146 PROP. HULL, LL.D.^ F.K.S.^ ON HOLY SCRIPTURE ILLUSTRATED AND 



Mr. HoKMUZD Rassam. — There are a few points I should like to 

 deal with in regard to some matters that have Ibeen refen*ed to. I 

 was the only fortunate Assyrian and Babylonian explorer who 

 discovered any metal. I first discovered brass in the form of one 

 of the leaves of the gates of Babylon ; the one which is now at the 

 British Museum is copper. As to the remainder, everything was 

 copper. I found, also, a piece of gold. There was certainly silver in 

 Babylonia and also iron. 



Dr. Gladstone. — The iron must have been introduced at a com- 

 paratively late period. 



Mr. HoEMDZD Rassam. — I also fonnd a good many implements 

 of metal both in Babylon and in Assyria. 



Mr. Joseph Offokd, Junr., B.A. — The interesting paper we 

 have just heard from Professor Hull touches upon several 

 subjects upon which, with your kind permission, I will add a few 

 remarks. First, with regard to inscriptions in the Phoenician 

 characters sucli as the " Moabite stone."* An important early 

 paleographical specimen of that script, has been made known 

 by the discovery of the inscriptions of Panammu I. and 

 Bar Eekeb at Zenjirli.f This site, which has been excavated 

 by the Germans, is situated near the Gulf of Antioch., and 

 the mound covers the remains of a palace in wbich was found 

 a long inscription of Esar-haddon referring to his conquest of 

 Egypt. It also contains the two famous Aramaic monuments of 

 Semitic Kings who ruled there, not only before Esar-haddon ; but, 

 in the case of one of them, before the time of Tiglath Pileser. These 

 inscriptions have been translated by MM. Sachau, Halevy, and 

 Miiller ; and one very remarkable fact derived from them, apper- 

 taining to the history of the Old Testament Scriptures, is the 

 proof they afford of the correctness of the view of many Semitic 

 and Biblical scholars, that the doctrine of a future life was a 

 matter of common knowledge to the early Semitic people : for the 

 contents of the Zenjirli Aramaic texts leaves no doubt whatever 

 of the belief being a matter of faith there. Speaking of another 

 Phoenician inscription, that of Eshmunazar, I note that Professor 

 Hull assigns it the date of 600 B.C. Some ten years ago M. Cler- 



* 890 B.C. {Sachau). — Ed. 



t Of circa 790 b.c. and 730 B.C. respectively (Sachau). — Ed. 



