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

DURING 19 CENTURY: ASSYRIA AND BABYLONIA 311
was evidently found in situ, except ten large tablets in a
most excellent state of preservation taken from a kiln, where
thev had been in the process of baking when one of the
terrible catastrophes by which the city was repeatedly visited
overtook ancient Nippur. They consisted of business
documents referring to the registry of tithes and to
the administration of the temple property, and of tablets
of a decided literary character, comprising some very fine
syllabaries and lists of synonyms, letters, mathematical,
astronomical, medical and religious texts, besides a few specimens
of drawing and a considerable number of mostly round
tablets which must be classified as school exercises. Those
which were dated bore the names of Hammurabi, Samsuiluna,
Abeshum, Ammisatana, and Ammisadugga. As about
four fifths of all the tablets were literary, there could no longer
be any doubt that we were not far
from the famous temple
library, unless indeed we already were working in its very
ruins. In order to arrive at more definite results, it would
have been necessary to continue the two large trenches which
I had started, through the centre to the eastern edge of the
mound. In the course of the second half of March five extra
gangs were put on "the tablet hill," as it was henceforth
styled, to carrv out this plan. But time and money were
soon lacking, and circumstances arose which forced us to
evacuate Nuffar before many weeks were over. Otherwise
we could not have failed to discover, in 1889, those tabletfilled
rooms which were unearthed eleven years later, when
the present writer personallv was held responsible for the
preparation of the plans and the scientific management of
the expedition.
The work at the temple complex, where finally more than
one hundred men were emploved, proceeded but slowly,
owing to the enormous amount of rubbish accumulated here
and to the tenacity of the unbaked bricks which had to be
cut through.
Small and graceful terra-cotta cones similar to