Assyrian Discoveries: an Account of Explorations and Discoveries on the site of Ninevah, during 1873 and 1874

Abstract

JUDGING from the marvellous discoveries made within so short a time in the valley of the Euphrates and Tigris, Assyriology promises to be one of the most extensive as well as the most important auxiliaries to the reconstruction of ancient mythology, history, and philology. It is within the memory of the present generation that M. Botta, the French Consul at Mosul, first began the excavations of the buried cities of Assyria, and we can still remember the enthusiasm and also the incredulity with which Europe received the tidings that this savant had actually discovered at Khorsabad, in 1842, the long-lost palaces built by Sargon, about B.C. 722–705, exhibiting one of the most perfect Assyrian buildings and a most excellent specimen of royal architecture. Mr. Layard, who began his excavations as soon as M. Botta carried off his trophies to France (1845), astonished Europe with the still greater discoveries, both at Nineveh and in Babylonia. The researches thus started were continued, especially in Babylonia, by Rawlinson, Rassam, Loftus, and Taylor, and the British Museum now exhibits the remarkable treasures of Assyrian art, science, and literature, which crowned the labours of our explorers.

Assyrian Discoveries: an Account of Explorations and Discoveries on the site of Ninevah, during 1873 and 1874.

By George Smith, of the Department of Oriental Antiquities, British Museum. With Illustrations. (London: Sampson Low and Co., 1875.)