28 



ARCHEOLOGY. 



some cases so graceful as never to have been sur- 

 passed in any age of Greece. This style of Cretan 

 pottery, which has received the name of Kamaraes 

 from the grotto where its first occurrence was 

 described by Mr. J. L. Myers, has been found by 

 .Mr. 1'eirie at Kahun, in Egypt, again in a twelfth 

 dynasty connection. The intercourse between 

 (Veto and the Nile valley in the third millennium 

 11. c. has thus left its traces on both shores of the 

 Libyan Sea. Such data "give additional interest 

 to the fact that the palace of Cnossus, in its turn, 

 overlies a vast neolithic settlement." Trial shafts 

 were sont down by Mr. Evans through 14 feet of 

 continuous stone-age deposits. 



The great bulk of the remains explored at Cnos- 

 siis were contemporary with the eighteenth and 

 nineteenth Egyptian dynasties. 



In describing his discoveries in the British Asso- 

 ciation. Mr. Evans said that they not only carried 

 back the existence of written documents on Greek 

 soil about eight centuries before the first known 

 muniment of Greek writing and five before the 

 earliest Phoenician, as exhibited in the Moabite 

 stone, but they afforded a wholly new point of 

 view for investigating the origin of the alphabet. 

 The letter forms borrowed by the Greeks from the 

 IMui'iiicians seemed to have been even influenced 

 by these pre-existing ^gean scripts. The common 

 elements existing in the Phoenician alphabet itself 

 were very noteworthy. De Rouge's theory of the 

 derivation of the Phoenician letters from remote 

 hieratic Egyptian prototypes must be definitely 

 abandoned. The Phoenician, and with it the Greek, 

 alphabet must be regarded as a selection from a 

 syllabary belonging to the same JEge&n group as 

 the Cretan. Such a phenomenon on the Syrian 

 coast was naturally accounted for by the settle- 

 ment there in Mycenaean times of the JEgean 

 island race, the Philistines, whose name survived 

 in that of Palestine. Though later Semitized, their 

 biblical names of Kaphtorim and Cherethim or 

 Cretans, sufficiently recorded their .^Egean origin. 



An exploration of the cave of Psychro in the 

 Lasithi district of Crete, made by Mr. D. G. Ho- 

 garth, confirmed the view that it was the Lyttian 

 grotto connected with the story of the infancy of 

 Zeus in the legend, the earliest version of which 

 was preserved by Hesiod. The cave was double. 

 A shallow grotto on the north had a rude altar 

 in the center, surrounded by many strata of ashes, 

 pottery, etc., among which many votive objects in 

 bronze, terra cotta, iron, and bone were found, 

 together with libation tables in stone, and an im- 

 mense number of earthenware cups used for depos- 

 iting offerings. The lowest part of the upper 

 grotto was inclosed by a wall partly of rude 

 ( 'yclopean character and partly rock cut. Within 

 the Temenos the untouched strata of deposit 

 ranged from the early Mycensran age to the geo- 

 metric period of the ninth century B.C., or there- 

 alxHit. In the southern or lower grotto, in the 

 vertical chinks of the lowest stalactite pillars, 

 there were found toy double axes, knife blades, 

 needles, and other objects in bronze, placed there 

 by dedicators as in niches; and also statuettes 

 and engraved gems. The frequent occurrence of 

 the double axe, both in bronze and molded or 

 painted in pottery, found in the caves indicated 

 that its patron god was the Carian Zeus of La- 

 Itrnmla or the Labyrinth. 



Babylonia. The work of the expedition of the 

 University of Pennsylvania at Nippur, under the 

 direction of Prof. H. V. Hilprecht, has resulted in 

 th<> discovery, in the ruins of the great temple of 

 that city, of the ancient library which had been 

 lost on the destruction of the temple by the Elam- 

 itcs. 2280 B.C. It is a remarkable fact in connec- 



tion with this discovery that Prof. Hilprecht had 

 pointed out eleven years before, when Dr. Peters 

 was at the head of the expedition, that the remains 

 of the library would be found at this very spot. 

 The discovery has proved to be more important 

 than had been anticipated. In the course of three 

 months more than 17,000 tablets bearing cuneiform 

 writing were recovered. They comprise historical, 

 philological, and literary documents, mythological 

 writings, works in grammar, lexicography, science, 

 and mathematics. There is reason to believe, Prof. 

 Hilprecht observed in giving an account of his 

 discovery to the London Daily News, that these 

 tablets " will for the first time enable the world 

 to form an adequate idea of life in Babylon such 

 as could only be possible by the discovery of a 

 national library recording the national progress in 

 literature, science, and thought generally. No 

 document is found in this collection of a later 

 date than 2280 B. c. As this date marks the in- 

 vasion of the Elamites, the fact adds confirmatory 

 evidence that the library was destroyed during 

 this invasion." The unexplored remains of this 

 library are represented as being even more exten- 

 sive than those already examined. The tablets are 

 generally arranged with regularity on clay shelves 

 around the rooms, and Prof. Hilprecht estimates 

 that at the present rate of working five years 

 more will be required for the excavation and ex- 

 amination of the contents, and it is calculated 

 that the unexplored part will yield 150,000 tab- 

 lets to be added to those already discovered. Prof. 

 Hilprecht, writing from Nippur, May 9, to the 

 Lutherisches Kirchenblatt, described the 16,000 

 tablets taken from the eastern wing of the temple 

 as being of the very greatest importance, " because 

 for the most part they consist of religious, astro- 

 nomical, linguistic, and didactic cuneiform texts, 

 besides letters and other historical documents. 

 From other rjarts of the extensive ruins we have 

 taken out 5,000 other inscriptions, mostly referring 

 to business transactions, so that the entire find of 

 valuable cuneiform tablets amounts to over 23,000. 

 In addition to this, I have to a large extent un- 

 covered and determined the eastern fortifications, 

 which reach back to the fifth thousand year B. c., 

 together with the northeast gate of Nippur. One 

 of the most important discoveries was the soiithern 

 fagade, over 600 feet in length, of a palace deeply 

 buried in the earth belonging to the fourth thou- 

 sand year B. c., and the complete uncovering of a 

 large government building with a colonnade, be- 

 longing to the first thousand year B. c." The 

 writer further speaks of having devoted special 

 attention to the reconstruction of the temple of 

 Bel at Nippur " the greatest national sanctuary 

 in the whole of ancient Babylon " and of a great 

 number of articles of art obtained, " ornaments of 

 gold and silver, and other antiquities." The works 

 of excavation mentioned in this letter include the 

 continuation of the systematic exploration of the 

 temple and the completion of the examination of 

 the southern and eastern lines of the walls of forti- 

 fication of the ancient city. " These walls show 

 clearly the different epochs in which they were 

 constructed. There are, first, portions of which the 

 builders were the pre-Sargonic rulers. These are 

 followed by the works of Sargon (3SOO B.C.) and 

 of Narum-Sin, his son ; then about a thousand 

 years later are the fortifications of Ur-Gnr, to be 

 followed by the later Cassite kings, belonging to 

 the comparatively modern period of from 1700 to 

 1100 B. c. The numerous weapons found along the 

 whole line of fortification, especially in the lower 

 strata, were welcome material for determining the 

 methods employed by besieging armies in the earli- 

 est periods of Babylonion history." A palace be- 



