23 



Tribune Extras Lecture and Letter Series. 



arranged about the room in four divisions, lying in piles 

 like blocks. These he collected caretully and sent to 

 England; but during the transit homo, owing to care- 

 less packing, nearly all were reduced to fragments. 



THE STORY OF THE FLOOD. 



Large numbers of these tablets comprised the gram- 

 mar, lexicons, dictionaries, and spelling book-* of the 

 language, and one of the tour divisions of the library 

 was known as the Mythical and Mythological section. 

 In this latter section Mr. Smith discovered the story cl 

 the Deluge, and in a paper read heron- the Biblical 

 Archjeological Society of London describe:! as follows 

 his patient labors in attaining its restoration and trans- 

 lation! 



From the Mythical and Mythological section of 

 Assyrian texts I obtained a number of tablets, giving a 

 curious serins of legends and including a copy of the 

 story of the Flood. On discovering these documents, 

 which were much mutilated, I searched over all the col- 

 lections of fragments of inscriptions, consisting of sev- 

 eral thousands of smaller pieces, and ultimately recov- 

 ered 80 fragments of these legends, by the aid of which 

 I was enabled to restore nearly all the text 

 of the description of the Flood and considerable 

 portions of the other legends. These tablets were 

 originally at least 12 in number, form- 

 ing one story or set of legends, the account of the Flood 

 being -m the eleventh tablet. Of the inscription de- 

 scribing the Flood, there are fragments of three copies 

 containing the same text; these copies belong to the 

 time <it Assurbampal, or about 660 years before the 

 Christian era. and were found in the library of that 

 monar-h in tin palace at Nineveh. The original text, 

 according to the statements on the tablets, must have 

 belonged to the City of Erech, and it appears to have 

 been either written in or translated into the Semitic 

 Babylonian at a very early period. The date when this 

 document was flr.>t written or translated is at present 

 very dilli-ult to decide. * * * On comparing the 

 Deluge text with dated texts of the time of Sargon I., 

 it appears to foe older than these, and its original com- 

 position cannot be. placed later than tbo seventeenth 

 century before the Christian era; while it may be much 

 older 



The eleventh tablet, which, as Mr. Smith has proved, 

 contains the account of the Deluge, comprises two hun- 

 dred aud eighty-nine lines of cuneiform character.-', in- 

 scribed upon botii sides of the tablet. The copy sent to 

 the Smithsonian is in two plates, showing each side of 

 the origi ial inscription, which are handsomely mounted 

 to protect them from injury. Assuriianipal, in whose 

 time the library was founded, is supposed to be the 

 King who was known to the Greeks by the name "Sar- 

 daiial.alu-," and who occupied the relation to Assyrian 

 history i hat 1'isislratus did to that of the Greeks. T.ie 

 htu lv iif ihe cuneiform characters has since isiij been 

 closely pursued by Oriental scholars, and the results :>,t 

 tained i:i i --ailing the inscriptions contained in the Brit- 

 ish Museum have been long foretold as describing the 

 hiMni v of the Chaldean* and Assyrians. 

 FAOMMIl.i: ril'.I.K. \TK)NS 1JY TUE BRITISH MU- 



BEUM. 



The British Museum has already published siz volumes 

 of the cuneiform lextn in tac-similo. giving also tin 

 results, as far as ascertained, of the labors of various 

 M-hohir.s m ih'-ir translations. In addition to these, ai 

 enterprising I/.ndon linn has published an extensm 

 series ..I pliiitngrah.s of objects in the Museum, and I hat 

 portion which relates to Assyrian history hasjust been 



jeceivedat the Smithsonian, and is the collection already 

 spoken of as being prepared by Prof. Mason forj exhibi- 

 tion. A largo portion of these photographs are of the 

 sculptures in the North-West Palace at Nimruil, which is 

 nearly opposite the supposed site of Nineveh, and are of 

 three groups or periods, B. C. 884, B. C. 745, and B. C. 668, 

 aud afford to scholars tests of progression in the art a* 

 ^heseithree dates. Tue oldest sculptures discovered by 

 Layurd at this place, are of the time of Asshur-ua-zir-pal, 

 B. C. 884 to 850. The deeds of this monarch are related at 

 length, aud no details seem to have been considered too 

 minute or Insignificant to bo depicted. The exploits of 

 the King in hunting ara as minutely finished as those 

 describing his military expeditions. From these former 

 slabs it appears that he " preserved " his game, having 

 a large park stocked with wild animals, the supply of 

 which was kept up bv tribute aud by pres.mts. The 

 King is represented riding down his enemies, bending 

 his bow aud shooting at their defenses, or receiving 

 submission. All the details of slaughter, and of the 

 cruel, barbarous treatment of prisoners are given such 

 as impalement on high poles, cutting aud dus mbowel- 

 ling aud show exactly the various arms, engines, and 

 military implements of the time. Tiie f.vmoas "Black 

 Obelib.t," found by Layard in the C3utral Palace at 

 Niturud, was erected in this palace by Shalmaueser 

 II., and represents the incidents of thirty-one campaigns 

 of that monarch, and among others receiving the embas- 

 sador aud tribute of Jehu, King of Israel. This occupies 

 the top row of one of the four faces, and is the 

 first mention in Assyrian history (B. C. about 

 850) of a Jewish king. The Assyrian series of plates 

 closes with the reign of Assur-bau-i-pal, aud these as 

 works of art present the most advanced specimens. In 

 tLe hunting scenes the sport is tamer as compared with 

 like scenes in the reign of Asshur-ua-zir-pal of 200 years 

 before. The lions are now carried in cages to the spot 

 and then let out, while in the earlier time the game was 

 roused in the open country and hunted down. Thi very 

 expression depicted upon the face of the game shows 

 the decadence of the sport, and all accessories of the 

 scenes depict a lazier and more ostentatious mode of 

 hunting, and foretells the decay of the empire, which i 

 less than 00 years {B. C. 50D) crumbled to pieces. In one 

 of the photographs is showu a small glass vase, found at 

 Nineveh, bearing the name of the Assyrian monarch 

 Sargou. the date of which places it iu the year 719 before 

 the Christian era. This is the earliest kuowu specimen 

 of transparent glass. 



Many of the tablets bearing decrees of the King are 

 trilingual, though merely variations of the Semitic 

 writing. These inscriptions, being placed in parallel 

 columns, long sot at fault the efforts of scholars to de- 

 cipher them, until it was discovered that the three 

 great divisions of the Cualdean Empire were Inhabited 

 by people who varied in speaking and writing their 

 language greaily, and the three columns contained 

 these three variations. 



