPT.
ii to be found. for the most part, on d
huge isolated hill, $50 feet in height,
six miles northwest Of NabIus, other
| wise known Is Sbechem, and about
twenty miles from the Mediterranean
Sea. The mount is covered with or
chards Of olives, figs and pomegranates
The first that is known Of this hill in
history is when il was bought, about
go b. c., by Omri, who built town
called Shomeron, afterwards known as
Samaria. There Ahsb, the son OF Omri,
b tilt tenn pie to BaaI, aud also an
ivory palace he ruled thenothern king
dom down to 722 Il. Cas- see the ac-
counts in the Book of Kings in the Old
Testament.
OLD CITY AND A HISTORY.
When Sargon captured Shomeron
(Samaria) he took away q 900 people
into captivity. The population he left
in the city was put under the reign of
an Assyri Governor, and the city
was colonized by Sargon and Esarhad.
don with Babylonians in place of the
eXiled Israelities. The next conqueror
of Samara was Alexander the Great.
The place continued to be occupied
clear on down to the time of Herod.
File rebuilt and proved" the city
and named 1t Sebaste. This was just
before the birth of Christ.
Herod had a passion for building
cities, and he literally dotted the land.
scape Of his time with temples and
palaces. He was VIGOROUSLY cruel and
was poor pay. lie made everybody
work for him for nothing
Mr.. Schifi's excavator, report that
they have found most of the palaces OF
the Israelte ktngs who dwelt in Sa-
marba, including the "ivory palace of
ALab. Tablets were discovered in the
last named, giving names of persons
and places in some new ciphers Tor
FUNERALS, and few such expressions
as sold WINE" and 'clariied oil, " of
which the tablets would indicate King
Ahab had an abundant supply in his
cellars.
LETTER FROM THE "AssYRIAn CO.
LossUs "
Also there was dug up royal notice
offerings sent to Ahab from Egypt,
and a clay tablet letter to Ahab from
king Of Assyria, possibly Assur-nasir-
pal, kr o@n in history as the" Assyrian
Colossus The Identification ofthe
letter is not yet compete. Ahab was
one of Israels great kings, says Prof
Reisner, who is in charge of the Sama-
rian excavations under the Sehit grant.
A number of Roman and Graeco.
Roman temples and palaces have been
uncovered at Samaria, one Of the
temples having broad curve like the
apse Of a church. 1t is assigned to the
Byzantine period. Arabic lamps,
Roman roof TILES, Greek and Roman
pottery aud broken glass have been
found along with many remains of
accent Hebrew workmanship, includ-
ing massive walls and stairways,
cisterns and plaslered stone drains.
Some of the stones in the stairs are a
yard long and they were we'll cut and
laid