548 DISCOVERIEf^ TN MESOPOTAMIA. 



ill form and iiiiiltcr. their iiiaiiiuMs and ciistoins. llicir system of meas- 

 ures and weio;hts, etc., directly serv(> the advaneement of OUl Testa 

 ment theolou'v and arehieoloijy. 



The respiendenee of the staiTv sky over the endless expanse of the 

 Euphrates' land is soinethin<i' wonderful; the stars s])arkie with the 

 j>"reatest brilliancy, and the movements of the planets, the ehan^ics of 

 the moon, the \arious meteors, enchant the attention at nit^ht. T'he 

 Babylonians learned to calculate the course of the stars; their obser- 

 vations constituted the foundations of the astronomical studies of the 

 learned Alexandrians. And when we even to-day divide the circle 

 into 8f)U dej^rees. the day into twelve hours of sixty minutes; when 

 W(> count seven days of the week and name them aftei' the ])laiiets; 

 when we dixide the apparent path of the sun according to the 

 si«>-ns of the zodiac we therein dirt^ctly follow those old Chaldeans, 

 whose jrrcat scientific accuracy, while it has left traces in some other 

 thin<»'s, has l)orne iiui)erishable fruit in the science of astronomy, which 

 originated with them. And just as the first chapters of the history of 

 astronomy can only be written with the aid of cuneiform works or 

 notices, we must see in the same sources the history of mathematics, 

 geometry, metrology. Nay. in many respects our present civilization 

 is still under the influence of the hoary Babylonian; the week and its 

 seven days and the names of .so many const(dlations. as well as our old 

 square measure, the cubit, and our old weight, the })ound. have their 

 homes in Babylonia. J urisprudence has good reason for the assumption 

 that the often sti'iking agi'eements betwecMi Koman and P>abylonian law 

 will clear uj) the origins of Roman law, which, at least i)artly, are still 

 obscure. Ill the exceedingly rich Babylonian-Assyrian " contract liter- 

 ature" an abundant as well as a valual)le source was disclosed for the 

 comparative history of iuris})ru(lence; many other functions of state 

 institutions receive new and instructi\(^ data of a comi)arative and 

 historical nature from the results of the excavations. We have in 

 mind, for instance, the economic development of those ancient culture 

 states, oi- of the history of war in its manifold branches. Do not the 

 bas-reli(4"s on the alaliaster slabs and bronzes of the Assyrian palaces 

 furnish instructixe infoi'uiation as to the progress in the clothing and 

 arming of the Assyrian army, the developing of the cavaliy. the 

 techiii((ue of fortification, the defens(> and attack l)y means of iiiacliines 

 of assault and mines, on scouting and pontoon building^ 



A new world is opened to human knowledge and inquiry through 

 the P)abvlonian-Assyrian excavations. But w^hile we zealousl}' collect 

 books and documents in our libraries and archives as the o])vious con- 

 dition of scientific progress, we stand idly l)v when the oldest docu- 

 ments and books and art monuments of humanity, the invalual)le 

 original material for a large iuiml)er of scientific departments, go 



