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

2G6
EXPLORATIONS IN BIBLE LANDS
Yusufiye, about halfway between " the great river " !
and the
caravan road which leads from Baghdad to Kerbelaand Hilla.
Nobody, however, had apparently taken notice of his stray
remark in the " Records of the Past," 2 and Rassam, unfamiliar
as he was with Assyriological publications, had surely
never heard about it. He went to search for the site of the
city in his own way.
It was in December, 1880. After half a year's absence
from the plains of 'Iraq el-'Arabi he had returned from
Kurdistan and Mosul to superintend his excavations at
Babylon and Borsippa in person, and to examine the districts
to the north and south of them with a view of locating
other promising ruins for future operations. As soon
as he had satisfied himself that in the immediate environments
of Hilla and El-Birs there was no ruin to tempt
him, he proceeded northward by way of Tell Ibrahim and
Mahmudiye, " bent upon visiting every mound in the neighborhood,
and seeing if
he could not hit upon the exact site
[of Sippara] to the north of Babylon." Dissatisfied with
the results of various trials to locate it, he finally had arrived
and settled temporarily at Mahmudiye. The number of his
workmen from Jumjuma, soon increased from the ranks of
passing pilgrims and wayfaring loiterers, were ordered to dig
at some of the principal ruins around the village. Meanwhile
he himself wandered from mound to mound, searching
and hoping, onlv to be later disappointed.
On previous occasions he had repeatedly heard of three
other conspicuous tells to the north and northwest of Mahmudiye,
called by the Arabs Ed-Der, Abu Habba, and
Harqawi. 3 His way from Baghdad to Hilla had often led
1
From which they are distant not more than four miles in a direct line.
Comp. Rassam, " Asshur and the Land of Nimrod," New York, 1897,
p. 403.
2
1st ed., vol. v (London, 1875), p. 107, No. 56.
8 Generally pronounced Hargawi in the modern dialect of the country, and