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

DURING 19 CENTURY: ASSYRIA AND BABYLONIA 265
utter devastation.
But the well-preserved terra-cotta cylinder
proved of exceptional value in giving us the brief history
of the final restoration of Nebo's renowned sanctuary, in
270 b. c, by Antiochus Soter, " the first-born son of Seleucus,
the Macedonian king." So far as our present knowledge
goes, it is the last royal document composed in the
Old-Babylonian writing and language.
There are many important finds connected with the name
of Rassam as an Assyrian and Babylonian explorer. The
discovery of Ashurbanapal's north palace, with its library and
art treasures at Qoyunjuk, and the unearthing of Shalmaneser's
bronze gates at Balawat, will alone suffice to keep his
memory fresh forever in the history of Assyrian excavations.
But among all the remarkable results which through his skill
and energy he wrested from the soil of Babylonia there is
none greater and more far-reaching in its
bearings upon the
whole science of Assyriology than his identification and partial
excavation of the site of Sippara. Every trace of this
famous ancient city, in connection with Agade or Akkad
(Gen. 10 : 10), so often mentioned in the cuneiform literature,
and occasionally referred to even by classical writers, seemed
to have vanished completely. Numerous attempts had been
made to determine its ruins. Rassam himself had thought
for a while of Tell Ibrahim, which Rawlinson identified with
Cuthah (2 Kings 17 : 24)
; others had hit upon Tell Shaishabar,
about eighteen miles to the south of Baghdad ;
others
again were fully convinced that it was represented by Tell
Sifaira, between the Nahr c Isa and the Euphrates ;
while
modern geographers inclined generally to place it at the
present Musayyib. This only seemed certain, that the city
must have been situated in Northern Babylonia, not far
from the banks of the Euphrates. George Smith was the
first to propose the ruins of Abu Habba as its probable site.
They extend to the south of the Nahr el-Malik (the Naarmalcha
of Pliny), to-day more commonly called the Nahr