The archæology of the cuneiform inscriptions

REVERSE OF A TABLET IN THE HITTITE LANGUAGE FROM BOGHAZ KEUI.
Frontispiece.
BY THE
Rev. A. H. SAYCE
PROFESSOR OF ASSYRIOLOGY, OXFORD
PUBLISHED UNDER THE DIRECTION OF THE GENERAL LITERATURE COMMITTEE
SECOND EDITION—REVISED
LONDON SOCIETY FOR PROMOTING CHRISTIAN KNOWLEDGE NORTHUMBERLAND AVENUE, W.C.; 43, QUEEN VICTORIA STREET, E.C. Brighton: 129, North Street New York: E. S. GORHAM
1908
Richard Clay & Sons, Limited, BREAD STREET HILL, E.C., AND BUNGAY, SUFFOLK.
The first six chapters which follow, embody the Rhind Lectures in Archæology which I delivered at Edinburgh in October 1906. The seventh chapter appeared as an article in the Contemporary Review for August 1905, and is here reprinted by the courtesy of the Editor to whom I render my thanks. The book is the first attempt to deal with what I would call the archæology of cuneiform decipherment, and like all pioneering work consequently claims the indulgence of the reader. For the sake of clearness I have been forced to repeat myself in a few instances, more especially in the sixth chapter, but what has thereby been lost in literary finish will, I hope, be compensated by an increase of clearness in the argument.
If what I have written serves no other purpose, I shall be content if it draws attention to the miserably defective state of our archæological knowledge of Babylonia and Assyria, and to the necessity of scientific excavations being carried on there similar to those inaugurated by Mr. Rhind in Egypt. We have abundance of epigraphic material; it is the more purely archæological material that is still wanting.