ANCIENT CIVLISATION.

Dominion, Volume 1, Issue 193, 9 May 1908, Page 10

ANCIENT CIVLISATION.

ROMANCE OF EXCAVATtOMf,AND . RESEARCH. •" " • LECTURE BY' PRO FESISOIt DRIVER. Professor S. R; Driver, of Osford, lias shown in an extraordinarily inbeirestiing lecture the romance of excavation and .Tcsearch so far as they concern tlio Bib Jo.' , ;Tlie lecture was the first o£ Scliweich lectures On Biblieal archaenlogj - , and was given at Buriington 'House, Lora:lon. "The '.Tiipos" gives a capital report. ! Tho last century, said the Processor, was an ago of the awakoning. of tho -iauman mind to the valtio and 'importance 1 of research, which had shown itself riot Only in the matliomatical and' physical but also . ill the historical' sciences—in" tlio. study, of history, of the'rise and grbwtli' ,-of civilisation, of. the art arid literature of' past ages, of archaeology. ,Our knowledge l ; of tho history and literature and art of Gi'eoce and'Romo had been immensely increastd ,by the largo numbor of inscriptions and p:ipj - ri which ,had been discovered during tho lttsfc; century, and by tho excavations at Troy, liljcenao, Olympia,. in Crete,. and othor placcs, whidh "had revealed the oxistenco. of flourishing civilisations at these places of'ivhich before-we had no conception.

REDISCOVERS 01? TWO CIVILISATIONS. . In, tho. same -way excav-ation .arid' research had thrown great light,',upon tlA> Bible. • • In .Egypt and .Assyria;, two, ontira' civilisatiorts had. been ■rediscovered during-tiho: past century, and the Iditiirei" dwelt at; some length on the manner in:,which tho. Assyrian inscriptions were' first disoovercd by Layard and Bo'tta and thon deciphered, chiefly, in the first instance, by tho labours of Rawlins'on'. and Hincks.. ;In Pboonicia, Syria-, Arabia;, aiid other connfcries tions. had also been fouiid iUustrating tlio Bible. Travel and exploration in Palestine wore next spoken of, Robinson; aud tho work of tho Palestino Exploration lTund being especially • mentioned,; and more.' 1 recently excavation, especially' of tho jkand begun by Professor .Petrio in .1890,, and carried, on'by Dr. Bliss and Ml-. / ilacalister,, and- .also by Profossor Selliii and Dr. Schumacher. . languages ,of ; the V BMe ..were next Spoken of, and tho > limporticnco ~ bf, exact philological : study of them for ascertaining ithe meaning 'of Biblical ..tostS, /and tho help derived ;-for> this j durihg ,tlio last'.century by tho rise of a ; science of compju-ativa philology, the growthu of: scientific/philologiohl. method, and tliOlnew. light .thrown- upon tho.languiiges. of tho.Biblo by inscriptiphs. and papyri. THo result, of all this resoarcli ■ was : to ; take tho Hebrews.;'out: of', the isolated position which <they formerly seomed'to'hold, and to demonstrate their affinities,, in . race, language, arid many of .. their 'ciato'ms, with their neighbouri,. whilo at the same time, leaving their great religious pro-ominonce untouched. - ; . SOCIETY IN BABYLON. .The second . part of,, the lecture was devoted ; to noticing. some, of; the' more interesting ,and 'importan.t discovorios of. the last sixty ;ydars which had .a bearing on- tho Bible. . The lecturer firstmentioned how Rawlitison "in ,1850, first (read tho inscription on i tho Colebrated Black (Obelisk in tho British 'Museum -which inentaonbd , tho tributo of Jehu to' Shaimaneser II; then ■ how, in 1851, lib. road' from, thp,inscriptions ,of Sargon' and Sannacherib tfio,;acc6urit giyen,by- the former 8f his capture ;of.'Samaria 'and by; the .'latter .'of, his', oxpodrfcioii:; against. l ,Hezekialu and his' siege' of. JenisnJemf'aft.en.ifchis'i .'in 1868 v the difecOvery :.of the' "Moabite'i' Stone," ■ giviiig particulars of-itlesha's revolt;:from;lsrael, and illustrating in' many ways , 'tho, . language and ideas, of ( tlKs;'Old, Testp.mont. ,'Hb :then" spoko of George Smith aVld -his discovory in 1372' and .1875 of:tlio famous;tablots containing, tho" Babylonian accounts of. tho* Creation i and'i:fihe,J)etogo^-,s;^.W.' : Jihis..hpL.refom!d''t6iitli&r.tjvQ bf jfound, in 1880,' which threw miich new light', on. the .Book of' Daniel i and. tho .circumstances,; under which. Cyrii!) entered Babylon. Then ho alltide'dbriefly discovery of and his. ' defierihinatiori' bf.'«thjb site : of Goshenl'iii '1885. -Tlio other discoveries'noticed by;-him .were those'' of .'tho.. Codo of; Hammurabi, - Klnjj of Babylon, about >1950 B.C. (found in.' 1901),' interesting both on a(tcount > of tho.' highlyorganised socioty iii. Babylonia k wliich is presupposed and also -on account, of. resemblances with homo .or the laws in tho Pentateuch the t discovery, iiv- ,190-i. of. a' liuinber of Aramaic, papyfi-.at .Elephantine, .iii tlio south of;-Egypt, dating, -frpni,.,47l .411 8.C., •testifying .to '•..•the 'Sexistenco■'•[ of,'a Jewish coloriy^■ ■ Bbttlcd'..tlibife,V and. exemplifying feomo f.of ,tho, Jiywl,'; and tho Still .more. surprisbig':dis(?pyery.'atV'thp tome place: ill 1907., :of .ft,petitiou. addrtss.ikl/by the. ; Jewish:.community, . at... Elephantine ,in 403, B.C. to .tho,,Persian-,Governor of : Jiidah, onhinl, to use his.' influence' to obtain permission for'their; Temple;.'which .had been standing for more than'ii century but had reGently been - destroyed by their e: cirties, to be rebuilt. . V , . CORRESI'ONDENCE OF HITTITE KINpS. This Temple, it is surprising to find, was not used,, like a, s t vliagogue, for prayer only, but'also, for sacrifico; it had an altar, on .which burnt .-.offerings," meat 'offerings,:- and frankincbliso .wero fegularly offered. The lecturer , cloood , by_ referring tb . Professor V.'ir.ckler's . excavations in 190G and 1007 at B6ghaz-Keni, in the ancient Cappadpoia, the •arteient'capital of tho Hittites, and his dis- • covery-there , of a largo colloption of cunci- ■ forhi; tablets)-;, dating fronv tho 'flftjieuth eentury- B;Ci,- and consisting,of tlio. ■once of- •tho'„'.Hittite, king's,.of, .that age, witli .various-, foreign potentates, .'whifth threw important new light on tho history and politi'Cdi coiiditions'-'of the timo._ . As' softio of these tablets were biliiiguaj, being Written .in both ! Hittite and Babylonian, it might be hoped that,. thoy would. advanco the decipherment of .the Hittite inscriptions. A