used and it is curious to note that Nebuchadnezzar calls him 

 "the king my ancient father." ->f- ^JJ ^^yy=^-Jf- < 

 in W.A.I, iv. 2, 22.) The Euphrates is called the "river of 

 Sippara," i.e. ]} Q *] ^ ^ &* 



We meet in this inscription with the oft-repeated phrase, 



~ ^T T? ESf *T ^T !? <H -^ *UT :^3f . 



^11, "with bitumen and brick" I built. The other 

 Nebuchadnezzar inscriptions give ^ >~^"y J^J f:^ "fT^t 

 ^T*~I^!J IT ^IT Hff^T) * ;ia kwpri ^ a-guwi, "with cement 

 and burnt brick/' Kupri is the same as the Syriac ];aab 

 " bitumen," in Gen. iv. 14, and Bxod. ii. 3. Agurri is the 

 same as the Arab ~^\, " lateres coctiles," or burnt brick.f 

 The component parts of the ideograph for bitumen show it 

 to have been something that was "the product of water." 

 A four-column syllabary says its Akkadian name was 5^1* ^>-, 

 ebu.% Herodotus says the bitumen used by Nebuchadnezzar 

 for building came from the Is, a stream eight days' journey 

 from Babylon. 



Throughout this inscription, an ideograph is doubled to 

 express the plural, thus : 



=? ^. ^ ^ abulli, " gates." 



H< -^tfc^ TSIE- BUS -TSIR-RUS, "snake gods." 

 >->f- ildni, 



* The Akkadian name of the Tigris and Euphrates is given by the 

 following from St. 2325 : 



PURANUNU. ^>- :|J y- >f- 



fitrd yap rbv NfTXov Kai Tdyyrjv OVTIQ fTTKTT/juorarot <r\(dov TU>I> Kara rrjv 

 'Aatav Trorttjuwv "EutypdriJG Kai Tiypig TUQ utv Trrjydg f.\ovcnv IK rSiv 'Apfifviutv 

 6pwi> dttirTijicai S'dir' d\kr]\tav ffraSiovc; Siavi^iovg Kai TTtvraKOffiovQ. Diod. 

 Siculus, bk. ii. sect. 11. 



t vox Pers. In Arab, linguam translata " Lateres coctiles " (Freytag, 

 p. 15). 



t The whole line from St. 2325 is thus given : 



See notes by bir H. Rawlinson in his brother's Herodotus, vol. i. p. 253. 

 TloAAuii' Ce Kai Tra^ado^iav ovnov Qiafidrdtv Kara Tr/f Ba/3i>Xui'tav oi)\' rJKiara 

 0awjuatrai Kii TO TrX^Ooc; TYIQ iv avry ytvrwfifvris aa^aXrow roaovruv jap 

 iariv wore ^ifj fiovov raff roaavraiQ Kai rr)K\iKai>TaiQ oiKodo/iiaig SiapKtli', aXXo 

 Kai ffv\\fy6fjitvov rbv Xabv tTrl rb>> roirov dtyeidwc; dpt'taOai Kai Zrjpaivovra 

 Ka'iiiv dvri t,v\wv. Diod. Siculus, book ii. sect. 12. 



