Researches In Assyrian And Babylonian Geography A Dissertation Department Of Semitics

Author : Christopher Johnston
Publisher : Forgotten Books
ISBN 13 : 9780282574925
Total Pages : 124 pages
Book Rating : 4.5/5 (749 download)

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Download or read book The Epistolary Literature of the Assyrians and Babylonians written by Christopher Johnston and published by Forgotten Books. This book was released on 2017-07-26 with total page 124 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Excerpt from The Epistolary Literature of the Assyrians and Babylonians: A Dissertation Presented to the Board of University Studies of Johns Hopkins University for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy 1894 If I am correctly informed, the German Government had re quested the British Museum to furnish some translations of Assyrian letters for the Reichspost Museum of Berlin. The task was assigned to Mr. Theo. G. Pinches, who was thus obliged to devote some attention to these texts. On the 4th of December, 1877, Mr. Pinches read before the Society of Biblical Archaeology a paper entitled Notes upon the Assyrian Report Tablets, with Translation. In this paper, which was published in the Trans actions of the Society for the following year (vol. Vi. Pp. 209 the author, after a general introduction, gave a summary of the contents of four letters selected by him, followed by the cunei form text with interlinear transliteration and translation, aecom panied by brief philological notes. This was the first attempt to subject the letters to systematic study on the same lines as the other branches of Assyrian literature, and it is not surprising that this pioneer work was not, in every respect, successful. It gives an idea of the difficulties surrounding the subject, that even so experienced a cuneiformist as Mr. Pinches often failed to grasp the meaning of the texts he had.selected for study. But the methods of the day were in a high degree empirical. Assyrian was studied through the medium of Hebrew, Arabic, and Ara mean; and a more or less happy conjecture did the rest. The present method of study, by the comparison of parallel passages and the sifting over of the whole cuneiform literature to discover the uses of each separate word, had hardly come into existence indeed, it is to be regretted that, even to-day, a few scholars still adhere to the older and less laborious method. However, it can not be expected that a science, which had its birth hardly fifty years ago, should in this brief time attain perfection. We should rather rejoice that so much has been accomplished than regret that so much remains to be done. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.