The Washington times. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1902-1939, 1922-10-29

|'II
A Similar Mount at Nippur, or
Nineveh, After Excavation.
In Exactly This Manner the
/ Mounds of Ur VIII Be
Cut Away.
And to the Left, a Clay Tablet
Which Formed Part of the
Great Library at Nippur,
Where the Clues to the
Older Library of Ur
Were Found.
Scriptures and the later Babylonian rulers,
such as Nebuchadnezzar, had little regard
for the records of earlier culture. Often
they filled with dirt the archive chambers.
put down a new pavement and proceeded
to build without even examining the
records.
Thus, since the climate is dry, the an
cient libraries were remarkably well pre-
served.
DR.. Stephen Herbert Langdon, an
American Sumerian expert, who is now
professor of Assyriology at Oxford Uni
versity, England, was one of the first to
point to the possibilities at Ur. Ten years
ago, as a result of his studies of tablets
from all the ancient sites, he predicted
that the earliest library would be found at
the birth city of Abraham. DR.. Leon Le-
grain, who succeeded DR.. Langdon as
curator of the Babylonian section of the
University Museum, agrees with that pre-
diction as a result of his discoveries DUR
ing the last two years.
It was DR.. Langdon who found among
the Nippur tablets a Sumerian story Of
Paradise, the Flood and the Fall of Man.
indicating that it was Noah, and not
Adam, who ate the forbidden fruit.
Quite evidently that story was copy
of an earlier one. The original is believed
to be at Ur. DR.. Legrain has furnished in
formation from the same tablets of equal
value. Until i've years ago archaeologists
could trace the time Of Babylonian kings
and dynasties definitely only to 1000
b. G. The list of kings and dynasties that
made that possible came from Nippur anG
Assyria:. A year ago DR.. Legrain found
a new list, in fragments broken by bar
barians thousands of years ago. He put
them together and got a chronological list
back to 5000 B. c. And last Spring he
got other fragments of the same and new
lists that furnished the name of every
dynasty back to the Deluge.
1t should be stated that in the Sumerian
records, as in the Old Testament, impos-
sibly long reigns are attributed to the
early kings
Modern scientists explain that by the
argument that the early historians meant
lunar months instead of years!
few hundred years before Christ
Babylonian historians, and later the Greek
Herodotus, compiled lists of kings based
on the older lists! They estimated that
Prior to that time the early Sumeri.n
legend was that their people had existed
in a state Of civilization for 432, 600 wears
since the Creation.
The figure Of $4,000 years becomes.
when years are replaced by months for
some dynasties and other obviously neces-
sary corrections are made, at the most
conservative estimate, 5000 years. II is
not contended that the Deluee took place
at that time. But 1t Is certain that II was
some time before then, perhaps not more
than few thousand years. With the lists
certain to be found at Ur, and the addi-
tional information not given by later
historians, it is hoped to fix the date
definitely and to offer to the world the
earliest accounts and legends of the great
calamity.
It is not unlikely that in the ruins Of
Ur will be found upwards of one hundred
thousand books Of clay.