all the heaven of Anu thc king they set

up evil, and there was none lo resist them.

At that time the god Bel heard of their

doings, and weighed Ihe mailer in Ins

mind. He took council over those

things with Mea, who was the

great sage among the gods.

Considering that Anu did not govern

heaven, which was his division of the

universe, properly, and did not keep the

wicked spirits in order, Bel, who ruled

the earth, and Hea, who ruled the sea,

resolved on intervention, and they placed

Sin, the moon god, Shamas, the sun god,

and Ishtali or Venus, three children of

Bel, in the lower pari of thc heaven to

rule it, and they established them with

Aim in the government of the whole of

the celestial region, and Bel supported

them day iind night, and urged them to

be uniteT When the several evil spirits

in their""wanderings curie to the lower

regions of heaven and saw the new

miers, they came fiercely round the

moon god to attack him, and the noble

Shamas, brother of the moon, and Vul,

the god of the atmosphere, son of Anu,

tliey persuaded to come over to their

side, while Ishtah, sister of the moon

god, joined King Ami, sat with him on

his throne, and shared his empire. Sin,

thc moon god, was now abandoned, and

hardly pressed by his enemies; while,

meditating new mischief the seven evil

messengers of Anu, uncontrolled by the

moon, swept down from the midst of

heaven to earth. Bel, seeing the trouble

of his son Sin, called to himself his

attendant god, Nusku, and directed him

to go to Hea, who dwelt in thc deep,



and inform him of the trouble that had



happened to §in>- Nusku departed, and,

arriving at the sea, told the message of

his lord to Hea. Hea, on hearing of

the breakdown of his plans, was very

angry, and, calling to him his son Mero

.dach, described to him the conduct of

the seven spirits, who came like a tem-

pest on the world, and fought against

Sin, the son of Bel, and he directed him

to go to his assistance. Thc rest of this

curious myth has not yet been disco-

vered, but there is sufficient to show the

character of the story.



Of Izdubar I have now clearer ideas,

and I am confirmed in my first sugges-



tion than Izdubar is the same as the

Nimrod of the Bible. I believe that the



passage about. Nimrod in Genesis is j



historical, and is to be understood in its



natural sense. The hero whom I -,



provisionally named Izdubar corresponds !

in period, character, and exploits with (

Nimrod ; and when we find the phonetic ¡

reading of his name, I believe this j

identity will be proved. The stories of '

Izdubar correspond with some ancient ;

traditions respecting Nimrod ; and from ;

the form of prayer to him, which I have :

noticed, he appears to have been deified



after his death. I have also found his

name on a second tablet, which is part

of a series on witchcraft ; he is there



supposed to watch over the country. t

The opening paragraph of the legends

of Izdubar states that his exploits took

place after the drying up of the water,

probably referring to the flood. It reads,

" When the drying up of the waters, they

saw^and so on.



I have dwelt rather on the particulars

of the collection which I discovered, and

not on my personal experience in the

East. The account of my journeys I

have reserved for the Daily Telegraph,

and it is my intention afterwards to

publish in a permanent form an account :

of my excavations and the collections I

have procured. For this work I shall

reserve complete translations of the

deluge series and other interesting in-

scriptions. I cannot close without



pointing out some of the work which .

ought to bc done, and on the site of



Nineveh, ist. The great library in thc |

Palace of Sennacherib ought to he com-

pletely excavated and all its treasures



recovered. I calculate that there must



be 20,000 fragments of cuneiform tablets

still buried there, and it would require

three years' work and the expenditure of

¿£5000 to complete the excavation. Con-

sidering the remarkable interest of the

inscriptions which have already been

found there, it seems most important

that this work should be completed, and

the whole library obtained. 2nd. The

centre and eastern portion of the mound

of Kouyunjik requires to be further

investigated. The relics here ave of an

earlier age than those from thc palaces of

Sennacherib and Assur-bani-pal, and will

throw light on the more ancient period

of Assyrian histor)'. 4Ü1. There should

bc as complete an examination as pos-

sible of the mound Nebhi Yunas. 5th.

Tlie ruins of the wall and body of thc

city should be investigated. 6tli. Ex-

amination should be made round the

wall for Assyrian tombs, particularly for

royal tombs, as with reference to them

we are at present 'totally ignorant of

Assyrian customs. These suggestions

only refer to the site of Nineveh, while

there are numerous other sites in the



country which would also repay excava-

tion^- My explorations in the East have

now closed, and the subject of Assyrian

excavations will probably slumber for

some time ; but as the public

take a wider interest in these studies,

and in the remarkable monuments which



abouiwnn the Valley of the Euphrates



and Tä^ws, I hope that at a future day j

excavations may be reopened, and some j

of the objects I have in view may then j

be accomplished.



After the reading of Mr. Smith's paper,

Sir H. Rawlinson, who presided, made



some remarks on the value of these dis-

coveries, and a brief discussion closed

thc proceedings.

