22 



ARCn.EOLOGY. 



Ur of the Chaldees. The tablets are of various 

 form and size. The writing is in some microscop- 

 ically small and in others large and very old. In 

 some cases the seals are impressed upon the tablets, 

 and in other cases they are found on a clay cover- 

 ing placed around the tablet and containing an in- 

 dex of its contents. The dates are marked by men- 

 tioning notable events of the year. One tablet, for 

 instance, is dated "from the year in which King 

 Bur-Sin destroyed the city of Urlulium." Another 

 date is " the year when King Ine-Sin destroyed the 

 cities of Simuru and Lulubu for the ninth time," 



originally stood in the temple of Arnenhotep III, 

 where it bore an inscription of that sovereign. 

 After this inscription hail been partly erased by 

 Akhenaten and re-engraved by Seti I, it had been 

 taken by Mernephthah, reused for his own tem- 

 ple, and engraved on the back wit h a long inscrip- 

 tion, making 1,400 words in the translation, which 

 recites the deliverance of Egypt from the Libyans, 

 with the flight of their king alone and on foot by 

 night, leaving all his women behind, without food 

 or drink ; the security and tranquillity that followed 

 in Egypt ; and closes with an account of the rela- 



TOP OF STELA OF MERNEPHTHAH, ON WHICH OCCURS THE WORD " ISRAEL. 1 



and another " from the year when the god of the 

 moon, the Lord, delivered the oracle," etc. In 

 case a certain year was not marked by a particular- 

 ly prominent event, the year or years preceding are 

 mentioned. For example, " in the year after the 

 year when King Ine-Sin destroyed Anshan " is 

 found on one tablet. Sometimes the year is not 

 mentioned at all. The city at Tello, whence the 

 inscriptions have come, was in ancient times called 

 Lagash and possessed a large number of richly en- 

 dowed shrines, the management of which is often 

 mentioned in the tablets. In some cases the writer 

 gave short reports of separate transactions, as of 

 the income of a number of sacks of corn which a 

 farmer brought in from his field and of the pay- 

 ment of a certain amount of grain for his work. In 

 other cases the writers gave summaries of such in- 

 dividual transactions on a single tablet to cover the 

 business of a whole day as these had been reported 

 by the several persons in charge. Summaries of 

 receipts and expenditures occur which cover the 

 period of half or the whole of a year. On one of 

 the tablets is the account of the grain sown on a 

 certain field and the amount reaped, from which it. 

 appears that the Babylonian fanner expected a re- 

 turn of from 15 to 50 times what lie sowed. 



Egypt. The most important of Prof. Petrie's 

 discoveries at Thebes is that of a stela or tablet 

 of Mernephthah, in which the name of Israel oc- 

 curs the first instance in which the appearance of 

 that name in Egyptian records lias been brought to 

 attention. It was found in the foundations of this 

 temple, a block of black syenite the largest known 

 of that material being 10 feet 3 inches high and 5 

 feet 4 inches wide and 13 inches thick, and had 



tions existing after this event between Egypt and a 

 number of other nations. These lines read, in a 

 version by Prof. A. H. Sayce 



" For 'the Sun of Egypt has wrought this 

 change 



" He was born as the destined means of avenging 

 it, the King Mernephthah. 



" Chiefs bow down, saying, ' Peace to thee.' 



' Xot one of the nine nations raises its head. 



" Vanquished is the land of the Libyans. 



"The land of the Ilittites is tranquillized. 



" Ravaged is the land of Pakanana (near Tyre) for 

 all its wickedness. 



" Carried away is the land of Ashkelon. 



" Overpowered is the land of Gezer. 



"The land of Innuam (Yanuh) is brought to 

 nought. 



" The people of Israel are minished, they have no 

 seed. 



" The land of Kharu has become like the widows 

 of Egypt. 



" All lands together are in peace. 



" Every one that was a marauder has been sub- 

 dued by the King Mernephthah, who gives life like 

 the sun every day." 



In Prof. Petrie's version we read : " The Ilittites 

 are quieted; ravaged is Kanah (near Tyre) with all 

 violence ; taken is Askalon : seized is Chessuloth ; 

 Yanoah of the Syrians (by Tyre) is made as though 

 it had not existed; the people of Israel is spoiled, 

 it hath no seed; Syria is widowed." Verbal differ- 

 ences, not of great importance, appear in other 

 versions. Thus, the line in reference to Israel is 

 translated by Prof. W. Max Miiller, of Philadelphia, 

 "Israel has been torn out without offshoot. Pales- 



