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

DURING 19 CENTURY: ASSYRIA AND BABYLONIA 555
For the last time a certain prosperity pervades
the country,
and all the mounds of Nippur are covered with flourishing
Parthian settlements (pp. 309, 313, 3-7, seqq. s 334,
seqq.j^d^iSeqq.^i^ySeqq.). But compared with the ancient
civilization and wealth of the people, the period of the
Parthian
rule is a period of deterioration and decay. The resting
places of the dead begin to occur side by side with the
residences of the living. 1
The city of Bel rapidly becomes
again what it had been at the beginning of its long and
varied history — a vast cemetery.
With the rise of the Sassanian dynasty (a. d. 226-643)
the importance of the city is gone. The magnificent palace
grouped around the ziggurrat as a citadel lies in ruins;
no imposing new building is henceforth erected within the
Temple
5 c
Section through the Parthian Fortress covering the Temple of Bel, looking southwest
Restored and drawn by Fisher
precincts of ancient Nippur. Of course small mud houses
and insignificant shops continue to occupy the most prominent
parts of the high-towering ruins for centuries longer.
A great number of Hebrew, M andean and Syriac bowls (pp.
326, 337, 447, seq.) y
the wooden box of a Jewish scribe
1
We
excavated hundreds of tombs from the four hundred years when the
Arsacide dynasty held sway over Babylonia (about 250 b. c. to a. d. 226)
in the slopes of the mounds and under the floors of the houses of the later
inhabitants.