BUILDING OF NINEVEH.

Dominion, Volume 3, Issue 777, 29 March 1910, Page 2

BUILDING OF NINEVEH.

. ;Eecently the British Museum (says the. ."Daily: Telegraph") , acquired :and added to their Babylonian and Assyrian galleries- a' cylinder by : Sennacherib, in 'ivhich : "tlje' ; conguercir 'set's; out -a de--scription of tn-o of his campaigns;-and. the building'of .Nineveh. The cylinder ■is ■ unique,' in that neither of theso campaigns aro recorded in the; other ciiniforni tests in our national' museum, and'are-only briefly- referred to on tho Bull inscription,'and on a slab now in the| Constantinople Museum.. The text is' published by tho'British Museum trustees, with' photographs, copies', translations, and a commentary by- Mr.. ; L. W. King, of tho Department of Egyptian arid Assyrian' Antiquities.. In view ;of this important addition ,to -knowledge of Assyrian history, Dr.. Theophilus Pinches devoted his paper at the meeting of tho Royal Asiatic Society to "Sennacherib's Campaigns on-the-North-West, and his Work, at Nineveh."

Sennacherib, at the concluding Eection of the text on the new i cylinder, refers,to the improvements which .ho had made in Nineveh, the city beloved of Istar. He complains that nono of the kings, his fathers; had constructed a wall round Nineveh, enlarged' the city,, made straight tho streets, dug a canal, planted plantations,. nor built a palace worthy of a king.. J3o ho encircled the city with two walls, having fifteen gates, employing for the work, as was the custom in the ancient, Semitic' Bast, the people ho had conquered—Chaldeans,, ArameanSj" tho Mania, the men of Kue, the Philistines, and the Tyreans, who had :all submitted to his yoke. Also, he built a new palace, a thing of beauty, adorned with gold, silver, precious stones,! and scented wood. Winged bulls of white stone quarried ho brought in as supports for the doors. He made extensive, irrigation works for the city, as well as for-bis parka, plantations, and the farms' around. Sennacherib boasts of having . found how to make large bronze castings, and gives details concerning their production, This cylinder is said to have been written, to-celebrate the completion of the works undertaken by Sennacherib, and especially the double walls of Nineveh, in one of which'this document was; apparently, found'buried] under or near one of the gates. The. text opens with a description of the two campaigns. The first of these (which, "according to tho eponym canon,,, took place after his fifth') was against Cilicia. In 698' B.C. Kirua, tho prefect of tho city Illubru, induced the people of the cities Hilakku, Ingira, and Tarsus to revolt and seize —helped by the. Greek traders—tho .land of Kuo (Cilicia). Sennacherib sent an army, which defeated them, and Kirua was.brought to Nineveh for execution. Tho second campaign was against Tilgarimmu, a city on the borders of Tubal, which was destroyed, and tho people taken as spoil. /