The Bamberg herald. [volume] (Bamberg, S.C.) 1891-1972, 1917-07-05
OLD BABYLON FALLS AGAIN.
This Time the Ancient City Is taken
by the British Armies.


item in the recent remarkable news
from Bible lands is the tact that
Babvlon has fallen once more, ana
this time to the troops of Great Brit
ain. Despite all the attention thaI
is being given to Bagdad-and some
of the recent articles are amazingly
inaccurate-that city Of the callphs
does not have anything like the ho!o
nnon the public attention that ola
Babylon possesses. In history pro-
phecy, imagery, song and story BABY
Ion occupies a unique position, and
IFS passing into the control OF the
British is noteworthy.
Literally, the British have taken
Rabvlcn. There are really two BABY
Ions. One is the Babylon OF today
and the other is the Babylon OF the
time of Nebuchadnezzar. The former
is the town of Hillah, situated With
IN the confines of old Babylon, and
famous for it's dates. have eaten
dates in many parts of Mesopotamla'
but those of Hillah are the best OF
all. The town is small, with only a
few hundred inhabitants, and It's
buildings are all of mud bricks, like
the Babylon of old.
Hard by are the ruins OF Neou-
ob.dnezzar's palace, and the houses
of the German archaeoligists, VINO
have been at work excavatlng the
ruins for many years. Before the
war there were a dozen German
scholars living regularly at Babylon
toeether with the Arab workmen en-
camped outside the walls OF tnelr
compound. The head of the COM
munitv was the famous DR.. kalde-
way. whose hospitality has been eA-
tended to the few Americans VINO
have nenetrated into that remote cor
ner of the world. Judging from the
guest book which DR.. kaldeway Kept
T should say that there are probably
not a score of persons in all America
who have pressed foot on the very
bricks of the floor of Nebuchaonez-
zar's throne room, as the Germans
have laid it bare.
Kaiser's Stake in Babylon.
Germany had more than a scholar
" interest in Babylon. The expenses
Of the work, amounting, Dr.. kalde-
wav told me, to $4,000 year, were
met by the German government. The
kaiser's personal interest in the Baoy-
Ion project is famous. Not only was
il a research work that appealed TO
the Imagination, but it was also
"stake'' in this wonderful region TO
which the imperial German ambitions
we're directed. The members OF Dr.
Kaldeway's staff were all German OF
ficers, and that their activities were
not exclusively archaeological mas
been demonstrated by the early sue
cess of the Turco-Teutonic expedition.
They accomplished what the British
long dominant in this region, had be-
lieved impossible.
Now Babylon is practically SUP
urb of Bagdad. 1t automatically
follows the fortunes of that metrop-
oils of Mesopotamia. When the city
of the caliphs fell to Gen. Maude
forces, and the Turks were chasea
from all the outlying positions, Baby
lon was one of the first points TO De
cleared. Your unsentimental BRUSH
officer was not unmindful of the ro-
nance of capturing the city, which
had fallen to Cyrus the Great and to
Alexander the Great, and which mas
had a peculiar position in all the his
tories of antiquity. AS German cen
ire. it was important that 1t should
not be left in the enemy's hands.
In the Footsteps of Abraham.
Bible students best understand the
dispatches from Mesopotam1a' Tor
other persons, for the most part nave
only the haziest notions as to the %
cation of Mesopotamia itself, not 10
speak of it's detailed points. Inter
est in the present retreat of the TURK
ish-German forces is enhanced by the
fact that they are operating WITHIN
strictly Bible lands. and their course
is almost identical with that followed
bv Abraham. when he followed the
voice that called him out OF ur OF 'Ne
caldeeF. Nut ell Amaro a'1 is on the edge lzs
of ancient Ur. The Chalde2ns are
still living there. Among the CHRIS
tian leaders hung by the Turks when
they took Bagdad were eminent mon
of the Chaldean Christian church. one
of the historic Eastern churches
which was borne to witness its faith.
this IA l.