Lectures on the origin and growth of religion as illustrated by the religion of the ancient Babylonians / by A. H. Sayce.
- Archibald Sayce
- Date:
- 1898
Licence: Public Domain Mark
Credit: Lectures on the origin and growth of religion as illustrated by the religion of the ancient Babylonians / by A. H. Sayce. Source: Wellcome Collection.
Provider: This material has been provided by Royal College of Physicians, London. The original may be consulted at Royal College of Physicians, London.
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![consisted for the most part of copies or editions of older works that had been brought from Babylonia, and dili- gently copied by numerous scribes, like the proverbs of Solomon which the men of Hezekiah, king of Judah, copied out.^ The library had been transferred from Calah by Sennacherib towards the latter part of his reign,2 but the larger portion of the collection was got together by Assur-bani-pal, the son of Esar-haddon, and the Sardanapallos of the Greeks. He was the first, indeed we may say the only, Assj'rian monarch who really cared for literature and learning. His predecessors had been men of war; if they established libraries, it was only from imitation of their more cultivated neigh- bours in Babylonia, and a desire to remain on good terms with the powerful classes of scribes and priests. But Assur-bani-pal, with all his luxury and love of dis- play—or perhaps by reason of it—was a genuine lover of books. When rebellion had been quelled in Baby- lonia, and the Babylonian cities had been taken by storm, the spoil that was most acceptable to the Assyrian king were the written volumes that their libraries contained. ing, see my remarks in the Zeitschrift fiir Keilscliriftforschung, ii. 3, ]). 208. Another ideographic name was Gis-zu, vegetable of know- ledge (W.A.I, ii. 36, 11). The Assyrian name was aru, literally leaf, E2, iii. Rev. 7. Gis-li-khu-si was pronounced liu or livu in Assyrian, the Hebrew laalch, of which the Assyrian lavu is another form. ^ Prov. XXV. 1. 2 Nebo-zuqub-yukin, who was chief librarian from the 6tli year of Sargon (B.C. 716) to the 22nd year of Sennacherib (B.C. 684), does not seem to have quitted Calah. So far as we know, the first work written under his direction had been a copy of a text of the standard work on astrology, The Illumination of Bel, which had been brought from Babylon to the library at Calah.](https://iiif.wellcomecollection.org/image/b22652358_0022.jp2/full/800%2C/0/default.jpg)
