[75] This library has always attracted the attention of Assyriologists, and the best preserved of its texts have been published at various times under the supervision of Sir Henry Rawlinson and George Smith. These texts have been translated into English, French, and German, and much discussed by the scholars of all three nations. The reader may also consult the small volume contributed by M. J. Ménant to the Bibliothèque oriental elzévirienne under the title: La Bibliothèque du Palais de Ninive. 1 vol. 18mo., 1880 Ernest Leroux.
[76] Herodotus, i. 106.
[77] Herodotus (i. 106) alludes to this capital event only in a word or two, in which he promises to give a more complete account of the whole matter in another work—εν ἑτεροισι λογοι—doubtless in that History of Assyria ("Ασσυριοι λογοι" i. 184) which was either never written or soon lost. Diodorus, who gives circumstantial details both of the coalition and the siege, dates it a century too early, changes all the names, and mixes up many fables with his recital (ii. 23-28). In forming a just idea of the catastrophe and of its date we have to depend chiefly upon the lost historians, such as Abydenus and Alexander Polyhistor, fragments of whose works have been preserved for us by Eusebius and Georgius Syncellus. See Rawlinson, The Five Great Monarchies, etc., vol. ii. pp. 221-232.
[78] Nahum ii. 11; iii. 1, 7.
[79] Layard, Nineveh and its Remains, vol. ii. pp. 38-39. Discoveries, p. 655.
[80] Maspero, Histoire ancienne, p. 506.
[81] Strabo, xvi. i. 5.
We know much less about the religion of Chaldæa than about that of Egypt. The religious monuments of Mesopotamia are much fewer than those of the Nile valley, and their significance is less clear. Their series are neither so varied nor so complete as those of the earlier civilization. Certain orders of subjects are repeated to satiety, while others, which would be more interesting, are completely absent.
It is in funerary inscriptions that the heart of man, touched by the mystery of the tomb, lays bare its aspirations with the greatest frankness and simplicity. Moved by the desire to escape annihilation on the one hand and posthumous sufferings on the other, it is there that he addresses his most ardent appeals to the supreme power, and allows us to arrive at a clear understanding of his ideas as to the action, the character, and the power of the divinity. At Memphis, Abydos, and Thebes, documents of this kind have been found in thousands, the figures accompanying them serving as commentaries upon their text, and helping us to clear up all doubts as to their nature. We thus have voices speaking from the depths of every Egyptian tomb; but the Chaldæan sepulchre is mute. It has neither inscriptions, nor bas-reliefs, nor paintings. No Assyrian burial-place has yet been found.