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

520 EXPLORATIONS IN BIBLE LANDS
observation concerning Virgo and Scorpion, closing with the
words, " thus the calculation " {ki-a-am ne-pi-shu), etc., etc.
This remarkable collection of mostly fragmentary tablets
illustrates the high esteem in which those ancient texts,
as historical sources, were held by the learned priests, and
the methodical manner in which they were gathered and preserved
in the latest temple library of Nippur ; while at the
same time it serves as a good example of the variety of
subjects treated in the "clay books" of the Babylonian
archives.
According to the results already obtained, there can be
no doubt that the whole area occupied by the large triangular
mound was included in the temple library and school of
the city. The real Babylonian buildings, as far as excavated,
may naturallv be divided into a northeast and a southwest
section. An enormous barrier of unexplored debris, "pierced
only by one large tunnel and a few branch tunnels," l lies at
present between the two quarters. The ground plan of
the entire complex can therefore not yet be determined.
Both wings consist of a number of chambers, corridors,
fragmentary walls, streets, etc., found at the same low level
as stated above (p. 512). Both were constructed of crude
bricks of the same size, and otherwise present the same
general characteristics. For reasons previously set forth
(p. 513), they must be ascribed to the third pre-Christian
millennium. Apart from other considerations, we know
from the remains of burnt brick structures lying immediately
above the earlier rooms, and at least in part following
their lines, that the library was rebuilt after its destruction
the subsequent periods of Babylonian history.
My present sketch of architectural details deals exclu-
by the Elamites, and probably continuously occupied during
all
1
Words and sentences placed in quotation marks on this and the following
pages are extracts from Geere's report on the architectural features of the
temple library.