206 



THEOPHILUS G. PI^'CHES, LL.D., M.R.A.S. OX 



certain Zagaga-eriba. Tlie tablet K. 1249, which is a letter, belongs 

 to the time of Assur-bani-apli (Assurbanipal), King of Assyria (665- 

 626 B.C.). 



Mr. Martin L. Rouse's suggestion that Nebuchadrezzar was 

 called, in the Book of Daniel, " the head of gold " because he was 

 so lavish with that precious metal in his decorations of the temples 

 and palaces of his land is good, but we must couple it with Enlilla 

 as the god of gold, referred to above. 



The inscriptions seem not to refer to any " fresh wave of Tura- 

 nian ' ' (Sumerian) sweeping over the land, and that this should have 

 occurred seems to me to be unlikely, though the arguments adduced 

 by Mr. Rouse are in excellent agreement. 



The language referred to by Hezekiah's officers is rightly described 

 by Mr. Rouse as having been Aramaic, which the Assyrians, like 

 the Babylonians, evidently knew perfectly, but the language 

 unknown to the Hebrews at large was not Aramaic, but Assyro- 

 Babylonian — the language of the tablets, not of the dockets. 

 Sumerian was always, more or less, well known to the Babylonian 

 and Assyrian scribes, but it seems never to have been re-adopted as 

 the language of the coimtry after the time of the Dvnasty of 

 Babylon. 



It would take too long to go thoroughly into the question of the 

 Kurds, and the derivation of their name from Kar-Dunias, which 

 was apparently a Kassite designation of Babylonia and the land 

 farther west — the domain (or the like) of the god Dunias," i.e., 

 of the Lord of the World, otherwise Hadad or Rimmon. As to 

 Ur (Mugheir), there is no proof that this name began with an 

 aspirate, making the form Hur. The god of the city was Xannar 

 or Sin, the Moon. 



Canon Parfit, who has been in Mesopotamia, spoke of the modern 

 speech of the Babylonians, their turn of mind, and their language. 

 He regards the Christians of the country as closely related to the 

 Kurds. There is no doubt that the " Chaldean " Christians of 

 Mosul are descended from the ancient Assyrians. This was very 

 noticeable in the case of the late Hormuzd Rassam and his family, 

 though he had in his veins a strain of Spanish blood. As to the 

 " Svrian Christians of Bagdad, they seem to be descended from 

 the ancient Babylonians. Two of the three whom I have known 

 were somewhat short, whilst the third was taU. 



