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NOTE 59, p. 540.-The recent discoveries at Nineveh afford an interesting illustration of this verse. In the Kouyunjik palace (built by Sennacherib), Mr Layard discovered two small chambers, which, from the ruins found within them, he regarded as the chambers of records.' 'The chambers I am describing,' Mr Layard remarks, 'appear to have been a depository in the palace of Nineveh for such documents [of public affairs, written on tablets and cylinders of baked clay]. To the height of a foot or more from the floor, they were entirely filled with them; some entire, but the greater part broken into many fragments, probably by the falling in of the upper part of the building. They were of different sizes; the largest tablets were flat, and measured about 9 inches by 6 inches. The cuneiform characters on most

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of them were singularly sharp and well defined, but so minute in some instances as to be almost illegible without a magnifying-glass.' The documents were of a various character, including records of wars, royal decrees, stamped with the name of a king, lists of the gods, with (probably) a register of offerings made in their temples, &c. Many of the documents were sealed with seals; and Mr Layard believed that they might prove to be legal contracts, or conveyances of land. Of these documents, the author remarks generally: "We cannot overrate their value. They furnish us with materials for the complete decipherment of the cuneiform character, for restoring the language and history of Assyria, and for inquiring into the customs, sciences, and, we may perhaps even add, literature of its people. The documents that have thus been discovered at Nineveh, probably exceed all that have yet been afforded by the monuments of Egypt.' These sanguine expectations would seem to be fully justified by the fact, that Dr Hincks has succeeded in detecting amongst these remains a 'table of the value of certain cuneiform letters, expressed by different alphabetical signs, according to different modes of using them; while on two others of the records, he found what appeared to be a list of the sacred days of each month, and a calendar. The last-mentioned discovery gives rise to the hope, that amongst these ruins of the 'house of rolls' there may yet be found the record of astronomical observations made by the ancient 'wise men' of the East. (See Layard, Nineveh and Babylon, p. 344, ff.) We have stated parenthetically that the above records are inscribed on tablets and cylinders of baked clay. This was not the only, though certainly the most common, method of keeping records in use amongst the Assyrians. In the sculptures of the more recent palaces of Nineveh (at Khorsabad, Kouyunjik, and the south-west palace at Nimroud) there are frequent representations of eunuchs on the bass-reliefs taking account of the number of heads cut off in battle (see Kitto's notes at Judges vii. 25, and 2 Kings x. 8), the plunder of cities, &c., in which they are seen writing down the account on a flexible material which they hold in their left hand, hanging like a strip of supple leather. As these bassreliefs are, on good grounds, believed to have been executed within the period during which close intercourse existed between Assyria and Egypt, it is possible that the material written on, as exhibited in the above-mentioned bass-reliefs, was papyrus from the latter country.

For an additional notice on bricks with inscriptions, sce Note 68, in the Appendix to the Third Volume.

NOTE 60, p. 673.-It has been already stated in a previous Note (47) of this Appendix, that a large collection of seals on clay had been found by Mr Layard in the Kouyunjik palace. These clay-seals of Assyria will enable the reader to understand the meaning of the present text. According to Mr Layard, there can be no doubt that these clay-seals had been affixed, like modern official seals of wax, to documents written on leather papyrus, or parchment. In his note at 1 Kings xxi. 8, Dr Kitto has stated that all seals that were not rings were bored, so that a string might be inserted by which the seal was worn around the neck, or attached to other parts of the body. It is, then, a remarkable and interesting circumstance connected with these pieces of impressed clay, that in them may still be seen 'the holes for the string, or strips of skin, by which the seal was fastened;' while, more wonderful still, 'in some instances, the ashes of the string itself remain with the marks of the finger and the thumb. The seals thus discovered are of different countries, the greater part being Assyrian; while some bear Egyptian, others Phoenician, and others doubtful symbols and characters. The Assyrian devices are of various kinds; the most common is that of a king plunging a dagger into the body of a rampant lion. This appears to have been the royal, and, indeed, the national seal or signet. It is frequently encircled by a short inscription, which has not yet been deciphered, or by a simple guilloche border. The same group, emblematic of the superior power and wisdom of the king, as well as of his sacred character, is found on Assyrian cylinders, gems, and monuments. From the Assyrians, it was adopted by the Persians, and appears upon the walls of Persepolis and on the coins of Darius.'-Layard, Nineveh and Babylon, p. 154. Most remarkable for beauty of design and skilful execution are two seals with horsemen, one riding at full speed, and raising a spear, the other hunting a stag. According to Mr Layard, they excel all other Assyrian relics; and the excellence of the impressions gives evidence of great perfection on the part of the Assyrians in engraving on gems.

Round lumps or balls of clay, also impressed with a seal, were found by M. Botta in the ruins of Khorsabad. They bore the same figure of a man stabbing a rampant lion, of which Mr Layard speaks; and, singularly enough, M. Botta found in them a hole bored through, which still retained fragments of carbonised string. According to Botta, 'it is certain that these balls have been moulded merely in the hollow of the hand; finger-marks may still be seen on them, and even traces of the pores of the skin' [!]. -M. Botta's Discoveries at Nineveh. London. 1850. These seals have been regarded as having been employed to secure the inviolability of doors, or any article of value, in agreement with the observations made by Dr Kitto in his note on the text. But besides these uses of clay, we have to refer the reader to our note on Esther vi. 1, in Appendix, for a notice of another most important purpose to which it was applied. We stated there that tablets of clay were used for recording public transactions, and that many such were found (mutilated, indeed) in the chamber of records. But what we wish to repeat at present is, that many of these tablets were sealed with seals. Now, there can be little doubt but that the cylinders wherewith these tablets were stamped, were rolled over the soft clay, and that thereafter the tablet was baked in the furnace; and in this way these tablets afford another striking illustration of our text, in accordance with the view of Landseer quoted by Dr Kitto.

END OF VOL. II.

Edinburgh:

Printed by W. and R. Chambers.

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