596 



NATURE 



[April 21, 1898 



of preparing this metal was afterwards lost, and only rediscovered 

 in the fifteenth century of our era. 



The period of the first use of iron in Egypt is at present a 

 matter of great controversy. Some contend for its use even in 

 the mythological period, while others would bring it as late as 

 800 or 600 B.C. There exist the oxidised remains of some 

 wedges of iron intended to keep erect the obelisks of Rameses 

 II. at Tanis, which is near the border of Palestine ; but there is 

 no positive proof that they were placed there during his reign. 

 I have little doubt, however, that the Black Baa, mentioned 

 several times in the Harris papyrus, B.C. I2CX), is the same as 

 the jueAas cTiSvpos of Ilesiod ; i.e. iron. In the long account 

 which King Piankhi gives of his invasion of Egypt from the 

 Upper Nile, he mentions iron more than once among the presents 

 made to him by the minor chieftains of the time in token of their 

 submission, indicating that at this period, B.C. 700, it was still 

 not very common. 



Assyria. 



In the country lying between or near the Euphrates and the 

 Tigris we have some antiquities dating, perhaps, as far back as 

 any in Egypt. We have also a great amount of Accadian and 

 Assyrian historical and other literature on tablets and cylinders 

 of clay, and on the walls of the great palaces and temples. As 

 in the case of Egypt, the discoveries of the remotest age are 

 those which have been most recently published. Dr. Peters has 

 just given us the records of the explorations of the American 

 Oriental Society at Nippur, and describes the successive layers 

 of the great temple of Bel. These appear to indicate the absence 

 of metal in very remote periods. The oldest specimens are 

 those recently found by M. de Sarzec at Tello (Lagash) in 

 Southern Chaldrea. They consist of some votive statuettes, and 

 a colossal spear, an adze and curved hatchet, all of copper with- 

 out tin, according to M. Berthelot's analysis. A small vase of 

 antimony, and a large one of silver have also been found. The 

 period of these is supposed to be some considerable time anterior 

 to B.C. 250c. Ac Tel el Sifr, in the same neighbourhood, Mr. 

 Loftus discovered a large copper factory, in which were 

 cauldrons, vases, hammers, hatchets, links of chain, ingots, and 

 a great weight of copper dross, together with a piece of lead. 

 The date of these is believed to be about B.C. 1500. At Nippur 

 the American explorers found at a higher level, in the temple of 

 Bel, what they term a jeweller's shop, which consisted of a box 

 full of jewellery, mainly precious stones, but also containing 

 some gold and copper nails ; these apparently date from about 

 B.C. 1300. In Babylonian graves and other places of about the 

 same period there have been found objects made of copper and 

 iron and silver wire ; but the use of metals seems much more 

 restricted in these great alluvial plains than in contemporary 

 Egypt. Iron, however, was perhaps an exception. According 

 •to Messrs. Perrot and Chipiez, excavations at Warka seem to 

 prove that the Chaldaeans made use of iron sooner than the 

 Egyptians ; in any case, it was manufactured and employed in 

 far greater quantities in Mesopotamia than in the Nile Valley ; 

 in fact, at Khorsabad M. Place found hooks and grappling irons, 

 fastened by heavy rings to chain cables, picks, mattocks, 

 hammers, ploughshares, &c., in all about 157 tons weight. Mr. 

 Layard also found at Nimroud a large quantity of scale armour 

 of iron in a very decomposed state, but exactly resembling what 

 is represented in the sculptures of warriors. Of this he collected 

 two or three basketfuls. 



Coming down to the period of the great Babylonian Empire, 

 we find very large treasures of the precious metals changing 

 hands during their sanguinary wars. Thus, on the black obelisk 

 of Slialmaneser II. in the British Museum, we have depicted the 

 embassies from different nations bringing their tribute to the 

 feet of the king ; the second of these has an inscription reading : 

 " The tribute of Jehu, son of Omri ; silver, gold, bowls of gold, 

 vessels of gold, goblets of gold, pitchers of gold, lead, sceptres 

 for the king's hand, and staves ; I received." The gates of his 

 palace at Balawat, now at the British Museum, were of stout 

 timber strengthened with bands of bronze, and the Trustees 

 kindly gave me a small piece, of the metal for analysis ; it yielded 

 about 1 1 per cent, of tin. The grandson of this king, Rimmon 

 Narari III., probably B,c. 797, took Damascus, and the spoil, 

 according to the inscriptions, comprised 2300 talents of silver, 

 20 of gold, 3000 of copper, 5000 of iron, together with large 

 quantities of ivory, &c. 



Lenormjint gives two verses of a magical hymn to the god Fire, 

 which exist both in Accadian and Assyrian ; they run — " Copper, 

 tin, their mixer thou art ; gold, silver, their purifier thou art." 



NO. i486, VOL. 57] 



Palestine. 



Between the great territories o. Egypt and Assyria lies a 

 narrow strip of country, small in extent, but very important in 

 the history of civilisation, commerce and religion. During the 

 period of which we are speaking it was occupied by a succession 

 of different nations. It formed part of the possession of the 

 great Hittite people. We cannot read their inscriptions, and 

 we know little of their history. We have, however, bronze 

 and silver seals that are supposed to belong to them, and curious 

 bronze figures. They seem to have had abundance of silver, 

 probably from the mines of Bulgardagh in Lycaonia. We read 

 of Abraham purchasing a piece of land from Ephron the Hittite 

 for which he weighed out " four hundred shekels of silver current 

 money with the merchant." He was, in fact, rich in silver and 

 gold, and among the presents given to Rebekah were jewels of 

 silver and jewels of gold. 



The first notice of metals in Palestine to which we can 

 give an approximate date is in connection with the invasion 

 of that land, and other countries further to the eastward, by 

 the great Egyptian King Thothmes III. lie led his army 

 through the plain of Esdraelon, and gained a victory at 

 Megiddo, and amongst the spoil were chariots inlaid with 

 gold, chariots and dishes of silver, copper, lead, and what 

 was apparently iron ore. This took place about B.C. 1600. 

 The original of the long treaty of peace and amity between 

 Katesir, King of the Hittites, and Rameses II. is said to 

 have been engraved on tablets of silver. 



When the Children of Israel left Egypt they were, of 

 course, acquainted with the metals used in that country. 

 They borrowed the jewels of silver and gold of their oppressors ; 

 and of these the golden calf was afterwards made. We read, too, 

 of the " brazen serpent," ^ and of elaborate directions for the use 

 of silver, gold, and brass in the construction of the Tabernacle. 

 Lead is mentioned once, but iron seems to have been unknown 

 to them, the word never occurring in the Book of Exodus ; and 

 though it is occasionally mentioned in the later Books of Numbers, 

 Deuteronomy and Joshua, it is always with reference, not to 

 the Israelites, but to the nations they encountered. Thus we 

 read of the Midianites having gold, silver, copper, iron, tin and 

 lead, which were to be purified by passing through the fire ; of 

 the King of Bashan, a remnant of the Rephaim, who had the 

 rare luxury of an iron bedstead, which was kept afterwards as a 

 curiosity at Rabbah ; and of the spoil of the Amorite city of 

 Jericho, comprising gold, silver, copper and iron. Later on the 

 Canaanites were formidable with their "nine hundred chariots 

 of iron " ; and later still the Philistines, whose champion, 

 Goliath of Gath, was clad in armour of bronze, and bore a spear 

 with a heavy head of iron. Among the materials collected by 

 David in rich abundance for the building of the Temple were 

 gold, silver, bronze and iron ; but the best artificers in metals 

 were furnished by Hiram of Tyre, at the request of Solomon. 

 During the reign of the latter there was an immense accumula- 

 tion of these precious metals in Jerusalem. The comparative 

 value of the diff"erent materials is indicated by the words of 

 the prophet in describing the Zion of the future, ' ' for brass I 

 will bring gold, and for iron I will bring silver, and for wood 

 brass, and for stones iron" (Isaiah Ix. 17). Another prophet 

 (leremiah vi. 29, 30) uses the simile of the refining of silver by 

 the process of cupellation. 



The great mound of Tel el Hesy affords a very perfect 

 example of the debris of town upon town during many centuries ; 

 and of the light that these mounds throw upon the progress of 

 civilisation. When Joshua, after the decisive victory of Beth- 

 horon, led his troops to the plain in the south-west corner of 

 Palestine, he besieged and took I^achish, a city of the Amorites. 

 It then became an important stronghold of the Israelites : its 

 vicissitudes are frequently mentioned at various dates of the 

 sacred history, as well as on the Tel el Amarna tablets. "The 

 mound has lately been explored by Messrs. Petrie and Bliss ; 

 and in the remains of the Amorite city (perhaps B.C. 1500) 

 there are large rough weapons of war, made of copper without 

 admixture of tin ; above this, dating perhaps from 1250 to 800, 

 appear bronze tools, with an occasional piece of silver or lead, 

 but the bronze gradually becomes scarcer, its place being taken 

 by iron, till at the top of the mound there is little else than that 

 metal. The Palestine Exploration Fund has kindly lent me 

 specimens of these finds for exhibition. About B.C. 700, 



1 The word " brass " at the time of the translation of our Bible was used 

 indiscriminately for copper or any of its alloys. In the Old Testament U 

 never refers to the alloy of zinc, to which the term is now confined. 



