40 BABYLONIAN LITERATURE. 



which a crowd of the traits of Greek my- 

 thology are applied to Babylon by Arabian 

 writers. If the name of Hermes appears 

 here under a different form from that in 

 which it is found in other Arabian authors 

 (u/^rv^)? ^ should be remembered that nearly 

 all the proper names in l ' The Book of ISTa- 

 batha3an Agriculture " have the emphasised 

 termination a. Ibn-Abi-Oceibia, wishing to 

 describe the pronunciation of this word, 

 writes it thus, u ^ 1 ^j\ - 1 



I have no doubt that many of the ex- 

 traordinary names, which " The Book of 

 NabathaBan Agriculture" presents to us, 

 might be traced, in the same manner, to 

 Greek forms, if we had their true reading. 

 Tamithri (^jj^t^j who figures also in Ibu-el- 

 Awwam's writings, is, in the opinion of 

 both Banqueri and Wenrich, identical with 

 Demetrius. 2 I believe, also, that Askolabita 

 or Asbulubita, to whom is assigned the part of 



1 "Journal Asiatique," August-Sept. 1854, p. 95. 



2 Wenrich, De Auct. Grcec. vers. p. 93. Banqueri, Libro de 

 Ayricultura, t. 1, p. 61 of the introduction, 9, etc. 



