/
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.
