DISCOVERY OF AN ASSYRIAN LIBRARY 3,500 YEARS OLD.

Western Star, Issue 1383, 24 August 1889, Page 4

DISCOVERY OF AN ASSYRIAN LIBRARY 3,500 YEARS OLD.

The Victoria Institute of London held its annual meeting at Adelphi Terrace on July Ist. An immonse audience crowded the Hall in every part, the President, Sir George Stokes, Bart., President of the Royal Society, toot the chair. Tho-proeeedings were commenced by mentioning that the Emperor of; Brazil had sent a- Dressage expressing special interest in the Institute's Journal, and desired to obtaia it regulai-ly for translation. The report for the past year was then read by Captain Francis Petrie, the honorary Secretary, by which it appeared that the number of home, foreign, and Colonial members had increased to over 1,300, and there had been an important advance in the practical work of the Institute in investigating philosophical and scientific questions, especially any questions used by those who unhappily sought to attack reiigi6n in the name of science. The adoption of the report was moved by Sir Henry Barkly, G.C.8.,F.R.5., and seconded by Admiral Sir Leopold McClintock, F.R.S., after which it was announced that family matters, consequent on the death of his father, prevented Professor Sayce's presence, and he had chosen the Rev. Dr Wright, author of " The Hittites," to read the Address. It gav« an historical description of what has become kuowa in regard to the conquests of Amenophis 111, as show* by the archives of his palace, which have only lately been discovered, andwhioh the Professor went last winter fc« investigate on ■tHe v spot' bsfore writing the Address for the Victoria Institute. Of the tablets and inscriptions, he 'aaid:—" From them we learn that in the 15th century before our ora—a century before the Exodus —active literary intercourse was going on throughout the civilised world of Western Asia, between Babylon and Egypt and the smaller state* of Palestine, of Syria of Mesopotamia, and even of Eastern Kappadokia. And this intercourse was carried bn by means of the Babylonian language, and the complicated Babylonian script. This implies that, all ovor the civilised East, there tvere libraries and schools where the Babylonian language and literature were taught and learned. Babylonian appeared to have oeen as much the language of diplomacy and cultivated society as French has become in todera times, with the difference that, hereas it does not take long to learn to read French, the ouneiform syllabary required years of hard labor and attention before it could be acquired. We can now understand tie meaning of the name of the Canaanitish city whioh stood near Hebron, and which sfeems to hare been one of the most important of the towns of Southern Palestine. Kirjath-Sopbor, or " Book-town," must have been the seat of a famous library, consisting mainly, if not altogether, as the Tel-el-4-marna tablets inform Us, of clay tablets inscribed with cuneiform characters. As the city also boro the name of Debir, or " Sanctuary," we may conclude that the tablets were stored in its chief temple, like the libraries of Assyria and Babylonia. It may be that they are still lying under tho soil, awaiting the day when the spade of the excavator shall restore them to the light. The literary influence of Babylonia in the age before tho Israolitish conquest of Palestine explains the occurrence of the nameß of Babylonian deities among the inhabitants of the West. Moses died on the summit of Mount Nebo, whioh received its name from the Babylonian god of literature, to whom the great temple of Borsippa was dedicated; and Sinai itself, the mountain " of Sin," testifies to a worship of the Babylonian Moon-god, Sin, amid the solitudes of the desert. Moloch or Malik, was a Babylonian divinity like Rimmon, the Air-god, after whom more than one locality in Palestine was named, and Anat, tho wife of Anu, the Sky-god, gave her name to the Palestinian Anab, as well as to Anathoth, tho city of "the Anat-goddcsses." In & earef ul reading of the tablets CanoD Sayce caino upon many ancient names and incidents known up to the present only from their appearance in the Bible. All these ho oarefally described, as well as several reference in the tablets to the Hittites. Professor Sayce closed his paper with a peroration of passing eloquence as to the duty of starching for the rich libraries that must liebnried beneath tho sands of Syria and Palestine, a matter the importance of which has been urged in the Victoria Institute's Journal more than once, especially in the last volume, presented to all its supporters. A vote of thanks was passed to Professor Sayce for his splendid Address, and to Dr Wright for reading it. This was moved by the Lord Chancellor in a speech of great interest, in which he said there was nothing more interesting in the litorary history of mankind than such disceveriea as those alluded to in the Address, which ho considered a perfect mine of wealth. M. Naville, the Egyptian discororer, having expressed his admiration of the labours of Professor Sayce, and declared the discovery the greatest one of the present csntury, a vote of' thanks to the President was thenmovedby Sir Risdon Bennett, F.R.S., seconded by Admiral Sir Erasmus Otnmanney, F.R.S., and conveyed to the President by Captain Creak, F.R.S., This closed the proceedings, and the members and their guests adjourned to the Museum, where refreshments were served.