Perth Amboy evening news., 1923-05-19
Geographic News
Bulletins by the
National Geographic Society
SAYING TT WITH CLAY

SAYING IL Win NhhAA
WASHINGTON, D. Co May ~.
"a brief dispatch that an EngllSH
exnedition has uncovered the tower
Of Kish needs only a bit of interpre-
fation TO indicate it high value as a
news story" says a bulletin from the
washington. d. g. headquarters of
the National Geographic Society.
This tower. situated about eight
Z miles east of Babylon, marks the
site of the capital city Of the first
ampire known to human history ana
the seat of the worlds Oldest known
Kings.
.aThe tower OF Babel was only one
of many such brick piles dating back
TO the peri d of the Sumerians ana
me early Semites. Its location Is
iudged TO have been at Nippur.
Rcyision-Proof documents
Occasional reports of a new hnd
in Mesopotamia, the cradle land OF
our civilization, give an IMPRESSION
tina modern knowledge OF the BABY
Ionians and Assyrians Is sketchy. On
the contrary, from thousahuS u
CLAW tablets which have been re
covered and read, the 2,OVu-yeaf
span from Sargon, down throush
Eammurabi and Tiglath-P ileser, TO
Ilpdif NdA bN
rompletely and accurately thah the
annals of many comparatively mod
ern states.
'arhe interest these records hoio
FOR modern man lies in the fact that
while many latter-day customs
Ideals. and modes of thought GATE
back 10 Jewish life of Old Testament
lines. these Jewish ideas were de-
rived. in turn, from the far earlier
Babylonian civilization.
zone OF the surprises these clay
documents afford are the striking
likenesses of a civilization Of 4,ooo
years ago to that of the twentieth
century.
zone scholar AYERS that a right
thinking citizen of a modern city
would probably feel more at nome
n ancient Babylon than in medleVal
Europe.
Abraham In Middle Ages OF History
another astounding revelation or
.hese writings, according to Albert
r. CLAW. is that Israel, instead OF be-
ug one of the foremost nations OF
tnfjoufty, was a small power, rela-
iyelv inconspicious. Moreover, in
,tead OF the Patriarch, Abraham
,~oionging TO the beginning OF time,
uimanly considered, ii is now found
hat he occupies a middle chapter in
he history of mankind.
but above all else this writer
continues, 'one OF the greatest sur
,rises is that the earliest peoples,
instead of being b~arbarous and un-
.ultored, were civilized and possess
ID a culture Of a high order. In TACT
he greatest creations OF the Baby
ouians in literature and art belong
d the third and fourth and perhaps
earlier, miilenniums before Christ.
I'm one respect, 1t Is pointed out
he historian of these early times
las an advantage over his colleague
vho seeks details in documents writ
en- on paper. The baked and sun
-.ried tablets Of the Rabylonians may
10 hard to decipher but, when read,
hey are original sources reliably,
md not altered or revised by sub
eQuent generations.
Process Is Described
1.-THE well-kneaded clay, which
iad been washed to free 1t from grit
nd sand, while IN a plastic con-
alton was shaped into the form ana
ize desired. AS the style Of paper
ssed at the present time is frequent
y an indication of the character OF
-he writing, the same is true, in a
General way, OF an ancient Baby
onian clay tablet or cylinder. In
nost instances the trained Assyrics-
gist at a glance can determine the
haracter. in a general way, OF an
Inscription by It's shape or appear
ace.
"The stylus. which was made of
aetal or wood. was a very simple
flair. In the early periods 1t was
Triangular and in the latter quad
angular. BY holding it between the
humb and second finger, with the
ex finger on top, and pressing the
orner of it into the soft clay, the
Impression made will be that OF a
zedge, hence the term cuneiform
from the Latin cunues) writing.
THE cuneiform script, written up
p clay, was employed by many diff
erent peoples of western Asia"