May 



1883.] 



♦ KNOWLEDGE ♦ 



307 



THE LIBRARIES OF BABYLONIA AND 

 ASSYRIA. 



AMONG Babylonian library cities, Babylon itself of 

 necessity occupies a prominent position, and to give 

 an adequate account even of the various subjects upon 

 ■which its cuneiform inscriptions are written, ranging, as 

 they do, from a calculation of interest on a loan of a few 

 shekels to an official description of the conquest of a mighty 

 empire, would occupy more space than is available. A visit 

 to the Tablet Gallery of the British Sluseuni will give 

 some slight idea of the riches that its mounds, or those of 

 the suburb of Borsippa (Birs. Nimroud), have already 

 yielded up. Babylon is remarkable from our present point 

 of view for the great length of time over which the dates of 

 its relics are scattered, texts having been found there of 

 the highest antiquity, such as that of Ru Sak, written only 

 in Accadian, and others gradually ranging down to an 

 astrological tablet of the time of Arsaces. Among the 

 oldest may be mentioned a list of the names of the months 

 in Assyrian and Accadian. A tablet, called the Prayers of 

 Amil IJrgal, a calendar of lucky and unlucky days, a list of 

 stones, also a fragment containing part of a map of the city, 

 andotherswith geometrical figures. Among more recent ones, 

 the famous cylinder of Cyrus, which decides for ever the truth 

 of his genealogical table as given by Herodotus ; and the 

 (so-called) cylinder of Nabonidus referring to the fall of 

 Babylon. Later still are numerous tablets of the suc- 

 cessors of Alexander, Seleucus, Demetrius, and Antiochus, 

 some of them, especially an inscription of the latter prince, 

 proving that they restored and beautified the temples of 

 E-Saggil and Ezida with apparently as much piety as 

 the earlier native kings. The inscriptions on Ptolemaic 

 temples, notably at Edfou, and the interesting researches 

 of M. Revillout in the demotic papyri, show how thoroughly 

 the Lagides identified their faith with, and adopted the 

 dogmas and ritual of, the Egyptian religion, and from this 

 text it appears the same policy of conciliation was adapted 

 by the Greek rulers of Mesopotamia.* One of the most 

 interesting chapters of history yet remaining to be written 

 is that which will enable us correctly to understand and 

 appreciate the means by which a mere handful of Greeks, 

 after the loss of their great leader and notwithstanding 

 insane strifes with each other, successfully ruled for so 

 long a period over millions of people, including descendants 

 of the greatest empires of antiquity, from the Sutledge to 

 the Nile, and not a little of the explanation will be found 

 in their wise compliance with the religious culture of their 

 subjects.t Mr. George Smith found at Babylon the remains 

 of a library attached to the temple of Bel, consisting 

 chiefly of instructions as to the ritual and ceremony to be 

 observed in his worship, and gives translations in his 

 " Assyrian Discoveries." 



Some curious relics originating from Babylon were 

 found by JI. Place at Nineveh, and appear to have been 

 carried off by Sargon, King of Assyria, when he conquered 

 the city from Merodach Baladan, 



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to his new palace at Khorsabad. Among these are some 



* The new cylinder of Cyms appears to iDdicate a similar com- 

 pliance with Babylonian beliefs on his part, jnst as does the hiero- 

 plyphic inscription of the " Pastophorns of the Vatican" show us 

 Cambyses being initiated into and upholding Epyptian religion. 



+ See Robiou " L'Economie Politique, rAdmiiiistration, et la 

 Legislation de I'Egypte au Temps des Lagides," and Lombroso 

 " L'Economie Politique de I'Egypte sous les Lagides," and Droysen 

 " Geschichte des Hellanismns." 



oval shaped objects, termed olives by M. Oppert, pierced 

 like beads, perhaps to suspend around the neck. They are 

 usually inscribed with the name of a woman and that of a 

 master or husband, with a date, probably that of purchase 

 in the case of a slave. M. Oppert, who has translated 

 several of these, however, thinks they come from a temple, 

 and refer to the licentious worship of Mylytta, described 

 by Herodotus. They may, however, have belonged to 

 Babylonian women carried away captive to Assyria, and 

 hence are found among the ruins of one of her cities. One 

 in the British ^Museum runs as follows : " Of the female 

 Hipa, slave of Sinesses, month Sebet, eleventh year of 

 Maruduk-bal-iddina King of Babilu." Another Babylonian 

 relic found at Nineveh, is the cone of an ancient Baby- 

 lonian Monarch, read by Mr. Smith, -Vul-bal-idinav ; by 

 Oppert, Ben habal iddina, but is now decided to be 

 Rimmon bal idiuav 



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In one sense Babylon has, with the recent exception of 

 Sippara, been the most generous in the literature it has 

 preserved for our time, for from the Jumjuma mound there 

 have come the large collection, numbering more than .3,000, 

 of what are known as the Egibi contract tablets. These, 

 however, do not properly appertain to this part of our 

 sul)ject, as though found on Babylonian soil : they do not 

 belong to the age of her first civilisation, but to the much 

 later times of Nebuchadnezzar, Nabonidus, and Cyrus and 

 his successors. They will be described fully in treating of 

 contract tablets as a class. 



Electric Lighting at Chesterfield. — The Committee 

 of the Chesterfield Town Council, appointed to consider the 

 electric lighting arrangements in the town, which have now 

 been in existence for some time past, have reported that 

 the lighting of the streets has been completed to their satis- 

 faction. In accordance with this report the Town Council 

 have decided to enter into a permanent contract with the 

 Hammond Electric Light Company, by whom the work 

 has been carried out. 



Oil Tanks Fired by Lightning. — The following tele- 

 gram appeared in the Standard of Friday, the 11th inst. 

 It was dated New York, Thursday night (May 10), and 

 stated that " During a storm to-day (Thursday) the light- 

 ning struck and set fire to a wood factory in the miu.st of 

 a dense tenement-house population adjoining the Belle Vue 

 Hospital in Jersey City. For a short time the excitement 

 was intense, but the amount of damage was small. 

 Another flash did more damage. It struck the 

 .Standard Oil Company's works in Jersey City, and a 

 huge iron tank e.xploded with a violence which shook 

 the earth for a long distance. The llame which imme- 

 diately rose was seen twenty-four miles off. Ponderous 

 fragments of the tank were thrown a distance of half a 

 mile, and the crowds who assembled on the top of a 

 neighbouring hill a mile away were scorched. The 

 blazing fluid poured in a great stream towards the river, 

 and on its way ignited other tanks. The workmen and 

 firemen ordered to retreat before this sudden foe started 

 upon a fearful race ; their hair and clothing were singed, 

 and the si.x who were most in the rear were overwhelmed. 

 It is feared that other fatalities have occurred. The de- 

 struction has involved eighteen tanks of crude oil and two 

 of naphtha, each a\eraging, perhaps, ten thousand Ijarrels. 

 The works, which covered twenty acres, also contained 

 many thousand barrels of refined oil. The loss is 

 variously estimated at sums all of which approach one 

 million dollars." 



