The inscriptions of their kings tell us of the building of temples, and of offerings made to the gods, but of very little more.
Their neglect of history was doubtless due in some measure to the fact that the Babylonian monarchy was a species of theocracy. The king was the high priest and vicegerent of Bel, the supreme deity of Babylon ; he derived his power from the god, and it was only as the adopted son of Bel that lie possessed a valid title to the throne. (See BABYLONIA AND ASSYRIA, RELIGION OF).
It was far otherwise in Assyria. There we find a people eminently practical and matter of fact, who valued history and historical accuracy. The great ruins which Assyria has bequeathed to us are those of palaces. and not of temples like those of Babylonia. And the walls of the palaces were adorned with accounts of the cam paigns and victories of their royal builders. The dates which are attached to each portion of the record, and the care with which the names of petty princes and towns were written down, give us a high idea of the historical precision at which the Assyrians aimed. The Assyrian monuments are alone sufficient to show that the historical sense was not altogether unknown to the ancient peoples of the east, and when we remember how closely related the Assyrians were to the He brews in both race and language the fact be comes important to the Biblical student. But
whatever may be the conclusions which we draw from the facts already acquired by archzeological science, we must not forget that these facts are but a tithe of those we may hereafter hope to obtain.
(6) Future Discoveries. We are still at the beginning of discoveries ; those that have been already made are only an earnest of others that shall follow. No libraries, either of Babylonia or of Assyria, have as yet been thoroughly cx plored—at most but two-thirds of the library of Nineveh has been brought to and the library of the ancient Babylonian city of Nipur, winch American enterprise has brought to light, has not yet yielded up the whole of its treasures.
It will take time to examine, to edit, and trans late all cuneiform literature which is at present in Europe and America. How much more time will be needed before the last of the old clay documents of Babylonia and Assyria has been rescued from the soil and we know exactly what has been saved for us out of the libraries of the past ? A. H. S.