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THE NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC MAGAZINE 



from two to six thousand years and al- 

 lowed to dry, often appears as if it had 

 been written yesterday. The original 

 plasticity or adhesiveness of the sun- 

 dried tablet returns, and if properly pre- 

 served will last indefinitely. The baked 

 tablets, as would be naturally expected, 

 on the whole are better preserved. 



The well-kneaded clay, which had been 

 washed to free it from grit and sand, 

 while in a plastic condition was shaped 

 into the form and size desired. As the 

 style of paper used at the present time is 

 frequently an indication of the character 

 of the writing, the same is true, in a gen- 

 eral way, of an ancient Babylonian clay 

 tablet or cylinder. In most instances the 

 trained Assyriologist at a glance can de- 

 termine the character, in a general way, 

 of an inscription by its shape or appear- 

 ance. 



The stylus, which was made of metal 

 or wood, was a very simple affair. In 

 the early periods it was triangular and in 

 the later quadrangular. By holding it 

 beneath the hand between the thumb and 

 second finger, with the index finger on 

 top, and pressing the corner of it into the 

 soft clay, the impression made will be 

 that of a wedge ; hence the term cunei- 

 form (from the Latin cunitcs) writing. 



The cuneiform script, written upon 

 clay, was employed by many different 

 peoples of western Asia. 



EARLIEST KNOWN RECORDS 



The date of the earliest known inscrip- 

 tion is still undetermined. The chronol- 

 ogy prior to 2400 B. C. is still in a chaotic 

 state, and yet the recent discovery of a 

 tablet giving several new dynasties, be- 

 sides many other facts which have been 

 ascertained, offer sufficient indications of 

 a much greater antiquity for the earliest 

 known inscriptions than have been cred- 

 ited them. 



The illustration of the Hoffman tablet 

 (on page 167), in the General Theolog- 

 ical Seminary, New York city, shows one 

 of the few known archaic inscriptions. 

 To assign it the date 5000 B. C. would be 

 a modest reckoning. And vet the char- 

 acters are so far removed from the origi- 

 nal pictures that in most instances it is 

 only by the help of the values they pos- 



sess that the original pictures can be sur- 

 mised. This tablet, tentatively translated 

 by Professor Barton, of Bryn Mawr, 

 reads as follows : 



"3005 Bur of a field of clay in Ushu, of the 

 land of the setting sun, belonging to the priest 

 Sallaltur; 36050 cubits on its Akkadward side, 

 the lower, from the beginning; 36050 cubits 

 running along the breadth of the ziggurrat of 

 Shamash, the brilliant lady ; 36000 cubits to the 

 temple of Shamash, the messenger of Ab, the 

 brilliant; 36050 cubits on the side of the moun- 

 tain, the abode of Shukura, the pa-asag. May 

 he give strength; may he bless." 



BRONZE AND STONE INSCRIPTIONS 



While in all known periods clay was 

 the writing material, important royal 

 documents, votive and historical inscrip- 

 tions, etc., are found on stone, and in 

 some instances on bronze. In cutting 

 such inscriptions the scribe imitated the 

 characters made in clay with the stylus. 



Not unlike other scripts, the cuneiform 

 was originally pictorial ; but, as in Egypt, 

 the hieroglyphs became more and more 

 simplified and conventionalized. 



But, unlike the Egyptians, the Baby- 

 lonian or Sumerian became convention- 

 alized at a time prior to the known his- 

 tory of the land ; and the hieroglyphs 

 were not continued in use even for monu- 

 mental purposes, but were practically lost 

 sight of. 



There are known over six hundred 

 signs. Each of these has syllabic and 

 ideographic values from one to more 

 than a hundred. Combination of two and 

 three signs have ideographic values, so 

 that there are known at present twenty 

 thousand values for the six hundred 

 signs. Besides the characters are differ- 

 ent in every age, due chiefly to the process 

 of simplification that went on continually. 



Practically every man of any standing 

 in ancient Babylonia had a seal cylinder 

 or seal, the impression of which upon the 

 document or letter served the purpose of 

 his signature. Thousands of these have 

 been found, cut out of all kinds of hard 

 stone, which had been imported from dis- 

 tant lands, for Babylonia is an alluvial 

 plain. 



As a substitute for a seal the individual 

 could make his thumb-nail mark upon the 

 soft clay, or impress upon it a portion of 



