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The inscriptions of Behistun are upon the face of a lofty precipice, so difficult of access, that Colonel Rawlinson has alone succeeded in copying them. He has printed the Persian column with a translation, but the corresponding Babylonian or Assyrian column is still in his possession, and the scientific world is anxiously awaiting the publication of an inscription which can afford the only trustworthy materials for decyphering the Assyrian records.

In the meanwhile, Colonel Rawlinson has communicated to the public, through the journals of the Royal Asiatic Society, some of the results of his own inquiries, which are of great interest and importance; and other scholars, amongst whom may be mentioned Dr. Hincks, have made such progress in decyphering the Assyrian character as the means at their disposal would permit. It is to Dr. Hincks we owe the determination of the numerals, the name of Sennacherib on the monuments of Kouyunjik and of Nebuchadnezzar on the bricks of Babylon- three very important and valuable discoveries. The actual state of our knowledge of the cuneiform character will enable us to ascertain the general contents of an inscription, although probably no one can yet give a literal translation of any one record, or the definite sound of many words.

The custom of engraving inscriptions on stone, as well as on baked clay, the two methods of perpetuating their annals adopted by the Assyrians, is of the very highest antiquity. The divine commands were first given to man on stone tables; Job is made to exclaim, "Oh that my words were now written!... that they were graven with an iron pen and lead in the rock for ever;"* and Ezekiel, when prophesying on the river Chebar, was directed "to take

* Ch. xix. 23, 24,

There

a tile and portray upon it the city of Jerusalem." could have been no more durable method of preserving the national records; and the inscribed walls of palaces and rock tablets have handed down to us the only authentic history of ancient Assyria.

* Ch. iv. 1.

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