Babylonian and Assyrian Literature
SPECIAL INTRODUCTION The great nation which dwelt in the seventh century before our era on the banks of Tigris and Euphrates flourished in literature as well as in the plastic arts, and had an alphabet of its own. The Assyrians sometimes wrote with a sharp reed, for a pen, upon skins, wooden tablets, or papyrus brought from Egypt. In this case they used cursive letters of a Phoenician character. But when they wished to preserve their written documents, they employed clay tablets, and a stylus whose bevelled point made an impression like a narrow elongated wedge, or arrow-head. By a combination of these wedges, letters and words were formed by the skilled and practised scribe, who would thus rapidly turn off a vast amount of "copy." All works of history, poetry, and law were thus written in the cuneiform or old Chaldean characters, and on a substance which could withstand the ravages of time, fire, or water. Hence we have authentic monuments of Assyrian literature in their original form, unglossed, unaltered, and ungarbled, and in this respect Chaldean records are actually superior to those of the Greeks, the Hebrews, or the Romans. The literature of the Chaldeans is very varied in its forms. The hymns to
insane passion. Four years of this dreadful experience, in which she
three times received serious personal injuries from his hands, and then
the old home was broken up, and he went drifting from place to place, a
human ship without a rudder on temptation's stormy sea; his unhappy wife
following him, more or less, in secret, and often doing him service and
securing his protection. In the spring of 1874, his faithful colored man
brought him to the asylum at Binghampton, a perfect wreck. His wife
came, also, and for three months boarded near the institution, and,
without his knowledge, watched and prayed for him. After a few weeks'
residence, the chaplain was able to lead his mind to the consideration
of spiritual subjects, and to impress him with the value of religious
faith and the power of prayer. He became, at length, deeply interested;
read many religious books, and particularly the Bible. At the end of
three months his wife came to see him, and their meeting was of a most
affecting character. A year later, he left the asylum and went to a
Western city, where he now resides--a prosperous and happy man.
CASE NO. 2. A clergyman of fortune, position and education lost his
daughter, and began to drink in order to drown his sorrow. It was in
vain that his wife and friends opposed, remonstrated, implored and
persuaded; he drank on, the appetite steadily increasing, until he
became its slave. His congregation dismissed him; his wife died of a
broken heart; he squandered his fortune; lost his friends, and, at last,
became a street reporter for some of the New York papers, through means
of which he picked up a scanty living. From bad to worse, he swept down
rapidly, and, for some offense committed while drunk, was, at last, sent
SPECIAL INTRODUCTION The great nation which dwelt in the seventh century before our era on the banks of Tigris and Euphrates flourished in literature as well as in the plastic arts, and had an alphabet of its own. The Assyrians sometimes wrote with a sharp reed, for a pen, upon skins, wooden tablets, or papyrus brought from Egypt. In this case they used cursive letters of a Phoenician character. But when they wished to preserve their written documents, they employed clay tablets, and a stylus whose bevelled point made an impression like a narrow elongated wedge, or arrow-head. By a combination of these wedges, letters and words were formed by the skilled and practised scribe, who would thus rapidly turn off a vast amount of "copy." All works of history, poetry, and law were thus written in the cuneiform or old Chaldean characters, and on a substance which could withstand the ravages of time, fire, or water. Hence we have authentic monuments of Assyrian literature in their original form, unglossed, unaltered, and ungarbled, and in this respect Chaldean records are actually superior to those of the Greeks, the Hebrews, or the Romans. The literature of the Chaldeans is very varied in its forms. The hymns to