1898.] 071 the Metals used hy the Great Nations of Antiquity. 615 



during their sanguinary wars. Thus, on the black obelisk of Shal- 

 maneser II., in the British Museum, we have depicted the embassies 

 fi'om different nations bringing their tribute to the feet of the king. 

 The second of these has an inscription reading : " The tribute of Jehu, 

 sou of Omri ; silver, gold, bowls of gold, vessels of gold, goblets of 

 gold, pitchers of gold, lead, sceptres for the king's hand, and staves ; 

 1 received." The gates of his palace at Balawat, now at the British 

 Museum, were of stout timber strengthened with bands of bronze, and 

 the Trustees kindly gave me a small piece of the metal for analysis ; 

 it yielded about 11 per cent, of tin. The grandson of this king, 

 Rimraon Narari III., probably B.C. 797, took Damascus; and the spoil, 

 according to the inscriptions, comprised 2300 talents of silver, 20 of 

 gold, 3000 of copper, 5000 of iron, together with large quantities of 

 ivory, &c. 



Lenormant gives two verses of a magical hymn to the god Fire, 

 which exist both in Accadian and Assyrian ; they run — " Cojiper, tin 

 their mixer thou art ; gold, silver, their purifier thou art." 



Palestine. 



Between the great territories of Egypt and Assyria lies a narrow 

 strip of country, small in extent, but very important in the history of 

 civilisation, commerce and religion. During the period of which we 

 are speaking it was occuj^ied by a succession of different nations. It 

 formed part of the possession of the great Hittite people. We cannot 

 read their inscriptions, and we know little of their history. We have, 

 however, bronze and silver seals that are supposed to belong to them, 

 and curious bronze figures. They seem to have had abundance of 

 silver, probably from the mines of Bulgardagh in Lycaonia. We read 

 of Abraham purchasing a piece of land from Ephron the Hittite for 

 which he weighed out " four hundred shekels of silver current money 

 with the merchant." He was, in fact, rich in silver and gold, and 

 among the presents given to Rebekah were jewels of silver and jewels 

 of gold. 



The first notice of metals in Palestine to which we can give an 

 approximate date is in connection with the invasion of that land, and 

 other countries further to the eastward, by the great Egyptian King 

 Thothmes III.* He led his army through the plai nof Esdraelon, 

 and gained a victory at Megiddo, and amongst the spoil were chariots 

 inlaid with gold, chariots and dishes of silver, copper, lead, and what 

 was apparently iron ore. This took place about B.C. 1600. The 

 original of the long treaty of peace and amity between Katesir, King 

 of the Hittites, and Eameses II. is said to have been engraved on 

 tablets of silver. 



When the children of Israel left Egypt they were, of course, 



* * Eecords of tlic Past,' vol. ii. 



2 S 2 



