ARTICLE VII.
BRANDIS ON THE ASSYRIAN INSCRIPTIONS AND THE MODE OF INTERPRETING THEM.
By Professor George E. Day, Lane Theological Seminary.
[The
following essay is taken, with some abridgment, from a recent treatise
" on the historical gain from the Deciphering of the Assyrian
Inscriptions," by Dr. Brandis of the University of Bonn, of whose
labors in this department, honorable mention is made in the Annual
Report of the Royal Asiatic Society for 1856. It has been translated
for the Bibliotheca Sacra, not only as furnishing an interesting view
of the serious difficulties to be encountered in ascertaining the
meaning of these ancient records, and the means employed to overcome
them, but also as exhibiting the ground of the distrust with which many
of the translations of Raw-linson and Hincks have been received in
Germany.]
Not far
from the eastern bank of the Tigris, opposite to Mosul, rise two
mounds, between which winds a small stream called the Khosser. Upon the
northern mound, which is about fifty feet in height, and much larger
and higher than the one on the south, stands the village of Ko-yunjik;
upon the southern one, called Nebbi Yunus, stands a mosque [said to be]
erected over the tomb of the prophet Jonah, and surrounded by
dwellings. Both of these mounds are remains of artificially constructed
terraces, on which
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