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About The Loup City northwestern. (Loup City, Neb.) 189?-1917 | View Entire Issue (Jan. 30, 1908)
/ SCIENTIST TELLS OF FINDS AT NIPPUR LIGHT ON ANCIENT SYSTEMS OF LAW Discoveries Made by Prof. Hilprecht Declared to Be Among the Most Valuable Ever Made—Work of Translation Going On at the University of Penn ' sylvania—The Hymn to Ellil. H1LADEL.PHIA.—Recent evi WEjJ deriee that the so-called Hil precht-Peters controversy as to the results of the Nip pur excavations was not killed but was merely "scotched" by *he course in relation to it taken by the governing body of the University of Pennsyl vania, may lead to further action of some kind on the part of the latter. There has been lunch disappointment among the friends of Prof. H. V. Hil precht, (he head of the assyriological section at the university, that the mild verdict rendered by the investigating committee of the trustees in 1905 did not carry with it the weight of a vin dication. (The degree of contempt with which this verdict was received in aFyn'fio.Ks C” f'ot'r’dcry crfa/rr */fabisc6ac/r-pjyr^ f /rom </f'y>pisr‘& archeological circles, the freedom with which it was denounced in many scien tific quarters as merely an application of what is figuratively known as ‘ whitewash," are almost unprecedent ed in any similar case. It may as well he said that among the alumni of the university there still subsists a strong feeling of dissatisfaction that a more positive course was not taken by the trustees, and a movement has been begun to make a concerted rep resentation -in favor of again forcing the issue between Prof. Hilprecht and his scientific accusers. May Publish Stenographic Report. It was intimated to a representative of the Philadelphia Ledger by a trus tee of the university that the board might yet determine to give to the public the stenographic reports of the hearings in the Hilprecht matter, held by its special committee in 1905. In this connection the statement was made that the verdict of the commit tee exonerating Prof. Hilprecht was purposely couched in mild language in order that it might not wound the feelings of certain members of the university who had conscientiously believed that he should be compelled to answer formally the charges made hy Rev. Dr John P. Peters of New York and others "As this considerate course has not won their appreciation," it was added, "an entirely different one may be adopted." Of course, no official of the univer sity will concede at this time that the board is at all likely to reverse its action of 1905 or to take any steps which will mean the severance of Prof Hilprecht's relations with the institution. There is said to be a disposition on the part of the trustees to rely upon the results of the examination of tab lets brought from JMippur that has beeu in constant progress at the Mu seum of Archeology during the last two years and a half to obliterate the unfortunate effect of the revelations of Dr Peters, Prof. Prince of Columbia university, and Mis. Haynes as to the teal nature of the discoveries at Nip pur, in their bearing upon Prof. Hil precht’s publications It is declared that the translation of the tablets, which uutil the beginning of the con troversy had remained for five years boxed up m the cellars of the museum, is yieldiug results of the most brilliant character, far exceeding the expecta tions to liabylonia. The "Temple Library” Exists. Dr. A. T. Clay, assistant professor of Semitic philology and archeology, has done much very remarkable work as an interpreter of the cuneiform »QQaseioaiSfiSQ!»QQaQa!saeoaa texts brought from Babylonia. As to the Identity of the supposed "Temple library” at Nippur, he said, when in terviewed on the subject: “You ask if there was a Temple li brary at Nippur? Most assuredly there was. Nearly 20 years ago Dr. Peters found tablets in the mounds at Nippur, which he designated as relics of»a library. We have at the museum many religious texts of the early period in Babylonian history. But these are exactly what you would ex pect to find, for every Babylonian city had its temple and eultus, and in con nection with them schools for scribes. This subject, I believe, 1 have already treated sufficiently in my book, 'New Bight on the Old Testament from Babel.' "The advanced state of ihe systems of lav; in those old cities, for instance, was remarkable. The now' famous code of Hammurabi is based upon precedents, proving the existence of systems of law long prior to his time. There may also have been codes even earlier than his. There must surely have been in the time of Abraham ex tensive legal libraries. Think also of the wonderful HabyIonian system of writing! We know that the Chinese have from 30,000 to 40,000 values for their written signs. One scholar has already collected about 14,000 values for the Babylonian written signs, and another list is being compiled, which will, in all probability, contain as many more. Given these premises, it stands to reason that there must have been immense collections of documents and books in all the Baby lonian cities. Some of the books must have consisted of a thousand tablets each. Of course, there were vast storehouses or libraries to held them. Religious and Literary Texts. “There must have been a great mass of religious literature in exist ence. There must have been in use hymns to all the gods, in practically every cult, for in Nippur not only Ellil, but most of the other divinities of the middle east were worshiped. There must also have been large num bers of inscriptions, omen texts, etc., which are to be classed under the head of literature. Thousands of these texts have been found at Nippur, and we have many of them at the Univer sity of Pennsylvania. One of our staff is now working at the translation of religious texts. Other volumes em bodying the results of study of the tab lets have been projected and will be published in due order. 1 would not be surprised if a national epic should eventually be found in part or whole in Babylonian tablets. "The question as to what the depos itory of all this material shall be called, whether a temple library or something else, is of comparatively trivial importance, although it admits, of course, of some discussion. The temple was certainly the chief insti HSiP f/yt'OO oocrforro of ofr*?rov-.\ n>otv of Soofo & tution of the city, and dominated all the rest. The fact that arithmetical matter was found in the library would not make it any the less a library. The library of the University of Penn sylvania contains statistical books of all kinds as well as literary books. I would like it to be impressed upon the public that we have at the univer sity very large numbers of literary as well as business texts.” vwvieweewwweenwvvw/iiaa Prof. Clay declined to discuss any other phase of the Nippur question. Prayer on a Boundary Stone. The archeological publication last issued by the University of Pennsyl vania is a volume of Series D, edited by Prof. Hilprecht and entitled “A! New Boundary Stone of Nebuchadrez- j zar I. from Nippur." The author is Dr. William J. Hinke, assistant profes sor in the Auburn Theological Semi nary. Roundary stones first appeared in Babylonia under the third, or Cas site, dynasty and the date of this one in particular is about 1300 before Christ. In all royal grants of land two documents were used; one, a large, conical block, to be placed upon the field in question for the information of the people in general; the other, a private document or tablet, to be held by the owner as proof of his title. Curses inscribed upon certain stones show that they were public monu ments, which could be removed. The absence of curses in the inscriptions upon other stones shows that they were private documents. Boundaries and houndary marks were sacred to the god Ninib and were also under the protection of Nabu, the god of agri culture. "An interesting reference to bound ary stones in the religious literature,” says Dr. Hinke, “occurs in the Shurpu series, in a prayer which is remark able for its ethical contents. The priest intercedes for the worshiper and implores the deity to forgive him. asking the following questions: ’Has he drawn a false boundary? Has he omitted to draw a true boundary? Has he removed the confines, the limits or the boundary stone?” Peculiar Features. There is an immense amount of very curious information about the formalities of land cessions in Dr. Hinke's book, but in view of the na Ellil—tfre ivfty lord, the ruler of heaven and earthr the prince, the lord of all, the king of the great gods, whose equal as a god does not exist in heaven and on earth, upon the giving of whose command tho Igigi prostrate themselves, reverently pay hom age, and upon whose decision the Anunnaki wait in submissive awe, stand in humble fear, the lord of lords, the word of whoso mouth no god can set aside, the potentate of the AnunnakI, the lord of the blackheadod. the sovereign of lands, the ruler of king doms. The god wh jo splendor is overwhelming (?) and filled with brilliancy, with whose glory the whole extent of heaven, all habitations and all dwellings, are clothed, with whose majesty the lands are cov ered, whose rule cannot be rivaled, whose di vinity cannot be equaled, whose decision is weighty, whose com mand is lofty, whose law is supreme, w'hose ways are wonderful, who rules heaven and earth, who sus tains the lands, who calls the faithful shepherd, who ap points the governor of the earth, forever—with the light of his gracious countenance, with his shining face he looked faithfully upon Nebuchadrez zar, the prince, his favorite, who is devoted to his sanctuaries, and that he might shepherd Shumar and Akhnd. that he might renew the sanctuaries of the city of dwellings, and regulate the tithes of Ekur and Nip pu r, he broke the weapon of his enemy and the scepter of his enemy he placed in his hand. a life of eternal days he granted to him and above any preceding king he magnified his name. Because of the regulation of the t/.thes of Ekur. because of the magnificent sacrifices, becauS^ of the rich gifts and the treas ures (laid) before Ellil, because of the prostrations, with which the lord and the son of the lord, with which to Ellil and Ninib he showed his*vrespectful reverence, because of the utterance of supplications. ,TV 1U' * </i v » _ _ .--- - istar?,. o/y^o+’d* £ zpj'art 'ffO'rt erf-0/se of f>~ fpr/a'f et* •fc*ra gp ture of the controversy regarding the “Temple library" at Nippud the lit erary features of the inscriptions are of most immediate interest. The boundary stone erected under Ne buchadrezzar I., which is under special consideration, contains a transcription of “a magnificent and typical Baby lonian hymn.” The stone w'as found at Nippur on the northwest side of the Ziggurat, within the temple area, by Dr. Haynes, in February, 1S96, at j the close o? the third Babylonian ex-1 pedltlon of the University of Pennsyl-1 vania. It is a conical block of black i limestone, 49 centimenters in height.; and 73.2 centimeters in circumference at the middle. The inscription con- J sists of a heading of two lines placed j among symbols at the top, and 153 j lines of text, arranged in five columns. | The stone is slightly damaged, but the few lines which have been partly | lost have been almost completely re-: stored from the context. The stone ( has several features not found in j other monuments of this kind. One ib i a drawing of the piece of land to ] which the inscription relates. Tlic ’ second is a beautiful hymn to Ellil at j the beginning of the inscription. Dr. i Hinke says that “it is the finest Ellil hymn which has been found thus tar, fitly celebrating the majesty and power of the god of Nippur. In some of its expressions it aproaches the psalms of the Old Ttestament.” The inscription recites the historical i circumstances under .which the land | was given to Nusku-ibni, a high digni- 1 tary of Ekur, the temple of Ellil at Nippur, declares curses upon any of ficial who appropriates the land or interferes with the rights of the own er, and offers an invocation to the gods and asks them to mete out cor-1 tain punishments to an offender. The j names of 14 witnesses of the grant j are given. The symbols at the top of I the stone are outlines of shrines, orna-* mented with a spearhead, a pointed shaft, a skepter, a tiara, the head of a lion, the head of a vulture, a scorpion a five-pointed star, a crescent, a sun disk, a lightning fork, serpents, a tor toise, etc. The translation given by Dr. Hinke of the hymn to Ellil is as follows: bocau.se of the prayer of the kins, the priest. Curses Upon Offenders. Then follows the statement of the grant of land. Here is the curse di rected against him who shall deny the legal giving of the land: May Anu. the king:, the father of the gods, in anger overthrow him and annihilate his life, Ellil. the lofty god, who appoints the fate of gods*, appoint for him an evil fate, so tltse. calamity, misfor tune and the commands of men may oppress him. Ea, the king of the ocean, the lord of wisdom. take away from him gladness of heart, happiness of mind, abundance and fullness, so that lamentation may seize him. Sin, the lord of the crown of splendor, darken his face, so that he may not havQ merriment (?) Shamr.sli and 11?. in man. powerful gods, the lofty judges, give him evil plans, and with a judgment of justice and righteousness may they not judge him Ninib, the lord of confines and bound aries, tear out his boundary-stone. Gula, the great mistress, put lingering sickness into his body, so that dark and bright red blood ho may p&ur out as water. Ishtar, the mistress of lands, whose fury is like a flood. reveal the difficulties to him. so that lie may not escape misfortune. Nuska. the powerful lord, the mighty scorcher, (the god), my creator, be his evil demon and may he burn his root. The inscription apparently estab lishes the fact, says Dr. Hinkle, that Nebuchadrezzar was a usurper and that the first kings 9f his dynasty were contemporaneous with the Cas site kings. At first he battled in vain, against the Elamite and Assyrian su premacy, but after repeated reverses and late in his reign he was able to throw off the foreign yoke, ascend the throne of Babylonia and even extend his conquests to the Lulubeans in the east and the land Auinrru in the west. This enabled h:m to assume the proud title of "King of the World.” Southern Seas Salty. The sea is much more salt in the tropics than in the northern latitudes. This is due to the greater evaporation. Fun With The Professor. > Erudite Teacher Deceived by Con scienceless Student. A well-known professor remarks that the passion for any science may make a man hopelessly narrow, in a way. As an example he cites the case of an elderly professor in Middletown, Conn., whose love for philology was ao exceslve that it frequently led him to disregard tne broader principles or language in his minute searches for the particles binding an ordinary Eng lish word to its Ayran or Sanskrit an cestor. Once a student thought to have a bit of fun at the learned professor's expense. Assuming an air of great modesty, he rose. “Doctor, I've been thinking a great deal of late about the derivation of the word ‘Middletown.’ What is your ide~. of it?” The professor was a bit taken back. ‘ Really,” he stammered, “I—er—real ly, young man. that is a subject that will require much reflection. May I ask whether you have chanced upon anything that would throw any light on the question?” “It is my firm belief, sir,” responded the student, with great gravity, “that Middletown is derived from Moses!” “Dear me, dear me!" exclaimed the guileless professor. - “And pray, sir, how do you derive Middletown from Moses?” “Very easily, doctor,” replied the joker; “by dropping 'oses' and adding 'iddletown.' ”—Lippincott’s Magazine. Poison Used by the Ancients. The deaths of Socrates, Demos thenes; Hannibal and Cleopatra testify to the pharmaceutical knowledge of the ancients. Phrysa poisoned Queen Statira, in the reign of Artaxerxes II. (B. C. 405-3511), by cutting food with a poisoned knife. THE SLEEP-WALKER ROMANCE OF THE MYSTERIOUS THIEF AND HER CAPTURE. Mistress of Detroit Home Who Had Purloined Silverware and Other Valuables and Ends by Steal ing the Baby. The following story of the queer happenings that took place some months ago at the house of the Mills Mannings, a well-known family of De troit. is hut anolher illustration of the old adage that "truth is stranger than fiction. ” Morning revealed one day that al most all the silverware that the Mills Mannings possessed had vanished. Consternation prevailed, and was in tensified the more _ when the police arrived. Neither finger marks, nor broken window, nor forced door be trayed the entrance of the marauder. Throughout the day detectives scoured the house, peering into every corner, but without result. The morning following, Mrs. Mills Manning met the detectives with a look of much concern on her face. During the night, she told them, the | thief (whether the same one or anoth er remained to be seen) had stolen many more valuable articles. Stirred to fresh vigor by the story, the detec tives again made a minute examina tion of the house. Again it was to no purpose; the thief had covered his tracks so securely that not a clue re mained. Some weeks went by. Then, one morning Mr. Mills Manning discovered while dressing, that his pockets had been rifled during the night and every coin abstracted. Still more was to be revealed. The floor was scattered with little fragments of paper. Mrs. Mills Manning pieced some together, and, with a little cry of horror, dis covered that the thief had destroyed a number of dollar bills that her hus band had carried in his pocket-book. Again the detectives were called in, and again they vainly endeavored to find traces of the miscreant. Further mystery was still to be added to the affair. Two nights later Mr. Mills Manning's pockets were again rifled while he slept, his cash purloined, and the same treatment meted out to his paper money as had been done on the preceding occasion. One night a detective who had re mained in the house in the guise of a servant, heard a door open stealthi ly. A while-figure moved silently from the Mannings' bedroom. As it stole by him the detective became aware that the figure was moving in its '■maiutawwii Presently the Door Opened and the White Figure Emerged and Made as If to Descend the Stairs. sleep. Along a passage, straight to the nursery, where the baby daughter of the house lay, the figure stole. Some minutes passed. Outside the door the detective waited expectantly. Presently the door opened, and. bear ing the baby, the white figure emerged and made as if to descend the stairs. But the detective's hand gently re strained the thief. It was Mrs. Man ning herself who, afflicted suddenly with sleep-walking, had during her sleep purloined the silverware, rifled her husband’s pockets, and attempted to kidnap her own baby. GIVES UP THE FIGHT WILLIAM ROCKEFELLER TO LET WOpDSMEN HUNT IN PEACE. Effort of the Brother of Oil King to Stop Hunting and Fishing on His Estate in the Adiron dacks Fails. It was no use. The battle of mil lions against the ingenuity and per sistency and desperation of the woods 7KZLZM £VCA?/ZZL£Q. men of the Adirondacks has ended after five years of desperate and murderous conflict in victoiy for the latter, and they will hereafter be unmolested in what they claim is their right to fish and hunt upon the vast game preserves of William Rockefeller. Such at least, is the news brought by trappers from the Bay Pond country, who say that the guards have been removed from the Rockefeller lodge, and that the “na tives” have virtually won the battle, since they roam at will over the 52,000 acres composing the estate. Several times during the long con tinued fray, when some fresh inci dent had particularly aroused the ire of the woodsmen, Mr. Rockefeller was virtually a prisoner at his own camp at Bay Pond, his adversaries de clared, and predictions were freely made that should he show himself in the open harm would befall him The murder of Mr. Dexter, a wealthy land owner near Santa Clara, was fre quently recalled. While he was driving through the woods one day Mr. Dexter was shot from ambush and killed. Spurred on by the hope of winning a large reward which the father of the murdered man offered for the discovery of the assas sin. amateur and professional detec tives flocked to the Adirondacks, but their activities were repulsed by the mountain folk and it was not long before they returned to the city. Soon after the torch was applied In a dozen places to the Rockefeller wood lands. I Mr. Rockefeller's troubles with his Adirondack neighbors began soon after he decided to establish a lodge in the great North Woods. He first acquired 26,000 acres by purchase from Patrick Ducey, a lumberman. Subsequently he bought more land, until his tract now comprises 52,000 acres. The woodsmen who had been employed by Ducey were thrown out of work through his selling his land, but Mr. Rockefeller found occupation tor many of them in improving the property. He made it a rule, how ever, that none of them should shoot or fish on his land, and they were for bidden to carry guns or fishing tackle. Soon the earlier settlers were figu ratively and literally “in arms" against Mr. Rockefeller. They had shot and fished on the land as far back as the oldest inhabitant could remember, and they saw no reason why the arrival of Mr. Rockefeller among them should change their custom. They declared that Mr. Rockefeller could not claim the protection of the pri vate park law, as his 52,000 acres of wilderness, lakes and rivers, all pub lic waters, were not really a private park. They held that wild deer could not be bought with the land, nor could Mr. Rockefeller acquire the fish which, at the expense of the state, had been placed in the streams run ning through his land. Mr. Rockefeller's agent had bought the whole of the town of Brandon, house by house and lot by lot—all ex cept the property of Oliver Lamora, a French Canadian woodsman, who stubbornly refused to sell. Mr. Rock efeller quickly wiped out the whole town of Brandon, even the post office being removed to Bay Pond, where the Standard Oil man was supreme. Lamora defied all attempts to keep him from fishing in the headwaters of the St. Regis river, which are a part of the Rockefeller park, and finally he was arrested. Suits and counter suits followed, first one side winning a point and then the other. The feeling against Mr. Rockefeller grew intense, and poachers and vandals got bnsy on his estate. Mr. Rockefeller hired a large force of guards and armed them with rifles. Every spring, when the ground is covered wfth dry leaves and the for est is inflammable, many fires on the Rockefeller tract have originated un der the most suspicious circum stances. Some of these were un doubtedly of incendiary origin. One man familiar with the woods can set fires which in a few hours are practi cally beyond control. It Is seldom possible to bring against him suffi cient evidence to convict. Least Frequented of Her Haunts. Fashionable Dame—That house we just passed has a strangely familiar look. Have we ever been there James? Chauffeur—Yes, ma'am. You live there, ma'am.—Baltimore American.
