THE LATEST DISCOVERIES IN BABYLONIA. 



177 



NotwithstaiKling the usefulness of the implement, the plough 

 seems to be but rarely mentioned in the inscriptions. A word 

 found in the laws ^ of Hammurabi, and written with the 

 Sumerian group GIS-G AN-UR, which is translated by the 

 Semitic makaddu, is translated, doubtfully, as " plough," but 

 this, as a star or constellation, is explained as Imkhu sa AS m 

 ina libhi-sii, apsct tammaru, "the implement of Ae (Aos), in the 

 midst of which thou (mayest) see the deep," and this, taken in 

 connection with the fact that in those laws it is coupled with 

 the watering-machine (possibly the shadoiif), makes it probable 

 that it indicates the wooden conduit which carried the water to 

 the fields. This group, GIS-GAN-UR, how^ever, has another 

 rendering, namely, ma.slcildu, seen in the phrase ina niaSkilcat 

 mitkire usakkak, " he shall seed the furrows with the wooden 

 conduit," in Sumerian : gis-gan-tir musarene gis-aburra, i.e., \vith 

 the tube of the plough. 



V. — The Newly-Piscovered Tablets from Erech. 



Tablets are always coming from the nearer East — either 

 from Babylonia, or from Assyria, or from one of the countries 

 of old under their influence (the Hittite States, or Syria, or 

 Palestine) — so that we are always getting additions to our 

 material. A hundred thousand documents (mostly of little 

 import) are known, and it is probable that a hundred thousand 

 more at least await disco\'ery in those lands. 



Among the most recent discoveries are the sites of Drehem 

 and Jokha — sites which, however, are to all appearance unmen- 

 tioned in the Old Testament, or, indeed, in any ancient record. 

 Their historical value, nevertheless, is considerable, as they give 

 us the names of many new kings, not only of the dynasty which 

 ruled in these districts, but also of the states in the neighbourhood. 



Of greater importance, however, because of Biblical reference, 

 is the site of Erech, now known as Warka, which is the old 

 Arabic form of tlie same name. As we learn in the tenth 

 chapter of Genesis, verse 10, Erech was founded by Nimrod 

 (Merodach), the order being " Babel, Erech, Accad, and Calneh," 

 all in " the land of Shinar," as Babylonia was then called. One 

 of the best indications that JSTimrod is Merodach is furnished 

 by the bilingual Babylonian story of the Creation, which attri- 

 butes the foundation ^of Babylon, with its temple E-sagila ; 

 Erech, with its temple E-anna ; and Niffer (stated by the Rabbins 

 to be Calneh), with its temple E-kura, to the deity in question. 

 We have in this a distinct confirmation of the Biblical record, 



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