The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1915-11-21

uti'y IN excavation 'h0psh fAysfJs
n1tIt" assistant Itsssam I'D nurh val.
nsbIc ~orh, ~ ~ peflod - systematic
exploration ~ single mounds hogan
Ernest d. sars~c w 1877 explored Tel.
l"h. tn" rite ~ the ancient f,sGash
tho University " Pennsylvania with
l'"i"rs. HAYNES H!ipfcrht and iIarpc
EXPLORED Sippur; III. University ~
Chicago through hanks csp.o-nG
BlsrI!I one, Nd1t, and tho Ce;.
nr,n orient sprl"tI explored hsluIr
ana l;nbtl'u uHdfr Eoldewcy. tn,
mr'r'iins Z London. I'arIs. i1crlin and
'bii1d"Ipiin have stored the harvest
Of works ~ art that have been gath
cred.
E"for" tn" cities and their contents
had lscn dug up = beginning hid
been made toward tho solution Of the
riddle Of the Inscriptions, those stud
led htins the carvings from rersepolis.
Nicbuhr. from the manner in which
the wedges were arranged. decided tlat
there were there I'M &c classes Of writ
ms. anu Jpught they represent, q!
thrte forms Ut u language. In Class
|. he made out forty-two signs,
n concluded that this was alpha
bette writing. in which he was right:
ono ~ his pupils guessed correctly
that the three varieties represented
three languages. another that "a dag
onal wedge WAS used To separate
words. Then. inspired by a French
mans success with mn old Persian
form OF writing. q. T.. tirotefend N
$50, stated hat Class !. was the Old
Persian version and that the other
" were languages of subject coun-
tries: he found signs often repeated
IN the same order. and assuming tina:
I'll" Inscription before him was "A list
of kings, he counted these letters and
fitted in the names Darius. Nerves.
and Hystaspes md the words king
n great" and deciphered eleven
Of h signs correctly. Seven more
were made out by other Germans. Sir
Henry Rawlinson attacked the prob
lem In 1896 In much the same way
without having heard Of Grotefend
lie copied a long inscription Of 400
lines In each of the three varieties
carved on a high rock at Behisa un.
and after working on II for four years
was able to read 200 lines Of the Per-
sian tex, The fact that his results
We're the same az those II Grotsfend.
and his followers proved that they
were right. The progress OF the
knowledge Of Zend and OF Sanskrit
also helped.
Having made out that the Glass L.
cineiform was Persian, Grotefs nd de-
c.dcd correctly that Class III. must I've
It's translation into the language VI
B.nylonia or Assyria; he picked out
ov 200 signs. but nobody ,ou,d maze
anything out Of It till Hincks In lsi7
discovered that the signs represented
not letters but syllables or whole
words, and also that special marks dis
tinguished namcs Of persons. gods.
co ntries n cities. Rawlinson ap-
p''d the theory to the Babylonian
art OF his iIs,r ption. and Il worked
TIE value Of a large number Of signs
WIS ixed. II was decided that the
an uaE was a Semitic one. and the
I, I was made Of asking four scholars
TO each turn In his rendering OF an
Assyrian historical text that had not
been previously translated: the -four
TRANSACTIONS were essentially the same.
proving that they were not the result
of guesswork. The study OF Assyrian
remained in the hands Of French and
English scholars until 1878. when :he
Germans took ii up. Schrader being
the first professor at Berlin. Fried
rich Delitzsch. his pupil. has trained
"A large proportion of the Assy rioloSists
in this country and in Europe
The attempt to Inravel signs for
the third variety Of inscription. Class
H.. was not completed I'LL 1879. The
lanyIage X .till causing trouble: u
IL wholly different from the Enaylor-
an and, apparently. Il L. - be cal'r1
n"o-Elam!t!c FOR the present. II was
.pokeu IN liam. the region east uf
Bahylon,t. Tile cun..form writing
w.4s used Tor other languages besides
tdbl, T. have been .onnd written in
IN" tongu" Of ~Capradocia; at Bog
ha2k"u!. capital If u Hiit!tc Kingdom.
clay tablets representing the 'Hitiitc
'lnguacc IN cInelfcrm were found. at
Tel - Amann, cuneifurm tablets
written IA Mitdnuir, h Language Of
the district. have come 10 light, and
even Gre"k has beer discovered pri'-
ten in The wedge shaped character,
II wHs u form of writing that spread
l~.vord the Assyrlan l"undari"s. Tn.
enthusiasm with wh'ch PROF. Jastrow
tolls Tho story l. natural. The Ian
-ui-c which only seventy years ago
was being spelled out letter by letter
Ike a puzzle has become an important
part Of philology. Is taught in all the
great universities. and has grown so
that students must specialize in its
various branches,
On the contents Of the immense
mass Of materials yielded UP by the
excavations - buildings, monuments.
Inscriptions. documents. utensils Of all
kinds, and on the differences scholars
have drawn from them we can only
dwell briefly. The summary of tn.
history which Prof. Jastrow gives is
- record IF ann of rulers and Of
citics that nourisned f',r y time. If
wars uase1 and at legislation. while
the buildings aud art give some idea
Of Their power and civilization. Tho
record T., drawn from ni'a Of cbroT.
Cl".. from inscriptions on monuments,
from legal aud religious documents.
i i ttagnr'utary. ss Is much Of ~"
his,or! at thr arti1uit. and the Md.
de .NEes With whi"lI we are more IA
m.ii3r. because for some periods full
accounts have been preserved and for
others fow or zone. as VI the case
vita Greece and with Rome. Moro
,,.,r tl,n go, ny,la 80 .hInet ,.,,.l .,,i