18G BUTLER— ARCH.EO LOGICAL EXPEDITION TO SYRIA. 



[April 19, 



Damascus, Bosra or one of the smaller Syrian cities. Smaller 

 collections of glass and terra cotta, and a few specimens of orna- 

 ments in gold, silver and bronze, together with beads and seals, 

 serve to indicate the high skill of various craftsmen in Syria 1,500 

 years ago. 



Over a thousand inscriptions in Greek and Latin w^ere copied 

 by the Princeton Expedition. They are chiefly useful in giving 

 dates to the architecture, though a few of them are important his- 

 torically or linguistically. The number of Semitic inscriptions is 

 smaller, but more important, perhaps, to the science of epigraphy 

 because they are rarer. These embrace inscriptions in Nabatsean, 

 Palmyrene, Syriac, Safa'itic (so-called), Cufic and Arabic. 



Combining the study of topography, of architecture with its aux- 

 iliary arts, like sculpture, wall painting and mosaic work, and of 

 inscriptions, we should be able to reconstruct the ancient civiliza- 

 tion of central Syria at different periods with considerable accuracy. 



The reconstruction of an early Christian civilization that was 

 rich and prosperous, even luxurious, is especially interesting; for 

 nowhere else in the world, so far as it is known, are there such 

 abundant remains of the monuments, the utensils, the ornaments, 

 the things in daily use that go to make up the unwritten documents 

 of that period, and the inscriptions provide many of the written 

 sort. 



The maps, the monuments of architecture, and the inscriptions 

 are to be published together, beginning at once, in a series of fasci- 

 cules. Each fascicule is to be devoted to an important site or a 

 group of less important sites, and will contain the results of the 

 work of each member of the expedition. 



