ASSYRIAN AND BABYLONIAN COVERIES.
This article contains a short account of the discoveries that have 'been made in the buried cities of Nineveh and Babylon since the middle of this century.
It must be very fascinating to all Biblical stu dents to find that the names of all the Assyrian and Babylonian kings mentioned in the Bible, like Tiglath-Pileser, Shalmaneser, Sargon, Sennach crib, Esarhaddon, Nebuchadnezzar, Merodach Baladan and Belshazzar have been identified from the discoveries made in the ruins of Nineveh and Babylon. It is also interesting to note that those hurled cities of ancient civilization had re mained in oblivion for more than twenty-five centuries until the spade of the zealous explorers, Mr. (now Sir Henry) Layard and M. Botta, brought them to light nearly fifty years ago.
(1) Nineveh. I was fortunate enough when I was quite a youth to meet Sir Henry Layard in 1845 at Mosul, which is situated on the bank of the river Tigris, opposite the site of ancient Nineveh. As he wanted some one to assist him, he invited me to stay with him and give him the necessary help in his intended explorations. I was with hint more than four years during his explorations in Assyria and Babylonia, and to this opportunity I owe my success in archeolog ical researches as well as other public services under the British Crown.
In 1844, while Sir Henry Layard was passing through Assyria, he noticed both at the mounds of Koyunjik, the principal seat of the kings of As syria, and Nimroud, the Calah of the Bible (men tioned in the tenth chapter of Genesis), some indi cations of ancient remains which led him to ob tain a finnan from the Sultan to enable hint to excavate there. Ile commenced operations in the last mentioned mound, and after a few days' work he was rewarded by the discovery of the palace of Assur-Nazir-pal, the father of Shalntaneser who was the first of the Assyrian kings who came in contact with the Israelites. The sculptures of Assur-Nazir-pal's palace, which now adorn one of the Assyrian galleries at the British Museum, were in better preservation than those of Khorsa bad or any other edifice discovered in Assyria thereafter, but with the exception of the hunting and war scenes most of the bas-reliefs in the dif ferent chambers consisted largely of representa tions of kings, eagle-headed figures, eunuchs and sacred trees. A few of these were sent to the British Museum, and the remainder were acquired for different museums in Europe and America.
As late as 1878 I carried to Constantinople sculp tures from the same locality as a present front the trustees of the British Museum to the Sultan, and his majesty gave them to the Imperial Museum at the Turkish capital.
Besides the palace of Assur-Nazir-pal, Sir Henry Layard discovered a temple built by that monarch and the remains of the edifices erected by Tiglath-Pilcser, Esarhaddon and Saracus, his grandson, who was the last of the Assyrian kings.
(2) Palace of Sennacherib. Afterwards Sir Henry Layard commenced work at Koyunjik (city of Nineveh) and was rewarded by the discovery of the grand palace of Sennacherib; but, unfor tunately, the magnificent sculptures which adorned it were found in a dilapidated state, as they had been greatly damaged by fire, and though a great number of the bas-reliefs were sent to the British Museum, the greater part fell into pieces as soon as they were uncovered.
1 he most interesting and valuable inscriptions found by Sir Ilenry Layard in his explorations, which related to Biblical history, were the ac counts given on a black marble obelisk and hu man-headed bulls, of the invasion of the Holy Land by Shalmaneser and Sennacherib. The former was discovered at Nimroud, and On it is recorded that Jehu, the son of Omri or Nunshi, paid a tribute to Shalmaneser II of "silver, gold, a golden cup, golden vases, golden vessels, lead, a staff for the hand of the king, and scepters." The latter was found in the palace of Sennacherib at Koyunjik, on Which was inscribed the expedition of that monarch against Lachish, as it is recorded in the t8th chapter of 2 Kings and 36th chapter of Isaiah, wherefrom Rab-Shakeh was sent with a threatening message to 11(•zekiah, king of Judah (3) Palace of Assu'-bani-pal. After Sir Henry Layard's second uccessful expedition to Assyria he declined to go out again, and i was therefore commissioned by the trustees of the British Museum to proceed to Mesopotamia to continue the researches in Nineveh, which were then conducted On a small scale under the gen eral control of Major (late Sir Henry) Rawlin son, the then British consul-general at Bagdad. I had come to England to complete my studies at Oxford, but as 1 took a great interest in Assyrian researches, I willingly accepted the proffered task.