RECORDS OF THE PAST. 71 



exceeds in interest that of " Who was here before 

 me ? " and there can be few who have not been assailed 

 at some time or other with a burning desire to " wind 

 the mighty secrets of the past and turn the key of 

 Time." 



It is fortunate, therefore, that there is another trait 

 common to mankind of all ages — namely, an uncon- 

 querable aversion to being forgotten. Hence all these 

 libraries of history, hence, too, the vast collections of 

 ancient records and inscriptions, which are daily being 

 added to from the buried cities of the East, all telling 

 strange stories of kings and nations long since dead. 

 There is many a monarch who reigned in the narrow 

 strip of territory between the two great rivers of the 

 Near East, who might well exclaim with the poet, 

 " Exegi monumentum vere perennius." 



I do not think that any expert knowledge of Assyri- 

 ology is necessary to arouse one's enthusiasm. I lay 

 no claim to anything more than the most superficial 

 acquaintance with the leaves of the great book of the 

 past, and when those learned in such matters talk 

 animatedly to me of the achievements of the great 

 Sharrukin, 3800 years before our era,^ or of that bene- 

 ficent lawgiver King Khamurabi and his code, I en- 

 deavour to look wise and at the same time preserve a 

 discreet silence. Nevertheless in the presence of the 



^ I believe that the oldest authenticated date is still that of Sharrukin 

 (Sargon), King of Agade, which was determined by the discovery of a 

 cylinder of Nabonidus, the last King of Babylon ( 550 B.C.), whereon he 

 has described the finding of the foundation cylinder of Naram-Sin, son of 

 Sharrukin, in the great sun-temple at Sippar, " which for thrice thousand 

 and twice hundred years none of the kings that lived before me had seen." 

 This gives 3750 b.c. as the date of Naram-Sin (3200 + 550), and roughly 

 3800 as the date of his father Sharrukin. I am aware, howevei', that 

 Assyriologists at the present time — Professor Hilprecht, for instance — are 

 confident of the tremendously ancient dates of from 7000 to 8000 b.c, 

 though I know of no discovery which affoids definite proof of such a date. 



