An Assyrian library.

Wairarapa Daily Times, Volume X, Issue 3303, 7 September 1889, Page 2

An Assyrian library.

Tho Victorian Institute of London held its. annual meeting at, Adelphi Torrace on Ist July,' It « announced that family matters, consequent on the dt£, of his father, provonted Brofessor Sayee's presence, and ho had chosen the Eov Dr Wright, author of'" The Hittites," to read tho address. It gavo on«~u historical description of \vlist-iTas It been kcoivn in regard to the conquests of Amenopbis 111,, as shown by tho archives of his palace, which have only lately been discovered, and which the Professor went last winter to investigate on tho spot before writing the address for the Victoria Institute. Of tho- tablets and inscriptions,Kio said:—" From them we loarn that in the fifteenth century heforo our era, -a century before tho Exodusactive literary intercourse was going on throughout the civilised world of . of Western Asia, between Babylon and Egypt and the smaller sh>t.sof Palestine, of Syria, of Mesopotamia, and even of Kappadokia, And this intercourse was carried on by moans of tho Babylonian language, and the complicated Babylonian script. This implies that, all over, the civilised East, there were libraries and schools.

whore tlio Babylonian language and litcraturo wcro taught and learned. Babylonian appeared to havo been as much Iho language of diplomacy and cultivated society as French has liecome in modern times, with tho difference that, wheroas it does not take long to learn to wad French, the cuneiform syllabary required years of hard labour and attention boforo it could bo acquired, Wo can now understand the meaning of tho nnmo A- of this Cftliaanitish city which stood near Hebron, and which seems to lmve boon one of tho most important of tho townsof Southern Palestine. KiijalbSepher, or "Book-town," must have been tho seat of a famous library, consisting mainly, if not altogether, as tho Tel-01-Amarna tablets inform \ °f <% tablets inscribed with characters. As tho city also boro tho uanio of Debir, or • "Sanctuary," wo may conclude that that tho tablets wero'stored in its i chief temple, like tho libraries of Assyria and Babylonia, It mty he that they are still lying under tho soil, awaiting the day when tho spado of the excavator shall restore thorn to light. Tho literary influence of Babylonian tho age beforo tho Israelitish conquest of Palestino explains tho occurrence of tho names of the Babylonian dieties among the inhabitants of the west. ■ Moses died on the summit of Mount Nebo, v?hioh received its name from the Babylonian god of literature, to whom the great temple of Jiorjsippa was dedicated; and Sinia '1 itself, the mountain of' Sin,' testifies to a worshih of the Babylonian Moon-god, sin, amid tho solitudes of tho desert. Moloch or Malik, was a Babylonian divinity liko Kimmou, tho air god, after whom more than one locality in Palestino was named, andAnat, the wifeofAnu, the sliy god, gave her name to the Palestinian Anah, as well as to Anathotli, the citj of the Anat-goddesscs,'" In a careful reading of tho tablets jr Canon Sayco came upon many MA ancient names and incidents known »' up to the present only from their appearand in tho Bible. All these he caretully described, as well as several references in tho .tablets to the Hittites.

In regard to another point, he said:—" Ever since the progress of Egyptology made it clear that Eamesos 11, was tho Pharaoh of the oppression, it was difficult to understand how so long an interval of time as tho whole period of the 18th Dynasty could Ho between him and Vjjthe'new king 1 whoso rise seems to liave been followed almost immediately by the servitude and oppression of the Hebrews, Tho tablets of Tel-01-Amarna now Bhow that the difficulty does not exist. Up to tho death of Khu-en-Aten, the Semite had greater influence than the native in tho land ofMizraim,"

Mr.J. A, Taylor, who was killed laat week at Hamilton whilo hunting with tho Pakuranga hounds, had his hfo insured in tho Australian Mutual Proident Society for £IOOO, f ! Tho contrasts in the rainfall in India tango from more than forty ieotat Cherrapunji, in the Khasi Hills, to four inoheß, and sometimes ono inch, at Jacobabad, in Siud, In 1880 there were 198,292 Irish and 163,482 Germans in Noiv York city, There are now more Uerinaiiß than Irish. In many parts of China tho Bibles giyon to tho Nntifes by missionaries are used in tho manufacture of cheap boot soles, Washington and Napoleon wcro two jjreat men who neyor mado a speech, tried it a few times and regretted his inability.