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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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504 EXPLORATIONS IN BIBLE LANDS<br />

No satisfactory<br />

reason has as yet been found to expla<strong>in</strong> why<br />

<strong>the</strong> builders of <strong>the</strong> earlier fortress deviated from <strong>the</strong> direction<br />

fixed thousands of years before by <strong>the</strong> architects of <strong>the</strong><br />

Babylonian temple. The difference of bricks used <strong>in</strong> <strong>the</strong><br />

two<br />

fortresses can very dist<strong>in</strong>ctly be seen <strong>in</strong> <strong>the</strong> illustration<br />

fac<strong>in</strong>g p. 444. The o<strong>the</strong>r pr<strong>in</strong>cipal results obta<strong>in</strong>ed <strong>in</strong> <strong>the</strong><br />

course of our fourth campaign with regard to <strong>the</strong> large complex<br />

cover<strong>in</strong>g <strong>the</strong> temple mound are <strong>in</strong>corporated <strong>in</strong> a subsequent<br />

chapter, " On <strong>the</strong> Topography of Ancient Nippur."<br />

In this place it may suffice to state a second important<br />

reason for assign<strong>in</strong>g its construction to <strong>the</strong> Parthian rulers<br />

of <strong>the</strong> country.<br />

Toward <strong>the</strong> end of November, 1899, an unusually <strong>in</strong>terest<strong>in</strong>g<br />

tomb was disclosed <strong>in</strong> <strong>the</strong> ru<strong>in</strong>s to <strong>the</strong> south of B<strong>in</strong>t<br />

el-Amir (comp. p. 444). It was situated beneath <strong>the</strong> mud<br />

floor of one of <strong>the</strong> rooms 1 built <strong>in</strong>to <strong>the</strong> top of <strong>the</strong> outer<br />

enclos<strong>in</strong>g wall of <strong>the</strong> fortress, and consisted of burned bricks<br />

generally placed on <strong>the</strong>ir edges.<br />

This funeral chamber was<br />

reached by a flight of steps of irregular height and tread,<br />

constructed of <strong>the</strong> same material. Both <strong>the</strong> tomb proper<br />

and <strong>the</strong> stairway lead<strong>in</strong>g to it were arched over. 2 When discovered,<br />

<strong>the</strong> entrance way was closed with bricks loosely laid<br />

on <strong>the</strong> steps and some pieces of a large slab, which seem to<br />

have belonged toge<strong>the</strong>r orig<strong>in</strong>ally 3 and formed <strong>the</strong> cover<br />

stone for <strong>the</strong> whole stairway. The walls and <strong>the</strong> poorly constructed<br />

ceil<strong>in</strong>g were laid <strong>in</strong> clay mortar coated with bitumen<br />

1<br />

Marked No. 3 on <strong>the</strong> plan of <strong>the</strong> " Parthian Palace, built over <strong>the</strong> Ru<strong>in</strong>s<br />

of <strong>the</strong> Temple of Bel," p.<br />

559, below.<br />

2<br />

Comp. <strong>the</strong> illustration, p. 512, below, which represents two similar<br />

arched tombs of <strong>the</strong> same period excavated <strong>in</strong> <strong>the</strong> sou<strong>the</strong>astern slope of <strong>the</strong><br />

library mound.<br />

3<br />

As <strong>the</strong> writer was not present when <strong>the</strong> tomb was opened, he ga<strong>the</strong>red<br />

<strong>the</strong> facts from <strong>the</strong> reports of Haynes and Geere. The latter remarks: " It is<br />

to be supposed that <strong>in</strong> rais<strong>in</strong>g this slab on some later occasion — probably<br />

when <strong>the</strong> second burial took place — it was broken, whereupon <strong>the</strong> tomb was<br />

closed with its fragments and bricks <strong>in</strong> <strong>the</strong> manner <strong>in</strong>dicated."

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