roves that figure to be far too low, neither does it
accord with the writer's thought, or with the other statements which he
brings together with the aim of showing that the invention of letters may
be traced to a very remote epoch. The copyists have certainly omitted an M
after the DCCXX. Sillig, following Perizonius has introduced this
correction into his text.

[103] LENORMANT, _Manuel_, &c. vol. ii. p. 175.

[104] G. SMITH, _Assyrian Discoveries_, p. 407.

[105] LENORMANT, _Manuel_, &c. vol. ii. p. 181.

[106] LAYARD, _Nineveh and its Remains_, vol. i. p. 124. These storms
hardly last an hour.

[107] Some Assyriologists believe this to represent Merodach.

[108] _History of Art in Ancient Egypt_, vol. i. pp. 56, 57, and figs.
39-45.

[109] RAWLINSON, _The Five Great Monarchies_, &c. vol. i. p. 139.

[110] TIELE, _Histoire comparee des anciennes Religions de l'Egypte et des
Peuples Semitiques_, translated by Collins, p. 222. The first volume of an
English translation, by James Ballingal, has been published in Truebner's
Oriental Series.--ED.

[111] _Ibid._ p. 224.

[112] TIELE, _Histoire_, &c. p. 237.

[113] Hence the name Babylon, which has been handed down to us, slightly
modified, by classic tradition. The true Chaldaean form is _Bab-Ilou_,
literally "The Gate of God."

[114] _History of Art in Ancient Egypt_, vol. ii. pp. 399-400 and figs.
311-313.

[115] TIELE, _Manuel_, &c. pp. 77, 78.

[116] HERODOTUS, i. 99.

Sec. 7.--_The People and Government._

We have already explained how it is that the religions of Chaldaea and
Assyria are less well known to us than that of Egypt; the insufficiency of
our knowledge of the political and social organization of the two kingdoms
is to be explained by the same reasons. The inscriptions, prolix enough on
some subjects, hardly touch on others that would be much more interesting,
and, moreover, their interpretation is full of difficulty. The Greek
travellers knew nothing of Nineveh, while their visits to Babylon were
paid in its years of decadence. They seem to have been chiefly struck with
the sort of sacerdotal caste to which they gave the name of Chaldaioi.

The origin of this priestly corps has been much discussed. Some see in it
the descendants and heirs of the primitive population, of those whom they
believe to have been Turanians; others believe them to have been Semitic
immigrants, coming from the north and bringing with them arts and doctrines
o