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

770 EXPLORATIONS IN BIBLE LANDS
ing to the end desired, 1 but it miscarried and had to miscarry.
For the very peculiar character of the bilingual inscription
made it impossible to reach a sure result by its
aid. For, in the first place, the Assyrio-Babylonian version
was to all appearances the work of an unskilful engraver,
and many points of reading, even the very name of
the king, were confessedly doubtful, while the
arrangement
of the hieroglyphic version was by no means self-evident
or certain. Furthermore, of the six symbols which occur
in the hieroglyphic version, onlv three, or at most four,
have with certainty (in spite of Sayce's supposition to the
contrary) been found in other inscriptions of this character.
Without a doubt, in his reading of the Assyrio-Babylonian
version Sayce in some points was more probably wrong
than right. He arranged the hieroglyphic version wrongly,
and he found all six symbols in other inscriptions ; some of
them he recognized in characters which he regarded as mere
variants, but which in reality were absolutely distinct forms.
Accordingly, as the bilingual was essentially the foundation
on which he built, it follows that his further " decipherings "
in the main can have but little claim to this title. It should
be noted, however, that his efforts
have not been altogether
in vain. Thus with the help of the bilingual he has by
chance made out correctly, but not proved, the meaning of
a sign for me and mi, also of a sign for "king" or its equivalent.
Further, a symbol which according to my reading
stands for dei, " lord," he has by chance translated approximately
correctly as "king." Two other signs he takes,
not without good reasons, to serve as
case-endings, and another
sign from the inscriptions which accompany the figures
of gods at
Boghazkoi he takes to be the determinative
for " god," all of which are correct or at least
approximately
1
In the "Transactions of the Society of Biblical Archeology," vol. vii.,
pp. 274, seqq., and 299, seqq., also in Wright, " The Empire of the Hittites,"
2ded., pp. 166, seqq., etc.