Khan are the ruins of a temple, but nc7 sculptured slabs have been dug up there. It was founded by Senna- cherib, and added to by his grandson. At Selaniij-ah no remains of buildings nor any fragments of sculpture or inscriptions have been discovered.
3. The most recent explorer in this field is Mr. George Smith, of the British Museum. The commencement of Mr. Smith's studies and researches in the field of As- syrian archaeology practically took place in the year 1SG6, when he engaged in the examination of Sir Henry Rawlinson's casts and fragments of inscrijitions in the British Museum, with a view to the elucidation of sev- eral questions in the Old-Testament history. He first lighted upon a curious inscription of Shalmaneser II, giving an account of the war against Hazael, king of Syria, and relating that it was in the eighteenth year of Shalmaneser when he received tribute from Jehu. His next labors were devoted to the cylinders contain- ing the history of Asshur-bani-pal, the Sardanapalus of the Greeks. The annals of this monarch were then in considerable confusion, but by dint of patient compari- son of the various copies, Mr. Smith at length succeed- ed in obtaining a fair text of the earlier part of these inscriptions. Pursuing his investigations, he discover- ed several important fragments of the annals of Tiglath- Pileser, containing notices of Azariah, king of tTudah, and of Pekah and Hoshea, kings of Israel. In the course of four j-ears he had discovered new portions of the Assyrian canon, several accounts of the early con- quest of Babylonia by the Elamites, and a religious calendar of the Assyrians, in which everj' month -is divided into four weeks, and the seventh days marked out as Sabbaths, in which no work was to be performed. During 1870 he was occupied with preparing the large work on the history of Asshur-bani-pal, giving the cuneiform texts, transcriptions, and translations, which was published in 1871. In 1872 Mr. Smith discovered the tablets containing the Chaldrean account of the Del- uge, which attracted a good deal of attention both at home and abroad.
The interest taken in these discoveries prompted the proprietors of the London Telegiwph newspaper to ad- vance the sum of one thousand guineas for fresh re- searches at Nineveh, Mr. Smith to conduct the expedi- tion. He accordingly started from London Jan. 20, 1873. and on March 2 arrived at the ruins of Nineveh. After an excursion to Bagdad and Babylon, he returned to Nineveh about April 1, and commenced excavations on the mound of Nimrud on the third of that month. His work at first, which was on a small scale, was di- rected to the temple of Nebo. Here he discovered some inscriptions, but most of them were duplicates of texts already known. Excepting the stone basement of the temple and a fe^v chambers around it, the whole was in a ruinous condition. After the citj' had declined, this part of the mound appears to have been used as a granary. A large tunnel was burrowed through the walls and chambers on the eastern face. This was found packed with grain, black and rotten from age. In the central part excavations had been made for tombs, destroying considerable portions of the temple. The more prominent parts of the building were of large square red blocks of stone at the bottom, and sun-dried bricks at the top. On each side of the entrance stood a colossal figure of Nebo, with crossed arms, in the at- titude of meditation. In one of the eastern chambers Mr. Smith discovered a fragment of the reign of Tig- lath-Pileser, but there was nothing else of great interest in the neigliborhood. Many of the inscriptions have suffered very much since the excavations of lilr. Layard. The explorations at Nimrud were closed on May 8, without any important results, and Mr. Smith proceed- ed to prepare for his researches among the ruins of Nineveh, opposite the town of Mosul. After commenc- ing operations on one of these mounds, with a view to recover inscribed tcrra-cotta tablets, Mr. Smitli found several valuable inscriptions, which served in some de-
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gree as compensation for his labors. Much to his sur- prise, one of the fragments contained the greater por- tion c>f seventeen Hues of inscription belonging to the first column of the Chaktean account of the Deluge, fit- ting into the only place where there was a serious blank in the story. Among other discoveries were a small tablet of Esarhaddon, king of Assyria, some new frag- ments of one of the historical cylinders of Asshur-bani- pal, and a curious fragment of the history of Sargon, king of Assyria, relating to his expedition against Asli- dod. On the same fragment was a part of the list of Median chiefs who paid tribute to Sargon. Part of an inscribed cylinder of Sennacherib, and half of an amulet in onj'x, with the name and titles of this monarch, were subsequently found, with implements of bronze, iron, and glass. There was part of a crystal throne, a most mag- nificent article of furniture, closely resembling in shape the bronze throne discovered by Mr. La\-ard at Nimrud. Near the close of his excavations, while preparing to return to England, Mr. Smith disinterred a fragment of a curious syllabary, divided into four perpendicular columns. In the first column was given the phonet- ic value of tlie cuneiform characters; the characters themselves were written in the second column ; the third column contained the names and meanings of the signs; while the fourth column gave the words and ideas which it represented. The work was brought to a close on June 9, and on the same day IMr. Smith started on his return journey to Europe, with the an- tiquities which he had collected.