Archaeology.— The modern explorers, ex cavators and decipherers, or translators, have given us a new world, a large portion of which is below the surface of the territory occupied by the Ottoman Empire, chiefly in Babylon, Asia Minor, Palestine, Egypt, Assyria and Arabia. The land of Babylon and Nineveh, of Assyria and Khorsabad would naturally be fruitful in records of the past. The number of cuneiform documents found in Macedonia alone are of great value. One of the causes which have contributed to the recent activity in search ing for archaeological remains is the desire to Se cure corroborative testimony in favor of the Bible. Such reasons greatly influenced some of the American missionary societies to begin in vestigations. The University of Pennsylvania sent out an expedition which discovered, in the vicinity of Nuffar, 2,000 cuneiform tablets. many of which were in existence 2,800 year: before the birth of Christ. Dr. Hilprecir was appointed to supervise the editing an classifying of the results of the expedition The collection contains many inscribed clay stamps for bricks, marble vases, sacrificiaj vessels, door sockets, enameled and plain yaw, seals and seal cylinders, gold and silver orna ments, clay sarcophagi, stone, iron and bronze articles, bas-reliefs, intaglios, human skulls and numerous other articles. The American Arch aeological Institute explored the territory near Asso (present Behram) in the years 1$81-fe The excavations brought to light buried forti fications of successive periods, baths, theatres, temples which were of the archaic Doric order and down to and within the Christian era, porti cos, private dwellings, a gymnasium, a Greek bridge and a highly ornamented group of tombs. Other exploring expeditions have been sent to Turkey by the French, English and Germans, and the Turkish government has given the matter considerable attention. In an article on the Turkish excavations by Ameri cans, written by James B. Fox, he says: 'The dreary solitudes that long brooded over those buried civilizations have begun to disappear before the labors of dauntless and indefatigable explorers, and a literature, almost overwhelm ing in extent, graven in clay and stone, trans ports us back to the very cradle of the race. They reveal a perfection of art, a marvelous ness of correspondence, a development of civilization in those primeval days that excite the wonder and admiration of our more en lightened age. Schools and libraries must have existed everywhere; clay books were stored in the cities; letters of every description were exchanged on every subject ; and, judging from the tablets of Zel-el-Amarna, Canaan was a centre of correspondence, even before the age of the Exodus. The objection of the 'higher critics) that Moses could not have written the Pentateuch, because the art of writing was un known in his day, falls hopelessly to the ground." The whole country, especially Syria, Pales tine and Babylon, contains vast archaeological treasures. Specimens of Byzantine architecture still exist in a good state of preservation. The statues found among the ruins of ancient Nineveh, and preserved in the British Museum; are remarkable monuments. The half-tamed Turk had wandered for centuries over the plains near the Tigris without ever dreaming that he was crossing the place of sepulchre of a once gorgeous city, until Sir Henry Layard (q.v.) and other English explorers began the excavations which restored Nineveh to the world.
The Turkish government has, since 1884, opposed the removal of objects of antiquity from the country and no excavations may be made without a finnan. The government has a valuable collection of archaeological specimens at the museum of Tchinli Kiosk. The splendid archaic frieze of the Doric temple in Assos is not in one place, but portions are in America, Paris and Constantinople. Facsimiles of some of the famous statuary found in Nineveh (originals in England) are in museums in New York and other places. See ASSYRIA ;
ASSYRIOLOGY ; BABYLON ; CANAAN ; BIBLICAL ARCHJEOLOGY ; NINEVEH ; PALESTINE ; TEL-EL AMARNA, etc.
Finance.— The public revenue of Turkey comes from the following sources: direct taxa tion, tithes, verghis (land and property tax), temettu (income tax), for exemptions from military service, aghnams (tax on sheep, cattle, etc.), and other sources; indirect taxation, various customs (salt, tobacco, spirits, stamps, fisheries, silk and other sources), administra military departments, share in tobacco Reline profits, tribute revenues and other sources. The largest portions of the expendi ture are for debt charges and for military purposes. No regular budget existed before the restoration of the Constitution in 1908. Since that year there have been voted or enacted by the executive a budget and finances for every year. The revenue in 1918-19 was fT33,965,698 ($152,845,641) and the expenditure iT51,762,761 ($232,932,424). The chief items of expenditure were: finances, $46,778,040; post office, $5,350, 414; police, $11,541,406; justice, $4,806,634; education, $4,826,416; commerce, $7,123,059; army, $27,198,454; navy, $7,668,256. For the civil and religious administrations 21 per cent of the general expenditures is allotted, while ordinarily 28 per cent is reserved for the military establishment. Unable to meet its liabilities the Ottoman government made an arrangement with its creditors, confirmed by the Iracle, of 8/20 Dec. 1881, supplemented and modified by the Iraele of 1 Sept. 1903. A council of administration was appointed, to which were handed over for distribution among the .bondholders the funds derived from the excise duties and other funds. On 31 Aug. 1918 the total debt was placed at /T454,649,590 ($2,045,923,155) of which 1T149,475,754 ($677, 640,893) is external debt.
charter for a new national bank, to be known as the Ottoman National Credit Bank (Osmanli Itibar milli Bancassi) was issued by the government in January 1917. Its capital is $18,000,000 (fT4,000,000). With the expiration of the privileges of the Imperial Ottoman Bank in 1925, the new bank becomes the state bank with the right to note issue. The Imperial Ottoman Bank in 1910 had a capital of $45,000,000, a note circulation of iT941,250 ($4,235,625) and cash oh hand to the amount of fT3,568,834 ($16,140,753). The note issue of this bank consisted up to 1914 of notes of #T5 and upward ($22.50), secured by a gold reserve of not less than 33 per cent of the face of the issue. During the War 1914 18 there were five emissions of paper currency secured by German treasury bills. The total of these was about $383,000,000. Currency re form was inaugurated on 17 April 1916. A gold standard with the piastre as the unit is to be general all over Turkey. The piastre e9uals 40 para. Piastre, half-piastre, quarter piastre and eight-piastre pieces are of nickel. Two, 5, 10 and 20-piastre pieces are of silver, 25, 50, 100, 250 and 500 piastre pieces are of gold. The gold 100-piastre piece weighs 7.216 grammes, .916 fine, or has 6.6147 grammes of pure gold. It is equal to iT1 or $4.50 in currency of the United States.
Weights and Measnres.—The Oke of 400 drams is equivalent to 2.8326 pounds avoirdu pois; the ki/eh=0.9120 imperial bushel; 44 Okes=1 Kintal or 125 pounds; 39.44 Okes =112 lbs.; 180 Okes = 1 cheke or 511.380 pounds; Endazi (cloth measure) =27 inches; one arshin (land measure) =30 inches; one donum (land measure) = 1,098.765 square yards. Since 1889 the metric system is obligatory for cereals; metric weights were decreed obligatory in 1892, but the decree does not appear to have been enforced. On 1 March 1917 Turkey in troduced the Gregorian calendar and it is now used side by side with the Mohammedan or Hegira calendar.