&TI. 



146 



used and it is curious to note that Nebuchadnezzar calls him 

 "the king my ancient father." >~>f- j-JJ '-,J=yy = ^>J[- ^^{ 

 in W.A.I., iv. 2, 22.) The Euphrates is called the "river of 

 Sippara/' «. ]} Q '^] ^} ^]]] '^* 



We meet in this inscription with the oft-repeated phrase, 



"with bitumen and brick'' I built. The other 

 Nebuchadnezzar inscriptions give >^^ *"^t T^Y Jit^ ^^II^T 

 ^T*"I^II It ^II '"II^T' ^'^'^ A;«7pri 7t agurri, " with cement 

 and burnt brick." Kuiyri is the same as the Syriac l^ob 

 "bitumen," in Gen. iv. 14, and Exod. ii. 3. Agurri is the 

 same as the Arab ^\, "lateres coctiles/' or burnt brick. f 



The component parts of the ideograph for bitumen show it 

 to have been something that was " the product of water." 

 A four-column syllabary says its Akkadian name was JipJ 55*^, 

 ehu.X Herodotus says the bitumen used by Nebuchadnezzar 

 for building came from the Is, a stream eight days' journey 

 from Babylon. § 



Throughout this inscription, an ideograph is doubled to 

 express the plural, thus : — 



ahuLli, " gates." 

 TSiR-RUS-TSiR-KUS, "suake gods." 

 ildni, " gods." 



* The Akkadian name of the Tigris and Euphrates is given by the 

 following from St. 2325 : — 



iDicNu. ^ ^ '^y<T^ */- 



puRANUNu. 4f^>- ^::yy >/- >^ 





\itTa yap tov N^TXoi' Kcil Vayyi]v uitiq tTrtatjfioraroi rtxiSbv zmu kcito. ryv 

 'Aaiai' TTOTit^wv \'Jt<ppari)Q (cat T«ypic tuq u'ti> Tnqyag txovntf t/c twv 'Apfiii'iujv 

 opwv cttaTi'jKcu c'citt' dWijXwv ffraoiovQ diGxi^iovg Kui 'TripraKocriovg. — Diod. 

 tSiculus, bk. ii. sect. H. 



t VOX Pers. In Arab, liiujuam translata " Lateres coctiles " (Freytag, 

 1). 15). 



X The whole line from St. 2325 is thus given : — 



^l jfc. J...Jl-0^ I IT V -B] ^ii 31 .^i ^ - 1:] 



'*'/- >— < '-/!^--'"jf-f''ir'''^--''0-->"J}--''^-. 



§ tSVe notes by Sir H. Eawlinson in his brother's Herodotus, vol. i. p. 253. 

 noXXwi/ Ct Kai '7ra^ac6^ix)v ovTuyi' Oiafiarun' Kara ti)v BajSyXiiipiav ovx' i'lKiara 

 Oavfidi^tTai K(tl TO irXifOug riig tv aiirtj yti'i'wfitrtjg da(p(t\rov Toaovrov yap 

 iariv u)TTt fit) flovov rnlg roaavraiQ Kal TtjKXiKavraig oiVo^ojui'ait; SiapKilv, dWa 

 Kai avWiyofiivov rbv \aov iiri tov tottov dipeiSiog dpvinBai Kai ^rjpaivovra 

 Kaitiv dvTi 'iv\(i)i>. — Diod. Siculus, book ii. sect. 12. 



