RVIDKNf!ES OF TTTF, MrnRATION OF ABRAM. 105 



sucli a campaign as is recorded in Gen. xlv. would require. 

 Another point of interest preserved in the Hebrew account is 

 that the advance is made from Chaldea from the soutli, and 

 not by the ancient mihtary road through Northern Mesopo- 

 tamia and Syria, entering Palestine by the north. 



Some of the omens in these tablets are especially curious ; 

 we may quote the following : '' On the 20th day an eclipse * 

 happens ; the king of the land of the Khatti plunders and on 

 the throne seizes." And one relating to Elam is especially 

 interesting, as it has a curious correspondence to the termination 

 of the campaign of Chedorlaomer. 



'' In the month Tasrituv on the 14th day an eclipse happens, 

 and in the south it begins and in the west it ends. In the 

 evening watch it begins, and in the middle watch it ends. 

 Southward at the time of its appearance the shadow is seen. 

 Then, to the King of Elam, an omen it gives. The forces of 

 Elam in battle are, there is no return in peace to his people.^' 

 The city of Ur, the birthplace of Abram, was also the subject 

 of astrological omens, as we read regarding an eclipse in the 

 month Adar to the King of Kisarra,t an omen is given. 



Disaster to Ur (^^^^ -<^I <1^)- 



As an example of oneof these very curious and most Chaldean 

 series of tablets, that land being always regarded as the home 

 of astronomy and astrology, I quote the following, which 

 embraces some of the lands referred to in its prognostications. 



W.A.I., iii. 58. 1. 



1- r -1 <??? -^ <« < « <m Tr v,< T«< <i- r«< 



iNA YUM XVI. Sin u Sama itti a - khi innamaru 



On the Sixteenth day the Moon and Sun with each other are seen 



SAREU ANA SAERI NAKURTI ISAPAR. 



King to ' ldn(/ liostilittj sends. 



SARRU INA EKALLI SU A - NA MI - NA - AT AR - KHI. 



The King in Ms palace for the space of a month 



'" "---y (^t^= antalu, or cdtalu, really "dark sky," from '^o: "to cover." 

 t The desert land to the west of Chaldea. 



