ORIENTAL
3Q4
ORIENTAL
Gabriel Oussani in the "New York Review", "The
Code of Haniinurabi", Aug.-Sept., 1905; "The Code
of Hammurabi and the Mosaic Legishition", Doc,
1905-Jan., 1906.) In 18S4 the first Aniciicun exjiedi-
tion was sent to liabylonia under the auspices of the
Areha-ologieal Institute of America, and under the
direction of W. H. Ward. In l.ss.s tlie liabylonian
Exploration Fund, organized in riuladelphia, w!is
sent out under the dire<-tion of Dr. John Peters in the
interests of the Iniversity of Pennsylvania. The site
ehosen was Xi]!pur, and the work of excavation was
continued at intervals mainly on this site until 1900.
These expeditions resulted in the recovery of more
than 40,000 inscriptions, clay tablets, stone monu-
ments etc. The vast amount of material brought to
light by the excavations in Assyria and Babylonia
powerfully stimulated the ardour of students of
Assyriology both in Europe and America. The limits
of the present article will allow but the mention of a
few distinguished names.
In Germany. — Eberhard Scrader (1836) has been called the father of German Assyriology. Succes- sively professor at Zurich, Giessen, Jena, and Berlin (1875), he has WTitten many works on the subject, among which: "Die Assyrisch-Babylonisch Keilin- schriften" (1872, tr. "The Cuneiform Inscriptions and the Old Testament", 1885-9); " Keilinschrif ten und Geschichtsforschung" (1878); "Zur Frage nach dem UrsprungderAltbabylonischerKultur" (1884). Other German scholars of note are Hugo Winckler (Alt- testamentliche Untersuchen, Leipzig, 1892, etc.); Friederich Delitsch (Grammar, Lexicon etc.), J. Jere- mias, B. G. Niebuhr, F. Hommel, F. Kaulen (Assy- rien und Babylonien nach dem neuesten Entdeckun- gen, PVeiburg, 1899, etc.), C. P. Tiele, Miirdter, Brunnow, Peiser etc. In France. — F. Lenormant (Etudes cuneiformes, 5 parts, Paris, 1878-80); J. Menant (Ninive et Babylon, Paris, 1887); Hal^vy (Documents religieux de I'Assyrie et de la Babv- lonie, Paris, 1882); V. Scheil, O. P. (Textes Elam- ites, 3 vols., Paris, 1901-04); Rev. F. Martin (Tex- tes religieux Assyriens et Babyloniens, Paris, 1900); F. Thureau-Dangin (Recherches sur I'Origine de I'ecri- ture cunciforme, Paris, 1893), oppcrt, Loisy, Fossey etc. In England. — Sir H. Rawlinson (Cuneiform Inscriptions of Western Asia, 5 vols., 1861-1SS4, etc.) ; A. H. Sayce (Higher Criticism and the Monuments, London, 1894, etc.); L.W.King (Letters and Inscrip- tions of Hammurabi . . . and other Kings of the First Dynasty of Babylon, London, 1898-1900); C. W. Johns, T. G. Pinches, J. A. Craig etc. In America. — Besides the scholars already referred to may be mentioned R. W. Rogers (History of Babylonia and Assyria, I, New York, 1900); H. V. Hilprecht (Ex- plorations in Bible Lands during the Nineteenth Century, New York, 1903); Paul Haupt (numerous publications); R. F. Harper, M. Jastrow, C. Johnston, J. D. Lyon, J. D. Prince etc.
Egyptian, Research. — Modern Oriental research in the Valley of the Nile began in 1798 with the Egyp- tian campaign of Napoleon, who with characteristic foresight invited M. Gaspard Monge (1746-1818) with a corps of savants and artists to join the expedi- tion. The results of their observations were published at the expense of the French Government (1809-13) in .several folio volumes under the title: "Description de I'Egypte", but the numerous specimens collected by these scientists fell into the hands of the English after the naval battle of .Vboukir and formed later the nucleus of the Egyptian department of the British Museum. The mysterious hieroglyphic characters which they exhibited were soon inaxle the object of inten.se study both in England and France and the famous Rosetta Stone which bears a trilingual in- scription (in Greek, in the Egyptian demotic script, and in the hieroglj-phic writing) furni.shed a key to the meaning of the latter, which was discovered almost
simultaneously in France bv J. Fran5oi8 Champollion
(1791-1832), and in England by Thomas Young (1773-
1<S27). Thus the Rosetta inscription (embodying a
part of a decree of Ptolemy \' I^piphanes, 205-181
B. c.) stands in the same relation to the discoveries
bearing on the literature and <'ivilization of ancient
Egypt iis does the Heliistun in.-^cription with regard to
the antique treasures discovered in A.s.syria ati(l Baby-
lonia. ChampoUion's discovery aroused a great in-
terest in Egyptian inscriptions and in 1.S2S tlie Frencii
scholar was sent to Egypt together with l{oseilini at
the head of a Franco-Italian expedition which proved
most fruitful in scientific results. A German expedi-
tion under the direction of Lepsius was sent out in
1840 to study Egyptian monuments in relation to
Bible history, and in addition to explorations made in
Egypt and Ethiopia a visit was made to the Sina-
itic peninsula. In 1850 Auguste Mariette, a French
savant, made the remarkable discovery of the tombs
of the sacred Apis bulls at Memphis together with
thousands of memorial inscriptions. In 1857 he was
appointed director of the museum of antiquities newly
establisheti in Cairo, and at the same time he received
from the khedive the exclusive right of excavating
in Egyptian territory for scientific purposes — a right
which he exercised until his death in 1880. The results
of his explorations were enormous and the science of
Egyptology probably owes more to Mariette than to
any other scholar. He was succeeded by another
eminent French scholar, G. Maspero, and the explora-
tions still remaining in the hands of the French were
carried on systematically and with steady success; but
under the new administration permission was given to
representatives of other nations to conduct excava-
tions and, with certain restrictions, to export the re-
sults of their findings. The Egyptian Exploration
fund was organized in England in 1883, and after e.\-
cavations in the Delta on the site of the Biblical city
of Pithom and of the Greek city of Naukratis, the
work of the society was transferred in 1896 to Upper
Egypt. At that time also the excavations were placed
under the direction of W. Flinders Petrie who has
achieved astonishing results, especially in recon-
structing in accordance with the testimony of the
monuments the account of ancient P>gyptian !ii.«tory,
which he has carried back to a period antedating the
reign of the formerly-supposed mythical king Menes,
founder of the first Egyptian dynasty. Independent
expeditions were also fitted out by Swiss, Germans,
and Americans, and the Orient Gesellschaft organized
in 1899 has conducted systematic explorations at
various points in the Orient. Among the almost
incredible number of objects brought to light by the
Egyptian explorers, and which besides filling the
new and enlarged museum of Cairo built in 19(52, go
to make up numerous and important collections in
Europe and America, may be mentioned the many
papyrus documents (e. g. the Logia of Jesus, various
apocal>'pses, heretical gospels, etc.), which throw light
on early Christian history and on the period immedi-
ately preceding it. The abundance and historic im-
portance of the treasures found in the land of the
Pharaohs caused a great number of European scholars
to devote their attention to the study of Egyptology.
In addition to the names already referred to the fol-
lowing are taken at random from a list of scholars far
too numerous to be even mentioned in the present ar-
ticle. G. Perrot and C. Chippiez (History of Art in
Ancient Egypt, 2 vols., London, 1883); P. Renouf
(Translation of the Book of the Dead, parts i-iv,
London, 1893-95, completed by E. Naville, 1907); E.
A. W. Budge (The Mummy: Chapters on Egyptian
Funeral Archeology. Cambridge, 1873; The Book
of the Dead, 3 vols., London, 1898); W. Max Muller
(Asien und Europa nach altiigyptischen Denkma-
lem, Leipzig, 1S93); J. de Morgan (Recherches sur les
origines de I'Egypte, Paris, 1895-96); J. M. Broderick