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

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EXPLORATIONS IN BIBLE LANDS
life of the people. The foreign invaders remained in the
fertile plain and became the docile pupils of the subdued
nation. They learned how to cultivate the soil and to dig
new canals, how to fortify cities and to erect lofty temples.
Thev adopted and further developed the system of writing
which thev found in the country, and thev made themselves
acquainted with the literary and artistic products, and the
religious and cosmological ideas of their new subjects. At
the time
of Sargon and Naram-Sin, the Semitic element is
firmly established throughout the land and in complete
possession of the ancient Sumerian civilization, which was
successfully directed into new channels, and thus stagnation
was prevented. The votive objects and seal cylinders from
the period of the Sargon dvnastv represent the best epoch
and the highest development of ancient Babylonian art,
while the inscribed tablets and monuments "are characterized
by an exquisite style of writing."
In the western portion of the ruins of Nippur the change
from the old regime to the new one is scarcely visible.
Burials were made there for some time afterwards (pp.
419, sea.), as they had been before. But in the course of
time, thev ceased altogether, and the site of the ancient
cemeterv was occupied by great business houses and the
bazaars of the citv (pp. 413, seqq.). The 30,000 contracts
and account lists excavated from numerous houses along the
bank of the Chebar enable us to trace one settlement above
another from the fourth millennium down to the time of
Artaxerxes and Darius, at the end of the fifth century.
A more abrupt and radical change took place in the eastern
half of the city. The burial ground around the ziggurrat
was levelled, the sacred enclosure extended, and the
whole temple court provided with a solid pavement and surrounded
with high walls. No cremation was henceforth permitted
and no funeral urn deposited anywhere within the
precincts of Bel's sanctuary at Nippur. The city became " a