Evening Republican, Volume 17, Number 137, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 9 June 1913 — THE TOWER Of BABEL [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

THE TOWER Of BABEL

■MBHbUIN and desolation mark the site of Rthe ancient biblical city of Babylon: . pWhere. l 'by the water of Babylon.” the „ Jewish nation “sat down and wept.” SFJPHJ stand today staggering walls of an old-time splendor. Until a few years jgjrjregi ago what had once been the “cradle ft® U ® cir ili za tion“ was covered with the rakig-Jy iirt and dust of ages, but in 1900 a JaSg* number of German archaeologists cleared away .the debris, in part, and ■EBR uncovered portions of the royal city. The work is still being carried on and the photographs here reproduced are the first to Teach America showing the results of the German savants’ labor of love. For twelve years Prof. Robert Koldewey, director of archaeological research in Babylon, assisted by Dr. Oscar Reuther, has carried on his work, supported by the •emperor of Germany. On the site shown in one of the pictures the Tower of Babel once stood. This is the scene «f the confusion of tongues of the biblical story. Several sites have been assigned to the tower. That this is the true site is the conclusion of Dr. Koldewey and his associates in the expedition *ent out by the Deutsche Orientgesellschaft of Berlin. Other scholars who have sought to lo-

cate the site have lacked the evidence obtained by Dr. Koldewey in his extensive researches. Only the site is left Time and war and the elements assailed' the tower. For twenty centuries it crumbled. It was a quarry of building materials for man. Practically Babylonia was left unexplored until the last quarter of the nineteenth century. Before that the work of destruction had been completed. In the last century modern towns and villages in the vicinity carted off or floated down the Euphrates the last bricks of the foundation of the Tower of Babel. The foundation was over 360 feet square, a huge, bulky mass. Hillah, a moderh Arab town, four miles south of it, was built with the bricks of the ancient city. Thus perished the pride ot Babylon. ' V; ~~ ■ ‘ :--. p ' ' " ' - The temple of Esaglla, the most Important Babyloulan sanctuary brought to light, was a part of the Tower of Babel. Its ruins were uncovered by the German archaeologists after digging a hole forty feet deep that was as broad as the mouth of a volcano. The two walls in the center of the picture mark the entrance to the passage, a quarter of a mile long, which connected the steep pyramid of Etumenanki, known in the Bible as the Tower of Babel, with this temple. Because*of the depth of the debris caused by the action of the centuries which have veiled the earth here the entire foundation of the Tower of Babel has not yet been excavated, but tunnels at the floor level have been bored into the sides until the temple walls were properly established and then the whole edifice was measured. This is the oldest and most momentous rulu on accouqt of its connection with the Tower of Babel, and the bricks which once represented massive masonry are now so brittle that one can crush them between the fingers. In the picture showing thp ruins of Babylon the man on the left stands upon the remains of the brick pavement which was part of the long street named after Daniel, who, no doubt, himself traversed Its length many times. In the ruins on the right, in the hollow, there is the gate named after the goddess Ishtar. This is the most prominent and best preserved ruin in Babylon. Its walls are adorned with reliefs o( I>ulls. the holy animal of Nebo, and dragons, the holy animal of the god Marduk. It was through this gate that the processional road of the gqd of Marduk led, and passing it and turning to the right, it led on to Nebuchadnezzar’s throne hall. The excavations have brought to light many curious specimens of the work of the ancient people of Babylon. The largest piece of sculpture yet unearthed Is that of a huge lion chiseled out of an enormous block of granite brought down the Euphrates on a raft from Mesopotamia. It shows a Hon standing over a prostrate man. The work is crude and probably is a product of the very earliest art of Babylon. The sculptor typifies the superiority of the lion's strength over man’s. Borne coffins of the middle class were also found. They were of burned clay and like bathtubs in shape. Some of them were verv short, because of the custom of the Assyrians and Babylonians of burying their dead in a sitting volition. with the head between ths knees.

These sarcophagi were depositetd often in round roofed tombß, in some of which have been found the bones of thp dead of 2,500 years ago. Many of these coffins have been discovered in the exca-

vatlons about the dwellings of the middle classes. While German research has definitely fixed the location of the Tower of Babel, the origin of the biblical story of the confusion of tongues has not been found in Babylon. That it is a world myth is the conclusion of scholars. It is interesting to note that a similar legend is found In Central America in connection with the pyramid of Cholula. which was also Intended to reach the heavens and which brought disaster to its builders. But if this legend has not been verified by research the discoveries which have rewarded the labors of explorers and archaeologists in Babylonia have been many and of the highest value. Innumerable tablets have been collected which when deciphered will thro weight upon a civiliza- . tion which was born more than six thousand years ago. The oldest temple in the world has been unearthed at Bisya. Large square blocks have been discovered which date back to the reign of Sargon 1., 3.800 years before Christ. Even older is a platform built of the peculiar convex bricks used in B. C. 4500. Inscriptions on bricks found in the temple at Bisya are stamped with the name of Dungi, B. C. 2750. A crumpled piece of gold bears the name of Param Sim, B. C. 3750. So much tor the age of the antiquities of Babylon. The best preserved edifice Of ancient Babylon thus far unearthed ’» the gate of the goddess Ishtar, of which the masonry remains well nigh perfect after two thousand years of neglect. What is even more interesting to the general public, modern research is making/rihe Baby-

lonisns live again after thousands of years. Much is known now of their daily life, their alms and* occupations, their religious ceremonies. It is possible to reconstruct something of the life of the prophet Daniel In Babylon. It is possible to follow the course of a procession in honor of the god Marduk through the gate of Ishtar to the palace of Nebuchadnezzar. The sepultures of the people and of the princes have been laid open. Everywhere on the walls of buildings are to be seen representations of the bull, which was the sacred animal of Babylon Though it is uncertain whether the ancient Babylonians were more civilized than tbelr Egyptian contemporaries there Is but little doubt that tbey were. the pioneers of civilization In the whole of western Asia before Greece and Rome came to the front. Four thousand years B. C. tbelr system of writing bad already been developed, and applied also the Semitic Babylonian tongue. Fourteen hundred years B. C.. as the Tell-el-Amarna tablets testify, its use extended over the whole of western Asia as far as the Mediterranean and Egypt. Though not a warlike people the Babylonians possessed more than once what might have been described at the time as a world-wide empire. Tbey were energetic. Intelligent, polished In their way and fond of lettefs. Excellent sculptures and engravings on bard stone exist to testify to their skill sad artistic instincts Representations of musical instruments imply also that tbe art of harmony was not altogether unknown to tbem. To this must be added agriculture, mensuration and mathematics, such as tbey were, and their

legal enactments, codified apparently by Ham* murabi, are in their way noteworthy productions. In the matter of literature we owe to them no less than three accounts of the creation, two accounts of the flood, one of them put into the mouth of the Babylonian Noah (Utnapistim or Atre-hasis), who is represented as relating it to the serai-mythical Gflgames, a primitive king of Erech. To these must be added a number of other legends, such as the story of Ure (the pestilence), Etanna, the horse and the ox, with many others —one at least, the story of Sargon of Agade, being historical. It is difficult to judge which was the more predominant characteristic of the Babylonians, their trading instinct or their reverence for their gods, for both are equally marked. They had intercourse by means, of trade with Elam on the east, Syria on the west, and many other places on the north and south. Slavery was common, and contracts concerning the buying, selling and, hiring of slaves are frequently me* with. One of the pictures shows an Interesting phase of present day life. How would it feel lit the worry of moving could be eliminated as in the picture of the Babylonian who is moving his household goods and chattels. The Babylonian gathers his earthly possessions together, carefully arranges his furniture (in most cases a rug) on the back of his donkey or mule, and with his family comfortably seated on the pack, he starts merrily off to some place which may strike his fancy ' The transportation by any other means than that of the donkey or mule is unheard of by the Babylonian who believes that this is the mode of transportation the worlcj over. It is only the extremely wealthy, or personages of political importance, who can afford a carriage. A Jour-* ney on the back of a donkey or mule is filled with many hardships and is very slow and tedious to those unaccustomed to that mode of conveyance, but the Babylonian, knowing no better, is satisfied with his lot and thankful tc Allah that he has a donkey or mule to carry him about wherever his business or fancy dictate.