Assyrian Discoveries.

An Account of Explorations and Discoveries on the Site of Nineveh, during 1873 and 1874. By GEORGE SMITH, of the Department of Oriental Antiquities, British Museum, Author of History of Assurbanipal, etc., with Illustrations. 8vo., pp. 461. New York: Scribner, Armstrong & Co. 1875.

MORE than thirty years have elapsed since attention was first directed to the mounds which occupy the sites of the ruined cities of Assyria and Babylonia, and a process of excavation commenced which resulted in the unearthing of a mine of treasure for the antiquaries. Museums have been enriched from the discoveries of Botta and Layard, and vestiges of buildings laid bare which afforded fair indication of the character of ancient architecture. These discoveries, however valuable to the archeologist, were for a long time of little advantage to the student of history. Tablets, it is true, had been found covered with cuneiform inscriptions, which, it was conjectured, contained records of the events of the periods at which they were erected; but, the key to these characters being unknown, the riddle remained unsolved.

When Sir Henry Rawlinson succeeded in deciphering the cuneiform characters, and thus translating for the world the ancient Assyrian records, an important element of value was added to these researches in the light now shed by them on ancient history. The records thus translated were necessarily fragmentary; and this fact, creating a want which necessitated further researches, occasioned the continuance of the former excavations by the author of the present work, who appears already to have supplied several gaps in the historical records which had been previously obtained.

These records, relating chiefly to the time when the Assyrian Empire was in its glory, are, of course, contemporaneous with the Jewish dominion in Palestine, and have therefore a special value in the indirect testimony which they bear to the historical accuracy of the Scriptures. The coincidences are in many instances worthy of note, and the first inscription, deciphered by our author from a tablet in the British Museum, is a remarkable corroboration of the Second Book of Kings:

"I lighted on a curious inscription of Shalmaneser II., which formed my first discovery in Assyrian. On a remarkable obelisk of black stone, discovered by Layard in the centre of the Mound of Nimrod, there are five lines of sculpture, representing the tribute received by the Assyrian monarchs from different countries; and attached to the second one is an inscription which was deciphered independently by Sir Henry Rawlinson and the late Dr. Hincks, and which reads, 'Tribute of Jehu, son of Omri' (here follows the nature of the articles) I received. It was recognized that this was the Jehu of the Bible, but the date of the transaction could not be determined from the inscription. The new text which I had found gave a longer and more perfect account of the war against Hazael, King of Syria, and related that it was in the eighteenth year of Shalmaneser when he received the tribute from Jehu."-p. 10.

The coincidences with Scripture found in these tablets are not, how12

VOL. XXX.-NO. LX.

ever, confined to contemporaneous history. They relate to early and traditional periods, and show that facts recorded in early Scripture had been handed down by tradition among these heathen nations. Of the Deluge a full account is given in these tablets, part of which appears in this work for the first time. We are struck with the minute coincidences between the following history of the Deluge, as preserved by Assyrian tradition, with the account given by Moses at a time when he could have had no communication with the Chaldeans.

"Make a ship after this** I destroy the sinner and life **Cause to go in the seed of life, all of it to the midst of the ship. The ship which thou shalt make. 600 cubits shall be the measure of its length and 60 cubits the amount of its breadth and height. Into the deep launch it.”—p. 185.

"A flood Shamas made, and he spake, saying in the night, "I will cause it to rain heavily. Enter to the midst of the ship and shut thy door."-p. 188.

The bright earth to a waste was turned. The surface of the earth like * it swept. It destroyed all life from the face of the earth * *the strong deluge over the people reached to heaven."-p. 189.

"I sent forth a dove and it left. The dove went and turned and a resting-place it did not find and it returned. I sent forth a raven and it left. The raven went and the corpses on the water it saw, and it did eat; it swam and wandered away and did not return."-p. 191.

The tablets also speak of the ancient cities of Erech and Calah, mentioned in the Book of Genesis. Erech appears to have been a great city, although it must have been extinguished at a very early period, as it is nowhere mentioned in profane history. The tablets of the period of Tiglath-Pileser-mentioned II. Kings, xv., xvi.-although very fragmentary, make distinct mention of various sovereigns spoken of in the Bible, and of events commemorated therein. Azariah, King of Judah, Menahem, Pekah, and Hoshea, kings of Israel, Rezin, King of Syria, and Hiram, King of Tyre (no doubt a descendant of Solomon's ally), are all named in them. The defeat of Rezin, mentioned II. Kings, xvi., is commemorated in one of these tablets; also the conquest of the Philistines. The following fragments present a striking correspondence with Scripture. The extract is from a list of cities conquered by Tiglath-Pileser.

"The cities * nite, Galhi. abil * Beth Omri."-p. 284.

which is the boundary of the land of

Are not these Galilee and Abel-beth-maachah mentioned II. Kings, xv., 29, among the conquests of Tiglath-Pileser, King of Assyria? The land of Beth Omri, of course, refers to Israel, of whose kings Ahab, the son of Omri, was the best known.

"The land of Beth Omri * Assyria I sent. Pekah their King

*

the gcods of its people and their furniture to * And Hoshea to the kingdom over them I appointed their tribute of them I received.”—p. 285.

The tablets of Sargon commemorate the conquest of Ashdod, mentioned in Isaiah, xx. The people of Philistia, Judah, Edom, and Moab

are mentioned as having sought the alliance of Pharaoh, king of Egypt, against the king of Assyria. The tablets of Sennacherib speak of the expedition against Jerusalem in the reign of Hezekiah. With characteristic vanity and insincerity, they claim the victory for Sennacherib, but are careful not to mention particulars.

Notwithstanding the interesting information contained in these Assyrian tablets, many of which are now translated for the first time, we must confess that the book, as a whole, disappoints us. Too much space is occupied with rather uninteresting matter, such as the author's account of his travels through regions having no connection with the subject of the work. Even when we come to the really important matter, the translations from the cuneiform inscriptions on the tablets, there is too indiscriminate a mixture in which all the matter of the tablets is jumbled together whether it possess interest or not. For a mere archæological student it will be of advantage to perfect his knowledge by the aid of all the translations; but in a work intended for the general reader it would have been far better to have confined the extracts to matters of real interest, without inflicting upon him such for instance as this:

"May thy heart rejoice. May thy liver be satisfied; O lord, great Anu, may thy heart rejoice; O lord, great mountain Bel, may thy liver be satisfied. O goddess, lady of heaven, may thy heart rejoice; O mistress, lady of heaven, may thy liver be satisfied."-p. 392.

And so on for a page or more. Of still less use, if possible, are those purely fragmentary translations of which only a word or two in each line are preserved, and with which it is impossible to associate any ideasuch, for instance, as the Legend of the Seven Wicked Spirits (pp. 398– 402).

One of the most interesting features in this book consists in its illustrations, which reproduce many of the curious sculptures and bas-reliefs of Assyria. The question who the Assyrians were, they do not, however, elucidate very clearly. They exhibit a race short and fleshy—the females especially-with low foreheads, full cheeks, long eyes, and a tendency to flat noses and thick lips, though not at all approaching the physiognomy of the negro. Yet, in contradistinction to these features, which suggest a combination of African and Mongol, their warriors are represented with long beards, a distinguishing peculiarity of the Caucasian race. The biblical chronology represents Asshur as a descendant of Cush, the son of Ham, from whom the Ethiopians are also descended; but it is well ascertained that what is commonly called the Negro element characterized only a portion of the descendants of Ham; and it clearly did not characterize the inhabitants of Assyria. To which of the great families of the earth these people, once eminent alike for their cultivation, their wealth, and their rapacity, may be said to have belonged, is a question which future discoveries in the mounds of Konyunjik may possibly elucidate.

Ismailia: A Narrative of the Expedition to Central Africa for the Suppression of the Slave Trade. Organized by Ismail, Khedive of Egypt. By Sir SAMUEL W. BAKER, Pasha, M. A., F. R. S., F. R. G. S. Svo, pp. 542. New York: Harper & Brothers. 1875.

THE expeditions in search of the sources of the Nile, which have occupied the attention of Englishmen for the last fifteen years, have proved the means of calling the attention of Europe to the real secret of the horrors of the slave trade, namely, the practice which has for centuries been established among the tribes of Central Africa of carrying on incessant mutual warfare for the express purpose of procuring slaves to sell to foreign powers, and the establishment of regularly organized companies of slave-hunters from Egypt and Arabia, in the pay of the merchants, and recognized and encouraged by the authorities of this barbarous region.

This was in itself an unconquerable barrier to the elevation of Africa in the scale of nations, and was in fact rapidly depopulating the heart of the country. This state of things demanded the interposition of all civilized nations; and the Khedive, Ismail Pacha, at the instance, and with the co-operation of the Prince of Wales, determined to strike a blow at the nefarious profession by annexing the hitherto savage territory forming the basin of the Upper Nile, and there establishing a government which should prove an efficient protection to the people.

The difficulties attending this expedition appear to have been such that the objects affected can have been attained only by a perseverance and energy almost superhuman. In the first place, the navigation of the White Nile and the Bahr Giraffe is rendered almost impracticable, not only by the constant formation of obstructions from the floating masses of vegetation, but by the constant and sudden changes in the channel itself, which would appear and disappear in a manner to baffle all calculations.

"The immense number of floating islands which are constantly passing down the stream of the White Nile had no exit; thus they were sucked under the original obstruction by the force of the stream, which passed through some mysterious channel, until the subterranean passage became choked with a wondrous accumulation of vegetable matter. The entire river became a marsh, beneath which, by the great pressure of the water, the stream oozed through innumerable small channels. In fact the White Nile had disappeared."--p. 33.

A less serious, but by no means despicable interference, arose from the hippopotami, who appear to have had a weakness for biting boatsand, in fact, occasionally sailors-in two. But the most formidable opposition of all, arose from the inhabitants, who, finding in the slavetrade a source of personal profit, were resolutely averse to all interference with it. Within the dominion of the Khedive, not daring to offer active opposition, they contented themselves with delaying all the

work which they were called upon to perform, in order to render the expedition too late to reach the second cataract in time for the period of high water.

We wish we could proceed to give some details. As it is, we can only direct attention to the work itself, which is a most interesting and valuable contribution to the history of one of the most mysterious regions on the globe. The pictorial illustrations, including portraits, maps, etc., considerably enhance the value of "Ismailia," which, as a whole, may be regarded as a very excellent specimen of "expedition narrative."

SCIENCE.

Manual of Political Ethics. Designed chiefly for the use of Colleges and Students at Law. By FRANCIS LIEBER, LL. D. Second edition, revised. Edited by THEODORE D. WOOLSEY. 2 vols., 8vo. Philadelphia: J. B. Lippincott & Co. London: Trübner & Co. 1875. IN these days, when political morality is at so fearfully low an ebb, when patriotism is in so many cases but a mask for self-interest, and when corruption walks abroad unblushingly, or sits boldly in high places without disguise, it is gratifying to meet with a work which treats the subject of politics from an elevated and disinterested point of view; or which, to adopt its own phrase, discusses the ethics of politics-an aspect in which that science appears of late to have been overlooked. It is true that this is not a new work. The first edition appeared as long ago as 1838; but it is doubtful whether at any time since that period its teachings have been more needed than at present; and should this second edition have the effect of awakening the minds of the rising generation to the consciousness of the fact that in political life there are such ideas as morality, justice, and integrity, which, even as a matter of policy, it were well not to ignore-it will not have appeared in vain. The fundamental idea intended to be conveyed by the term "political ethics," is the application of the individual conscience to the principles of natural law, and political science; or, in the author's own words,

"to ascertain by what moral principles we ought to be guided in certain specified poiltical cases, and what it is that experience points out as the wisest course for a conscientious citizen, under the law and in relations established by the two former sciences."-vol. i., p. 72.

It is characteristic of the German parentage of the work, that it commences its treatment of the subject from a very early stand-point, devoting a considerable portion of the first volume-that styled Book I. — to the consideration of the human intellect, and especially the moral nature, and a discussion of the science of ethics generally, and its application to politics, in particular. No less characteristic, perhaps, is the