138 



and Hosea. In all there are about twenty Jewish names. I am, however, 

 much inclined to think that the example of the Three Children in changing 

 their names was largely followed by other Jews. 



Dr. J. A. Fraser, I.G.H. — Alluding to the plaster on which the writing 

 on the wall appeared, as mentioned in the Bible, did I understand Mr. 

 Bosca-wen to say that Mr. Rassara knew of the existence of such plaster ? 



Mr. BoscAWEN. —I found a number of the bricks covered with a coating 

 of plaster. 



Mr. Eassam. — I may say that I have only to excavate a couple of feet in 

 order to find out whether a ruin is of a Babylonian or Assyrian origin. 

 In Arabic, plaster means anything forming the outer part of a wall. The 

 difference between the embellishment of the Assyrian and Babylonian 

 palaces was this, — the former panelled their rooms with slabs of marble or 

 alabaster, on which they engraved battle and hunting scenes, while the 

 latter contented themselves by plastering their walls with some peculiar 

 mud or cement, and painting thereon the same kind of representations as 

 the Assyrians did. 



Dr. Fraser. — I differ from the speaker, who said there was not much 

 chance of our finding Jewish memorials. I think that if we hit on one, we 

 shall hit upon many thousands all together. 



Mr. Eassam. — If we find anything about the Jewish Captivity, it will 

 probably be at Coutha, where I made some excavations. The place, how- 

 ever, may be considered as large as Westminster, and I only excavated on 

 an area about twice the size of this room. 



Mr. Boscawen. — There are one or two points I may as well reply upon 

 now. With regard to the Targum, an interesting ray of light is thrown on 

 the question in the fact that the interpreter (targtimajiu) is frequently men- 

 tioned as a witness to contracts.* The fact that the Jews must have been 

 acquainted Avith a great deal of Babylonian literature at this time, is clearly 

 shown by the number of legends in the Talnuid, which ai'c clearly copied from 

 Assyrian tablets. Of the literary activity of Babylon at this time, we have a 

 proof in the schools which rose up there ; and so great was the importance 

 of Babylon to Jewish literary students, that it was called for a long time 

 after the Captivity the " Crown of the Law," because there the law was 

 most studied. Of private contracts, and of matters relating to private 

 life, we have an enormous amount of information. Mr. Pinches recently 

 discovered an interesting probate case, in which a wife brought an action in 

 one of the high courts of Babylon, before six judges, for the purpose of 

 recovering certain property seized by her brother-in-law, and I have examined 

 over fifteen hundred tablets relating to sales of land and slaves, one of them 

 containing a plan beautifully drawn, and giving all the plotting of a field with 

 considerable mathematical skill. Another tal)let I found contained a list of 

 precedents. You know how these precedents crop up in the Talmud, and it is 

 quite possible to show, and has been shown by Dr. Schrader and other 



* Proceed !)H/>i Sor. Bih. Anh., p. 73, Feb. (>, 1883. 



