176 THEO. G. PINCHES, ESQ., NOTES UPON SOME OF THE 



question asked in reference to the Tel-el-Amarna tablets, it will 

 be in the recollection of all that the first description of them 

 was given to this Institute by Professor Sayce in the 1889 Annual 

 Address. At that time those in the Museum in Berlin and in the 

 Egyptian Museum (now transferred from Boulaq to the Palace 

 at Gizeh), were admirably arranged ; and the Berlin Museum 

 afterwards issued excellent photographically illustrated descrip- 

 tions of those in its possession.* 



Rev. W. J. Adams, B.A., D.C.L. — Before the discussion closes 

 may I ask a question on a point of Assyrian history ? We are 

 told in Scriptui'e that Manasseh, King of Judah, was carried away 

 captive by Esar Haddon out of Jerusalem to Babylon. Now, as 

 Esar Haddon was an Assyrian monarch, we should naturally 

 suppose that he would have taken his captive to Nineveh, not 

 Babylon. 



The Author. — I will not occupy you very long, as I am a 

 man of few words, as a rule. I will take Dr. Adams' question 

 first because the reply is brief. King Manasseh was taken to 

 Babylon because, as research has shown, Esar Haddon was at 

 that time master of Babylon as well as of Assyria, and held court 

 in that city. 



With regard to the question of Anti-Akkadism, of course it is 

 well to remember that one cannot nip error of this kind in the 

 bud too soon. The fact that both the scholars referred to by M. 

 Bertin, one in France and the other in Germany, are Anti- 

 Akkadists, and that they have pupils, makes it probable that 

 they will teach the erroneous doctrine to their pupils, which will 

 naturally bring discredit on our Science later on, because, if we 

 do not shew a bold front and try to disprove these wild state- 

 ments at once, people will probably say, as they have said before, 

 that we are not agreed amongst ourselves, and are probably 

 very much in doubt as to the reading of words, and the whole 

 history of Assyria and Babylonia. The question of Akkadian 

 being connected with Turkish, as Mr. Tisdall has said, has 

 already been mooted, and he has cited the word " Temen " in 

 support of this. There is still another word which is often quoted, 

 however, and that is the Akkadian " Dingir," meaning God, which 



* Last year, 1892, the British Museum followed suit in this respect. 



