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Explorations in Bible lands during the 19th century - H. V. Hilprecht

Explorations in Bible lands during the 19th century - H. V. Hilprecht

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DURING 19TB CENTURY: ASSYRIA AND BABYLONIA 211<br />

parts of <strong>the</strong> country his work bore more <strong>the</strong> character of a<br />

glean<strong>in</strong>g follow<strong>in</strong>g <strong>the</strong> rich harvest which he with Layard<br />

had ga<strong>the</strong>red from <strong>the</strong> same ru<strong>in</strong> fields a quarter of a <strong>century</strong><br />

before. Notwithstand<strong>in</strong>g all his serious efforts to make<br />

o<strong>the</strong>r startl<strong>in</strong>g discoveries like that which had crowned his<br />

first year's labors at Balawat, and notwithstand<strong>in</strong>g <strong>the</strong> fact<br />

that <strong>the</strong> excavations at Nimrud and Oovunjuk, at Qal'at<br />

Shirgat, and o<strong>the</strong>r Assyrian mounds, never ceased entirely<br />

dur<strong>in</strong>g <strong>the</strong> five years which he spent aga<strong>in</strong> <strong>in</strong><br />

<strong>the</strong> service of<br />

<strong>the</strong> British Museum, his great expectations were not to be<br />

realized. For a little while, <strong>in</strong> 1879, it had seemed as if<br />

Rassam would be able to accomplish what all <strong>the</strong> great<br />

Assyrian excavators before him had tried <strong>in</strong> va<strong>in</strong> — <strong>the</strong><br />

partial exploration of Nebi Yunus. Layard had managed<br />

through one of his overseers to dig for a few days <strong>in</strong> <strong>the</strong><br />

courtyard of a Moslem house, prov<strong>in</strong>g <strong>the</strong> existence of<br />

build<strong>in</strong>gs and monuments of Adadnirari III., Sennacherib<br />

and Esarhaddon <strong>in</strong> <strong>the</strong> <strong>in</strong>terior of this second large ru<strong>in</strong><br />

of N<strong>in</strong>eveh. In 1852, Hilmi Pasha, <strong>the</strong>n governor of<br />

Mosul, had excavated <strong>the</strong>re eight or n<strong>in</strong>e months for <strong>the</strong><br />

Ottoman government, discover<strong>in</strong>g two large w<strong>in</strong>ged bulls,<br />

several bas-reliefs, and an important marble slab, commonly<br />

known among Assyriologists as " Sennacherib Constant<strong>in</strong>ople."<br />

1 But s<strong>in</strong>ce <strong>the</strong>n nobody had made ano<strong>the</strong>r move<br />

to disclose <strong>the</strong> secrets of Nebi Yunus. Rassam went quietly<br />

and cautiously to work by mak<strong>in</strong>g friends among <strong>the</strong><br />

different classes of <strong>the</strong> <strong>in</strong>habitants of <strong>the</strong> village, which occupied<br />

nearly <strong>the</strong> whole mound. With <strong>in</strong>f<strong>in</strong>ite patience and<br />

energy he gradually overcame <strong>the</strong> opposition of <strong>the</strong> most<br />

This monument disappeared suddenly from <strong>the</strong> collections of <strong>the</strong> Imperial<br />

1<br />

Museum between 1873 an^ I %75 under Dethier's adm<strong>in</strong>istration. Comp.<br />

<strong>Hilprecht</strong> <strong>in</strong> Zeitschrift fur Assyriologie, vol. xiii., pp. 322-326. With<strong>in</strong><br />

<strong>the</strong> last few months I have been able to trace <strong>the</strong> lost marble slab to <strong>the</strong> shores<br />

of England, where at some future day it mav possibly be rediscovered <strong>in</strong><br />

<strong>the</strong> halls of <strong>the</strong> British Museum.<br />

16

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