118 MR, BOSCAWEN ON THE HISTORICAL 



Babylonian king in his inscription says : " My great army 

 from the land of Gaza * which is on the frontiers of Egyptf 

 from the upper sea on the other side J of the Euphrates as far 

 as the lower sea.§ Kings, princes, hig'h priests, and my vast 

 army which Sin, Samas and Istar had gathered for the building 

 of Bit Khullkhul, the temple of the Moon-god, which is within 

 Kharran which Assur-ban-apla, King of Assyria, son of Assur- 

 akha-iddina. King of Assyria, a prince, my predecessor, had 

 made." In the same inscription the king states that he found 

 the inscribed cylinders of Shalmaneser, son of Assurnazirpal, so 

 the temple must have existed as early as B.C. 858. The 

 passage relating to these records reads : Eli. temien. sa D.P. 

 Assur-ban-apla sar mat assuri sa temien dp Sulmanristan 

 abal D.P. AssuR-NAZiR APLA IMURU. " Upon the foundation 

 cylinder of Assurbanipal and of Shalmaneser, son of Assur- 

 nazirpal they looked.^' 



Kharran is also mentioned in the inscriptions of Khorsabad 

 of Sargon II. (B.C. 721) in two places. In the Palace text we 

 find Kharran mentioned along with Assur under its ancient 

 name of >-i^y4- ^ ^Jgf Pal-bi-ki " the place of his crossing,^' 

 (Botta, iv. 4), also in tiae Annals, col. ii. 2, the land of Kharran 

 is mentioned apparently in connexion with an eclipse. 



All of these references serve to show that Kharran was an 

 important city, connected from an early period with both 

 Ghaldea and Assyria. 



The inscription of Nabonidus which I have translated at the 

 end of this paper, gives a very elaborate description of the temple 

 and the works of restoration and adornment carried out by the 

 Babylonian king. " 0\^er and above the kings, my fathers, 

 its work I made strong. I perfected its adornment. This 

 temple from its foundation to its roof anew I made, and 

 perfected its adoi'nment. Great beams of fir, the product of 

 the mount Kha-ya-tu (Hivites) I spread over it. Doors of 

 cedar wood of which their leaves were good, I hung in the 

 gateways. With silver and gold its walls I covered, and 

 caused to shine like white marble. Great bulls of polished 

 alabaster, destroyers of my foes, round about I placed in its 

 building. Two winged figures, guardians, sweepers away 



* ^ n^ YY *~^]'^ Kha-az-za-ti, the Kha-az-zi-ti of the inscriptions 

 of Sennacherib and Sargon the H-ty or Gaza of the Bible, the most southern of 

 the live great cities of Philistia, and close to the frontier of Egypt, the river 

 of Egypt (Wady el Arish). This Assyrian n for Hebrew V is common. 



t \^ <-J: {y\< Mi-ziR, Hebrew Tii'D. 



J Abarti for ebarti in several words. Hebrew 15V as in the expression, 

 " on the other side of Jordan." § The Persian Gulf. 



