247 
would be valuable. One interesting point on which Mr. Rassam has 
thrown some light is that respecting the names of the monarchs 
reigning in Babylon and Chaldea. Existing writings do not enable us to 
complete the list of monarchs of the early Syrian empire who reigned from 
Ashur to Sardanapalus in Nineveh. Diodorus Siculus gives an account of the 
revolution which deposed Sardanapalus and placed on the throne Pul, who in- 
vaded Judaea in the reign of Menahem (2 Kings xv. 19). From that time to 
the return from the Babylonian Captivity, the Biblical student can himself 
construct from the sacred books an historical harmony. But afterwards 
those who have read the Greek historians must have experienced some 
difficulty in identifying the Old Testament names, in Esther and in Daniel. 
Some of that difficulty has. been removed by the statement of Mr. Rassam 
which makes Cyrus not the monarch, but the satrap of another monarch. 
Perhaps he would state whether there is any work in existence containing a 
catalogue of the monarchs, so that we may be able to identify not only Cyrus 
but also the others. I believe that Belshazzar’s name occurs in the cuneiform 
writings. (Dr. Delitzsch. Yes.) In conclusion, I can but say that the state- 
ment made by our Secretary must commend itself to all present. There 
is no doubt that the information given to us by the discoveries which have 
been made is most valuable, and it is certainly to be deprecated if persons 
in high power should abstain from using their influence to assist those who 
are labouring so well in so good a cause. It is to be regretted, when we are 
likely to make such good progress in the future, that the persons in authority 
should not do all in their power to help on a cause which is not only doing 
so much in the way of Biblical antiquity, but which will redound to the 
credit of the English nation. 
The meeting was then adjourned. 
APPENDIX BY W. ST. CHAD BOSCAWEN. 
The importance of the discoveries made by Mr. Rassam in the mounds 
of Abbo-Hubba, Tel-Ibrahim, Birs Nimrud, and others, cannot be too highly 
estimated, and each day, as the inscribed records or cylinders yield up their 
secrets to skilled decipherers, the importance of these discoveries to all 
students of history, sacred or secular, becomes more and more manifest. In 
the mound of Abbo-Hubba, the explorer came upon all that remained of a 
city which can rival Thebes or Memphis in antiquity, and whose traditions 
extend back beyond the dividing stream of the Deluge. According to the 
Chaldean historian Berosus, the city had a long existence prior to the 
Deluge, and it was in the temple of “this city of the Sun” (rroXti rjXiov) 
that Xisuthrus, by order of the god Chronos, buried the records of the 
“beginning, progress, and end of all things.”* What actual degree of truth 
Cory, Ancient Fragments , pp. 30, 31-33. 
