Omaha Daily Bee Newspaper, October 28, 1900, Page 18

City Life Thou (Copyright Theodore Waters.) The German malil steamer which has just arrived in New York City brings a messi 1900, by from the beginmings of civilization through Prof. H. V. Hilprecht of the University of Pennsylvania, whose remarkable discoverios on the site of ancient Nippur have been of such great archacological value and inter est. It 18 fully expected that his report of what he has found in old Babylonia in his most recent excavation will project th history of mankind hack everal thousand nings heretofore o vard into the past year beyond the begin Igned to it. Enough in formation from the work at Nippur ha found its way to Philadelphia to show thar ten thousand years ago (centuries prior to the old-time date of the creation) there ex Isted a civilization as comprehensive as our own, a commercial system built on “mod THE Seven sand Years Ago digging is carrled on in the midst of warring tribes of Arabs, who gallop suddenly oves the desert and attack the explorers, com pelling them to scurry to their fortifiea castle, bullt of bricks taken from the templs of Sargon, who lived 3500 B. ., and from there to beat off the besiegers until help can arrive in the form of the Turkish police These bricks are meaningless to all of the party until Hilprecht can scan them one by and read the which the ancient cribe has stamped in curious Cuneiform 8o in his threefold capacity Pros Hilprecht has been the life of the expedy tion and hence not only to the world or archaeology, but to the world in general his coming will be an event of importance, what he has learned is the link nects us with the remote one story seript since which con past So, in anticipation of the tale he will tell ILLUSTRATED BEE. reign of Sargon I, and Narim Sin, 3800 B. conclusively that it had at least two stories. (4] Now, bible scholars had read of this One window, the only one preserved on this King Sargon, but the evidence of his ex- side of the structure, was found. We ex- Istence was not very strong, and he was cavated a few rooms. The floors were care- thought by many to be a myth. Dr. Hil- fully laid with baked brick. precht found his name stamped into “In the rooms were found a number of thousands of bricke. Even this was not the pre-Sargonic tablets, a seal, a very ancleat last, for one day the explorers broke through seal impression in clay, showing an eagle the platform of § the ground, proved to be 7.000 years ago. Sargon, and there, lying on were vestiges of what has since a clvilization that existed over They had gone through to virgin soil, and in the hole they found evidence that it was the site of the anclent city of Calneh, mentioned in Genesis A pile of sun-dried brick at one side of the hole, when dug out, was found to be an dtar, on which the ashes of a last sacrifice wera still lying several inches thick. And there were terra cotta vasges and some pottery of such pronounced beauty that Prof. Hilprecht saye it would have been called Grecian had it conditions been found under less positive There was a keystone arch also, although it had previously been held that keystone arches were of Roman invention, and finally, most important of all, many fragments of tablets, which, when EXCAVATIONS TION AT NIPPUR, ern lines,” an exalted patronage of art and letters;, a far-sceing appreciation of the Kood opinion of posterity; people then went to war on the same pretexts that animate modern armies; they had libraries in which were dictionaries, histories, public museums in which paintings, sculp ture, archacological specimens; they used machinery for making earthen pots and platters, they did exquisite enameling, their architecture included palaces at least two stories high, covering the extent of a modern city and having a drainage system in which a resemblance in principle o some recorded patents can traced; their sclentists studied astronomy ana speculated on the movements of che stars the educated went in for special religlous cults and looked down upon those pagans who were without the law; the rich wore Jewelry which a modern goldsmith might be proud to make and they lived in the cities during the season, leaving their estates in the malarious country districts to the care el were block be of agents, But most warvelous of all, with the evidence that this ancient civilization differed but little from our own is incor porated the belief that even then it must already have been in process of formation as many years as have elapsed between that duy and our day. Honored by the Sultan, Naturally the discoverer of this old world holds an exalted place among archacologists Already he has been honored in Europe by the sultan of Turkey, who has conferred a decoration upon him, and by the German universities, which are vying with one an other in flattering offers of professorships and doctorates. Now Prof. Hilprecht is o German of the Germans and thes favors, which have come from the down, must be very in spite of them he has leglance to his American gain to the latter can be gauged from ths fact that he declared the mounds ot Nippur to bo so extensive that at least ~ dozen years will be required to complete the work of excavation. The man is as intercst ing as his work, for the latter is the direce result of his personality. The mounds or Nippur were known to students perhaps be fore Hilprecht was born, and even after they were opened and some of thelr contents scru tinized their importance was not fully real ized until this almost unknown student pleced the fragments into a wonderful sale of the early history of the world, Ana since then it has been his astute diplomacy his unfailing courage and his scientific acu men which have brought forth this veritable sermon in o stones (rinmphing many difficultios, Other seats of learning in other have striven mightily to win consent to their delving in Teutonto emperor tempting to him. Bue declared his m college, and the has mo over countrics the Ottoman Nippur. The SHOWING ANCIENT WELL OR DRAIN LEADING the scholars achievements, here as It are brushing up on his past It is a fascinating story and its outlines Ancient Nippur, or, called during the days of fits prosperity, Kengi, is situated on a marshy plain in Mesopotamia, about two days' ride horseback from Bagdad When the ex plorers first went there they saw only great are was mounds of sand, acres and acres in extent, rising out of the plain Arab tribes had thelr camps among these sand piles, and in places they had burrowed into the piles short distances in quest of the curious tablets which occasionally cropped out on the surface, and which brought a small sum from dealers in Constantinople and else- where Some of these Arabs were employed at sums greater than they had ever earned for like periods in their lives to dig into the mines and carry the sand away in baskets and dump it in the marsh far out on the plain I'rom an arid waste the place came to take on an alr of bustling activity, and soon walls, rooms, storehouses, pottery, tablets and other things that had been buried for centuries began to be found in abundance that tho explorers, an surprised and delighted On the surface of the sand piles were found pottery and small objects of various character, some of which were lettered in a way to let the scientists know that they had been dropped by the Jews, who lived on the mound in the manner of the present- day Arab, as late as 800 A. D. But, once the first layer of sand was removed, and old walls made their appearance, the objects picked up showed the excavators that they were amid the ruins of a city which evidently flourished centuries before Christ Bricks were picked up marked Ashurbanapal, a King lived 6o B C The value of this find was eclipsed, however, by of objects which evidently be reign of one Kirg Kadash Turgu who flourished 1400 B, © Scattered around in profusion were the re many objects belonging to that and when the find was announced, with many evidences of the culture and Progr of the time, the world In general compared it easily with the Greek and Roman chronology, and found it £0 hard back these few additional years Remains of Hidd le, who prior to the discovery longed to the man mains of time the not to look But further along in the report it was stated that below the temple platform on which the relies were found were discovered the remains of another temple, which must have been built in the reign of King Ur-Gur many centuries before Abraham, the founder of the Jewish nation, was born. Then the world wondered. There was very little, un- less it might be the creation itself, to com pure with this And later, when the platform of Ur-Gur had been broken through, still another temple was found; this one bullt in the DOWN ToO THE BEGINNING OF CIVILIZA- pieced together, records of were found to be the public this most ancient time. The tablets celebrated for the most part the victories of King Lugalzaggisi, the world conqueror of his time, a sort of Na- poleon, who overran the then known earth, and after subjecting all the peoples within reach of his armies, settled down to enjoy the fruits of victory and to promote that civilization spoken of in the foregoing. This was at least 4500 B. C., and it may have been earlier, for there are places in the excavations where unaccounted for mil- lenniums must have passed. The estimate of time is under, rather than over, any limit that could be put upon it. It is quite evident that Lugalzaggisi was not a native of Kengi About the time Adam and Eve, in the old reckoning, were still fresh from the Garden of Eden, this soldier was attacking the city from the north. He was the son of Ukush, king of Haran, and in the course of his conquests he swept the whole country before him from the Persian gulf to the Mediterranean sea. He made ech the capital of his world, and settled himself comfortably to pursue the arts of peace. In enforcing civilization on all of his subjects, how- ever, he was not the creator of a new and great idea. He merely mimicked that which he found ready to his hand in one part ot this kingdom. Long before even the dynasty of Lugalzaggisi had made itself a power in the land the Sumerians had lived in Kengi. They were highly civilized, peace- ful people, to whom the fine arts, learning, sclence and industry and an advanced re- ligious cult were leading objects in life They built great temples, they practiced carving and sculpture, their libraries were housed in separate buildings, they studied the heavens and they were adepts in simple manufacturing pursuits, Lugalzaggisi found them excellent models and followed their ideas in all things, even to adopting their worship of Bel, the god of Nippur. How far this civilization had advanced on certain lines may be judged from the fol- lowing extract taken from a letter written by Dr the very recently Hilprecht while sitting amid things he describes The eastern city my fortifications have been attention and the whole northern half of the big city wall has been receiving ,no longer “maintains its visibility." l traced, The great eastern gate has been identified. It was calle Abullu-Rabu (Great Gate) It was immense solid structure of the earliest pre-Sargonic period I'he most lmportant dlseovery made is | the finding and tracing of a huge pre-Sar- gonie palace having a 600-foot front. It buried far below the desert under a ponderous mass of ruin The whole the buildings has now I have been able to prove Wi southern facade of been excavated with outspread wings, recognized from similar figures the monuments of Tello, and a few other objects of peculiar charac- ter. At the west wing was a well, built of characteristic pre-Sargonic bricks. A large vase and cup were found nearby standing on a little platform. Many traces of the pre-Sargonic period have been discovered, among them are seven large fragments of a limestone rellef representing a battle scene. We have found so many pre-Sargonic struc- tures at so many different places o Nippur that we begin gradually to under- stand what importance the city must have had in possessing the chief and mos revered shrine in all Babylonia."” In another letter Dr. Hilprecht states that he discovered the temple library. It was in a separate library building and it contained 23,000 tablets inscribed with a history of the time and of times then long gone by. When they are all translated it is probable they will extend our knowledge of man far beyond the conquests of Lugal- zaggisi. An Extensive Walled City, So, what Lugalzaggisi found and whai Dr. Hilprecht uncovered was an extensive walled city, with great gates carved with definite idea of art; a King's palace which for ‘size and beauty would compare with modern structures of this kind; a govern ment library, in which the history of the nation was indelibly cut into tablets and the latter stored away on ledges around the walls; an appreciation of good living as evinced in the remains of private dwellings, in one of which a kitchen was found in an excellent state of preservation; in short, a city laid out and operated on a modern basis in the days when man heretofore was supposed to be not much more ad- vanced than the beasts of the field. Fur- | thermore, these people had in them the vital spark of patriotism, the most con vincing evidence of their civiiization, fcr hardly had the heel of the oppressor been removed from their neck by the death of the world conqueror than they arose and forcibly reclaimed their ancient rights from \ his successors. Now, this outline of the discoveries of | Dr. Hilprecht has led the reader so rapidly back through the millenniums as to suggest | the possibility of gaps in the succession, | but Nippur is an inscribed monument of the history of the world and the diggings are revealing the evidence of the successive | centuries with the regularity of a carefully numbered folio. Only it is the early pages in which the world is most interested, the record of that civilization which existed long previous to 5000 B. C. It is of this wonderful period that Dr. Hilprecht is coming home to speak and it is because it will bring us many millenniums nearer to our origin that his words will be regarded as are those of an oracle. Quaint Features of Life Nearly thirty years ago Jonas Silverman, a farmer living near Springfield, O., was swindled out of $1,600 by sharpers while on a train near Valparaiso, Ind. The criminals escaped and ere long one of them died. The other two drifted to the Klondike a year or two ago, became rich and have just re- ‘urned to the states. They hunted up Mr. Silverman, paid him the $1,500 and gave him $1,000 more by way of interest on the forced loan. @ Some German brokers engaged in promot- ing an ‘“industrial”’ company advertised that the enterprise promised to pay 5 per cent the first year and more later on. The public invested, but failed to get any dividends. Then some of the investors sued to recover their money, claiming that it had been obtained by falsg pretenses. After winning a compromise verdict they appealed and a decision has been rendered in a higher court ordering return of their money on surrender of the stock. The Middlesex probate court at East Cam- bridge, Mass., has been called upon to de- cide whether or not a certain church is ‘visible.” It seems that a deceased mem- ber of the Independent Baptist church of Woburn left a trust fund of $1,000 for the benefit of her fellow members, the interest to be paid to them so long as the church “‘maintained its visibility and the doctrine of the old school Baptist principles.” The residuary legatees, to whom the money was to revert if at- any time the church should forfeit the title to it, claim that the society | It has FOR T'H DESIGNERS AND October 28, 1000, only nine members, ontly one of whom lives in Woburn, and it does not support a preacher. On the other hand, the claims that, according to its doctrines, it is society still a church within the meaning of the testator. Mrs. Henrietta Chase of Danbury, Conn, dled recently, leaving quite a little property to various persons. To Alanson Chase, who was supposed to be her favorite nephew, she bequeathed ‘“‘my set of false teeth, which will be found in the upper right-hand drawer of my bureau.” The young man at once concluded that his aunt must have concealed some diamonds or other precious stones in the set of teeth. Accordingly he smashed up his bequest, but found no Jewels. He will now contest the will . The following epitaph is found on a tombstone in a graveyard in Winslow Me.: “Here lies the body of Richard Tbomas. An Englishman by birth A whig of 'i6. By occupation a cooper Now food for worms. Like an old rum puncheon, marked, numbered and shooked He will be raised again and finished by bis Creator. He died September 2§, 1524, aged 756, America, my adopted couniry my best advice to you is this Take of your liberties."” . “We, the jury, find for the defendant was the verdict in the case of the estate of Mrs. Lizzie Doty of Mexico, Mo., against the Monumental Bronze company of Bridge port, Conn. Mrs. Doty ordered a $384 bronze monument erected at the grave of her par ents with the inscription The Lord is my Shepherd, I shall not want The engraver made it read “fear” in stead of “want” and the estate refused to pay the bill and a law suit followed The judge instructed the jury that if it congidered it a material variance from the words of the psalmist it should find for the defendant and it did so, RED - GROSS WH.SKEY FULL 300 ¥ QUARTS Recommended by -_— fOr...... Direct to consumer, Express charges prepaid. leading physicians A pure and nutri- tious stimulant for family use. Such whiskey as we of- fer for $3.00 cannot be purchased else- where for $5.00. 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