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

~"rs'hiz"d communities that they
worked and traded and believed In
formal religions much ~ they DO nov
"nd that they had attained ~ hlsh
standard IN the arts To the west.rr
world the A~yrian and Babyloriar
history has n further great interest N
that ~ 7mplih's ard che,ks ~" pd
= Testament history. when vr un,o
III" remains 81 their great palace.
ana capitals. their statues nud poo.
lsWditon-, ia" test ~ n, IT. laws and
the actual tablets s.gncI ~ ,hoii
pafp". Tiglath If.ts"r. S~eYu,chcr,h.
~HcIshdz1ir. Ncbuchadnrzzai Sur.
dana pIlus and the rest become com.
'hins more than names ~ poets fan.
cies. The code II IIammurabi. and
thu" story Of the creation. which l'rof
Jastrow gives AS u specimen Of li,cra.
tire. have provided Biblical critics
with work for a long time to comc
Assyriologists are agreed that two
distinct races occupied the valley of
the two great rivers. from the cviJcuc.
-! The CURES on the monuments. On.
u these was Semitic. and for Tits the
am Akkad has been adopted: tn,
other was not Semitic. was possibly
Monaghan. ard is assigned to the con
ven!cntly indetinit" Turanian group:
the name applied to Il is sumner. They
dinered In Iarguagc. and which con-
quered the other seems ,n lee u matter
OF dispurc, the author believes the
Akkadiais were the original iu.Iap-
itants, and that the SumerinnS came
dtwn from the mountain regions and
invaded the land. both lived tcgethcr
In Babylonia tn III" tim" Of the in
script!ons.
The chapters OH IN. gods. ON the
cults and the magic formulas are
th"sc. perhaps. "a which Prof. Jasiruw
has expended tho greatest care: 'hrN
arc full Of details which must We read
IN his book. We can touch only on
his explanation of the manner in
which "A group ~ delt!ss arose cut {
what would appear to he the dominant
monothe!stic Ideal Of the Semitic
races. The oldest documents reveal
a number Of little states In the Eu-
i'hrates Valley, grouped around som,
centre with now one centre. now an
other exercising control over a larger
section. This political picture is COM
plemented by the corresponding
growth OF the local deity: as h. en-
tends his sway he Is endowed with at
tributes that are quite Independent 81
main, ,,., .s.s "e 'r,s
district carried with 1t the conquest, Z
.n,Ir,,, aha.. -, ~ "o'
, ~annanden, nns,,,an nhI, aV' ~
wants az otpc;aI. ~, ~. ,.,n.,s.,
god I, mi. UNI ,h.ra ii. 49,"
beon" An ~ Tho r,,,. 90.
scr,bed minu,.ly. M, ~irteros,tn,
amory Them arc ~, god ,,,,. ,,,,.r-
and Narduk the esnecia, ynd -, MI,
lon. There il N marked .ip,iI.r,,v T.,
the attributes Of al, these de,,ies. M,
striking to us are the a~nalugies with
the Deity Il the Old Testnmon,
We will close with Prof. rows
account of the code OF Hammurabi tho
most important contribution p,.do O.,
our knowledge NO far l,y thes. reu.
researches, II lies outside tho fold D.,
which the author has restricted him
self. We think mistakenly. .Tbis c,ds
the oldest compilation Of laws in the
world, inscribed on nm oheIisk of hInrl
diori,e standing about c,rht foot bic,
was found In Iaoi In III. ,,,r,. -,
excavations conducted under Nh.
leadership Of ]. de Morgan nm rho
site Of the ancient city Of Sus. TIL,
morument. da;i-r from the rsIr, az
Hammurapi ,2l23-20sl r. c.. was
originally se' up in the ,emp,e of
Marduk NJ Babylon. whence II w,s
ca FRIED az n trophy Of war nv an
Elamitic c%on1ueror IN the twelfth zen.
fury r. c. I, Is written in Raby,oniap
and covers almos, all nb,s,s ~ ,,,-