1006 REPORT OF NATIONAL MUSEUM, 1896. 



(the first century of the Christian era), and it also seems likely that 

 inasmuch as there is no representation whatsoever on any Egyptian 

 monuments thus far found, or on any monuments found in Western 

 Asia, of a cotton phxnt, that it was not known in that country in early 

 days. It is difficult to conclude that so striking an object would not 

 have been depicted on the monuments, when the ancient artists found 

 it possible to figure so many of the various plants known to them. 



ASSYRIA AND BABYLONIA. 



Illustrating these countries the following specimens were shown: 

 Cast of the so-called Oval op S argon. — Tbe original is a 

 small egg-shaped piece of veined marble, pierced lengthwise. It was 

 discovered by Mr. Hormuzd Rassam at Abu-Habba, Babylonian Sippar 

 (in the Bible Sepharvaim)^ a city from which the King of Assyria 

 transported colonists to Samaria. The inscription reads : "'I, Sargon, 

 the king of tlie city, King of Agade, have dedicated this to the Sun-god 

 (Samas) of Sippar." This king is supposed to have reigned about 

 3,800 B. C, and the object is no doubt a contemporary document. 

 Tbe date is derived from a statement on the cylinder of Nabonidus 

 found at the same place. Nabouidus, the last King of Babylon 

 (555-538 B. C), the father of Belshazzar, records that when rebuilding 

 the Temple of the Sun-god he found the original foundation stone of 

 Naram-Sin, Sargon's son, which none of his predecessors had seen for 

 3200 years. Agade, mentioned on the Oval of Sargon, is Akkad, enu- 

 merated in the genealogical tablet^ as one of the four cities of Nimrod's 

 empire. Akkad was also the name of the entire district of North 

 Babylonia.^ 



Model of a temple tower of Babylon. — The model is plaster, 

 painted, and was made after the descriptions of the Temple Tower of 

 Borsippa, on the scale of one-fourth inch to the foot. (See plate 26.) 

 From the most ancient times tLe principal cities of ^Mesopotamia had 

 towers. These were used as observatories, also for tbe performance of 

 religious ceremonies, and perhaps in early times for military defense. 

 In Genesis si, 1-9, it is related that certain immigrants began to build 

 in tlie plain of Shinear a city and a tower, which was left incomplete 

 in consequence of the confusion of tongues, and the city was thence 

 called Babel (confusion). This "Tower of Babel" has been connected 

 both by Arab tradition and on the authority of archaeologists with the 

 imposing ruins of Birs-Nimrud ("Nimrod's Tower") on the site of the 

 Temple Tower of Kebo, at Borsippa, which was a surburb of the city 

 of Babylon, and which in the cuneiform inscriptions is called "Babylon 

 the Second." This Temple Tower of Borsippa, termed in the inscrip- 

 tions Ezida ("the eternal house"), was a perfect type of these edifices, 

 and it has been suggested as probable that the Tower of Babel men- 



' Genesis x, 10. 



2Pioc. Society of Biblical Archaeology, VI, p. 68; VII, p. 66; VIII, p. 243. 



