546 DISCOVERIES IN MESOPOTAMIA. 



Germany niuy ju.stly ])e proud that one of her sons, the Hannoverian 

 Georg Fricdric'h Grotet'end (l)orn in 1775 at ^Nliinden), as a young 

 teacher at the gymnasium of Gottingen in 1802. had the genius to 

 decipher the cuneifoi'm writing, and thus placed the key in the hand 

 of science which was to unlock not only the old Persian monunuMits 

 but also the great Ba])ylonian-Assyrian cuneiform literature, and in 

 addition to that make possi))le the reading of the Armenian and Elamite 

 cuneiform script. Germany may also glory in the fact that a scholar 

 of German blood, Julius von Mohl, gave the lirst impulse to the excava- 

 tions in Nineveh; she can also note with satisfaction that the enthu- 

 siastic interest which is l)eing l)i-()ught to the Assyi-iologica! studies, 

 especially in America, and from which grew the Philadelphia expedi- 

 tions, was awakened in the (icrman universities. If, then, (lermany 

 would at last arouse herself and secui'c a share of the pi'iceless art and 

 wiittcM monuments of the old — nay, oldest — human civilization for 

 Crerman nuiscums and ( iei'inan science, this gi'cat national and scicntitic 

 undcitaking may count with certainty upon the symi)athv and self- 

 sacriticing support of all nww and women wlio ai'c zealous for the glory 

 of the (rci'inan name and (icrman science. No one can deny that the 

 excavations in the mounds of Mesopotamia have opened and are con- 

 tinually opening new and rich sources of highest iiuportance foi- an 

 entire series of sciences — Old Testament research, ancient history and 

 geography, the history of art and arclneology, the history of religion 

 and comparati\-e mythology, Semitic and general philology, coiui)ara- 

 tive history of jurispi'udence, the history of astronomy and mathe- 

 matics, and many other sciences. We must refrain froiu entering into 

 details and can oidy brief!}' refer to a few facts. 



For the history of art, particularly the history of sculptuiv and 

 architecture, and in a measun^ also of painting and some of the indus 

 tries, such as stonecutting and pottery, a peculiar and highly important 

 link was recoven^l through the resurrection of Assyro-Pabylonian 

 antiquity, the more important as the history of the development of the 

 Bal)vlonian art can be followed up to the fifth pre-Christian millennium. 

 The image of Naram-Sin found at Diarbekr, the famous vulture stele 

 of Eannadu, the scul})ture with the representation of Ur-Nina and his 

 sons, will forever remain milestones in the history of the art of west- 

 ern Asia, and of human artistic skill in general. And as it is an estal)- 

 lished fact that "the forms of the column, and some other ornaments of 

 Greek art which are much in use, are first met in Assyrian sculptures," 

 light from the East may also be hoped for to illumine the darkness 

 in which the origin of the oldest Greek art is in man}' respects still 

 enveloped. 



The light which sprang from oriental ruined mounds has with one 

 stroke illuminated the sphere of the ancient peoples and States of 



