138 
“The cuneiform writing (says Dr. Birch) was used for several 
languages, the oldest of which, the so-called Accadian, is referable 
to the Turanian family, while the Babylonian and Assyrian are 
allied to the Semitic, the Median to the Turanian, and the 
the Persian to the Zend.” 
On the obelisk of Shalmenezer is represented the tribute of 
Jehu ; on the tablet of the same monarch discovered at Kurkh, 
near the head waters of the Tigris, is found the name of Ahab. 
The historical cylinder-prism, and inscription from Korsabad, 
record the campaign of Sennacherib against Juda, (See Postscript.) 
THIRDLY—PHENICIA. 
Recent examinations have discovered Phcenician inscriptions 
on the bronze vessels and ivory fragments of Nimroud. The 
same language has been discovered on Bho clay cuneiform tablets 
of Konyunjik. 
Through the Phceenicians who were traders the civilization of 
the East passed to the Greeks. Their remains are to be sought 
rather amongst those of other nations than upon their own soil. 
“ Their gallies ploughed the purple waters of the Mediterranean, 
descended to the Egyptian Naucratis, threaded the Isles of the 
Afigean, trafficked in the ports of Spain, and probably passed 
Gibraltar; . . tothe poor and distant 
Britons, ee sold ead and fah goods, called “ répé” or rubbish 
by Strabo, in exchange for tin and other products of our Isle, 
and recently glass beads of opaque and veined glass, resembling 
those found in the tumuli of the Celts, have been brought from 
Tyre itself.” 
I need only here refer to the glass bead discovered in the 
tumulus at Marksbury, and recorded by the Rev. John Skinner 
who made a drawing of it. (See Som. Arch. and Nat. His. Soc, 
proceedings for 1861-62, p. 185.) 
FOURTHLY—GREECE AND ASIA MINOR. 
“'The excavations of Mr. Newton at Halicarnassus have ex 
