at of an eye-witness,
and his historical notices are meagre and untrustworthy. He was
controverted by Ctesias, who, however, has mistaken mythology for history,
and Greek romance owed to him its Ninus and Semiramis, its Ninyas and
Sardanapalus. The only ancient authority of value on Babylonian and
Assyrian history is the Old Testament.

III. _Modern Discovery._--The excavations of P. E. Botta and A. H. Layard
at Nineveh opened up a new world, coinciding as they did with the
successful decipherment of the cuneiform system of writing. Layard's
discovery of the library of Assur-bani-pal put the materials for
reconstructing the ancient life and history of Assyria and Babylonia into
the hands of scholars. He also was the first to excavate in Babylonia,
where C. J. Rich had already done useful topographical work. Layard's
excavations in this latter country were continued by W. K. Loftus, who also
opened trenches at Susa, as well as by J. Oppert on behalf of the French
government. But it was only in the last quarter of the 19th century that
anything like systematic exploration was attempted. After the death of
George Smith at Aleppo in 1876, an expedition was sent by the British
Museum (1877-1879), under the conduct of Hormuzd Rassam, to continue his
work at Nineveh and its neighbourhood. Excavations in the mounds of
Balaw[=a]t, called Imgur-Bel by the Assyrians, 15 m. east of Mosul,
resulted in the discovery of a small temple dedicated to the god of dreams
by Assur-nazir-pal III. (883 B.C.), containing a stone coffer or ark in
which were two inscribed tables of alabaster of rectangular shape, as well
as of a palace which had been destroyed by the Babylonians but restored by
Shalmaneser II. (858 B.C.). From the latter came the bronze gates with
hammered reliefs, which are now in the British Museum. The remains of a
palace of Assur-nazir-pal III. at Nimr[=u]d (Calah) were also excavated,
and hundreds of enamelled tiles were disinterred. Two years later
(1880-1881) Rassam was sent to Babylonia, where he discovered the site of
the temple of the sun-god of Sippara at Abu-Habba, and so fixed the
position of the two Sipparas or Sepharvaim. Abu-Habba lies south-west of
Bagdad, midway between the Euphrates and Tigris, on the south side of a
canal, which may once have represented the main stream of the Euphrates,
Sippara of the goddess Anunit, now _D[=e]r_, being on its opposite bank.

Meanwhile (1877-1881) the French consul, de Sarzec