Archæology and the Bible

by George A. Barton

By Oppert and Rassam.—In 1852 a French expedition under the direction of Jules Oppert reached Babylonia. Oppert made important excavations at Hillah, the site of the city of Babylon, and at Birs Nimrûd, the ancient Borsippa. In 1852 Hormuzd Rassam, who had been one of Layard’s helpers, continued under Rawlinson’s direction the excavation at Nineveh. This work continued until 1854; Rassam had the good fortune to find, in a part of the mound previously untouched, still another palace. This was the palace of Assurbanipal, the last of Assyria’s great kings, who ruled from 668 to 626 B. C., and who collected here a great library. This library Rassam discovered, and as it contained every variety of Babylonian and Assyrian literature, including dictionaries and grammatical exercises, it was one of the most important archæological discoveries ever made. During the last part of the time Rassam was succeeded by Loftus. Finally, in the autumn of 1854, Rawlinson himself undertook an excavation at Birs Nimrûd, and unearthed some important inscriptions of Nebuchadrezzar II, King of Babylon, 604-562 B. C. (See 2 Kings 24, 25.)

After this the interest in excavation waned for a time, while scholars were busy reading the tablets already found.

By George Smith.—In December, 1872, George Smith, an employee of the British Museum, announced that among the tablets from Nineveh he had found an account of the flood which closely resembled that in the Bible. This aroused so much interest that the proprietors of the London Daily Telegraph contributed money to send George Smith to Assyria to explore further the mounds there. George Smith thus led two expeditions of exploration, one in 1873 and the other in 1874. He extended the trenches of his predecessors at Nineveh and discovered many more important inscriptions. In 1876 he was on his way to Mesopotamia for the third time, when he died of fever at Aleppo. The British Museum immediately secured the services of Rassam again, who during that year and 1877 extended the work at Kouyunjik (Nineveh) and also found a palace of Shalmaneser III, King of Assyria, 860-824 B. C., at a mound called Balawat, situated to the east of Kouyunjik.

By Sarzec.—Meantime, the interest of France was again aroused, and in 1877 her consul at Bassorah, Ernest de Sarzec, began the excavation of Telloh, a mound in southern Babylonia, which turned out to be the site of Shirpurla or Lagash, one of the oldest and most important of the ancient cities of Babylonia. Work was carried on at intervals here by Sarzec until his death in 1901, and has since been continued by Gaston Cros. The results have not received the popular acclaim accorded to the discoveries of Botta and Layard, but scientifically they are far more important. Some of the oldest examples of Babylonian art have been discovered, as well as many thousands of tablets. One room alone contained an archive of business documents estimated at thirty thousand. Much of our knowledge of the history of early Babylonia is derived from material found at Telloh.

By Peters, Ward, and Haynes.—In 1884 America began to take an interest in Babylonian exploration. This was due largely to the initiative of Dr. John P. Peters, then Professor of Hebrew in the University of Pennsylvania, now Rector of St. Michael’s Church, New York. Through his efforts Miss Catherine L. Wolfe, of New York, contributed the money to defray the expenses of an expedition to Babylonia for a preliminary survey. This expedition was led by Dr. William Hayes Ward, Editor of the New York Independent. It spent the winter of 1884-1885 in Mesopotamia, made many observations of the various mounds, and collected some archæological material. Dr. Peters continued his efforts, and as a result a fund was raised in Philadelphia to defray the expenses of an excavation in the interest of the University of Pennsylvania. This expedition set out in 1888 under the direction of Dr. Peters. The site chosen for the exploration was Nuffar, about sixty miles to the southeast of Babylon. The work was continued for two seasons under the direct control of Dr. Peters. After an interruption of three years the work was resumed under the general direction of Dr. Peters, with Dr. John H. Haynes as Field Director. Dr. Haynes, in the most self-sacrificing and heroic manner, continued the work both summer and winter until February, 1896, laying bare many of the features of the ancient city of Nippur, which had occupied the site, and discovering many inscribed tablets. While this work was in progress Prof. Herman V. Hilprecht became nominal head of the expedition on account of the removal of Dr. Peters to New York. A fourth expedition under the guidance of Dr. Haynes began work at Nuffar (Nippur) in February, 1899, and worked until March, 1900. During this work Dr. Haynes discovered a large archive of tablets, the exact number of which is variously estimated. The find was similar to that made by Sarzec at Telloh; (see Figs. [16] and [17]).

Nuffar, the ancient Nippur, was one of the oldest centers of Babylonian civilization, and the work of the Americans there is, for our knowledge of the history of ancient Babylonia, next in importance to that done by the French at Telloh. A large number of the tablets discovered at Nippur are now in the University Museum in Philadelphia. Meantime, the Turkish government had undertaken on its own account an excavation at Abu Haba, the site of the ancient Sippar in northern Babylonia. The direction of the work was committed to the oversight of the French Assyriologist Père Scheil, and the work was carried on in the early part of the year 1894. Much interesting material was brought to light.

By Koldewey.—Also during this decade a new Society, the Orient-Gesellschaft, had been formed in Berlin for the purpose of excavation. This Society began in 1899 the excavation of the great mound which covered the ruins of the ancient city of Babylon. The work was committed to the direction of Dr. Robert Koldewey, who has carried it steadily forward until the present time. Koldewey has laid bare at Babylon a number of the great works of King Nebuchadrezzar—the magnificent walls with which he surrounded Babylon, and the palace and temples with which he adorned it. As the work at Babylon has progressed, Koldewey has made a number of minor excavations in smaller mounds of Babylonia. During the season of 1912-1913 Dr. Julius Jordan undertook, under Dr. Koldewey’s general direction, an excavation at Warka, the Biblical Erech, where Loftus had dug sixty years before. A part of the great temple of Ishtar has been uncovered by Dr. Jordan, together with a portion of the city wall and many houses. Many tablets have also been found, some of them having been written as late as the Seleucid and Parthian periods, 312-50 B. C.; (see [Fig. 18]).

By Andrae.—While the excavation at Babylon has been in progress, the Orient-Gesellschaft has also conducted another at Kalah-Sherghat, on the Tigris, in ancient Assyria. This is the site of the city of Ashur, from which the country of Assyria took its name. (Cf. Gen. 10:10, 11.) The work has been under the direction of Dr. Andrae and has been in progress from 1902 to the present time. Temples and palaces have been uncovered, and inscriptions from every period of Assyrian history have been found. The latest reports of the work at Ashur tell of the discovery of objects which connect the founding of the city with immigrants from Lagash in southern Babylonia.

By de Morgan.—In 1900 a French expedition began the excavation of Susa, in ancient Elam, the Shushan of the Bible. (See Neh. 1:1; Esther 1:2, etc., and Dan. 8:2.) This work was under the direction of J. de Morgan. While Susa is not in Babylonia, the excavations here added greatly to our knowledge of Babylonian history and life, for during the first two seasons of the excavation, two inscribed stone pillars were discovered, which the ancient Elamites had at some time taken as trophies of war from the Babylonians. One of these was an inscription of Manishtusu, King of Kish, who ruled about 2700 B. C., and the other the pillar which contained the laws of Hammurapi, the most important single document relating to Babylonian life that is known to us. (See Part II, [Chapter XIII].)

By Harper and Banks.—During the year 1903-1904 the University of Chicago sent an expedition to Babylonia. The expenses were borne by a contribution from John D. Rockefeller. The late Prof. Robert Harper was Scientific Director of the expedition, and Dr. Edgar J. Banks, Field Director. The work was conducted at the mound of Bismya, which proved to be the site of the ancient city of Adab, one of the oldest Babylonian cities, which seems not to have been occupied since about 2600 B. C. Many interesting finds were made, including a statue of a king, Lugaldaudu, and many tablets. Friction with the Turkish government brought the expedition to an untimely close, and owing to the same cause the tablets discovered are hoarded at Constantinople and have not been given to the world.