DISCOVEIUES IX BABYLONIA AND THE NEIGHB0U1{ING LANDS. 103 



the strange characters with which the spaces were filled, hoping 

 that some scholar, more versed in strange writings than I was, 

 might find the ke}' to its interpretation. More than a quarter 

 of" a century has passed since that publication, but we are 

 no nearer to the finding of an explanation of these mystic signs. 

 Is it a late form of proto-Elamite ? or may it be cursive Hittite ? 

 Time alone can show. 



Most of the tablets bearing- these archaic Elamite accounts 

 are small, and measure only a few inches. One of them, 

 however, is so large that it occupies a whole page (quarto) in 

 the great French publication where they are reproduced. The 

 obverse has only two lines of writing, but bears, in two long 

 rows, the impressions of a cylinder-seal, the design of which is 

 repeated, by contiiiuiug the impression, about three times in 

 eacli row. The subject shows a bull, front-face, horned, 

 standing erect manwise, and holding two sitting lions by the 

 ears. A lion in the same position, but profile instead of front- 

 face, holds, by their humps, tw^o humped bulls, the whole making 

 a somewhat grotesque design. The strange character in the 

 field is probably the Babylonian sign for a vase used for 

 offerings, with additions. As in other cases, these seal-impressions 

 are probably from the engraved cylinder of the scribe who wrote 

 the tablet. 



Among the artistic discoveries are some excellent examples, 

 in some cases superior even to the work produced by the 

 Babylonians at the period. The most interesting is probably 

 that representing the Babylonian king Xaraui-Sin, ruler of 

 Agade, marching over the mountains in his victorious course. 

 Naturally, there is doubt whether this is Elamite or Babylonian, 

 but it is to be noted that the style reminds one of the Elamite 

 bronze representing marching warriors, which would seem 

 certainly to have been real Elamite w^ork, and this being the 

 case, it is not unlikely that the relief showing N"arani-Sin is 

 Elamite too. It is known that his father, Sargani, or Sargon of 

 Agade, conquered Elam, but that the dominion of the country 

 passed to his son is uncertain. Whether this monument may 

 l3e regarded as evidence in favour of that probability I leave to 

 the judgment of my audience. 



Another interesting piece of artistic work is the bas-relief 

 represemting a woman spinning. She is seated tailor-wise on a 

 large stool before a table covered with wool, whilst a serving- 

 maid behind keeps off the flies, and fans her mistress with a 

 large fan of square form, which she holds. This is in all 

 probability a representation of a woman of the higher classes, 



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