Assur-bani-pal, syllabaries, grammars, dictionaries, and translations were drawn up. The last king states that Nebo and Tasmitu had inspired him to attempt the re-editing of the "royal tablets," which no previous king had attempted, and at the same time to explain and chronicle all the difficulties,

as many as existed," "for the inspection of his people." This implies that there was a considerable amount of culture in the country at the time. The nouns are always given in the nominative, generally with the mimmation added, which was therefore considered the typical form of the word. The third persons singular and plural of the aorist and present are the only parts of the verb which we find; it would seem that they took the place of the nominative of the nouns; from them the other persons could at once be derived. The most important fact which we have to notice is the full recognition of triliteralism. No radix consists of less than three letters, and the rule is accurately observed in the defective verbs: thus we have da-'a-cu (7), ba-a-bu (), si-'i-mu, pu-'u-ru, ma-lu-'u (), ka-bu-u (p) Just as Sanskrit grammar begins with the recognition of monosyllabic roots, Semitic grammar begins with the recognition of a triliteral basis. Assyrian passed away before the encroaching influence of Aramæan, but as late as the reign of Antiochus we have the cuneiform characters (and apparently the language also) still used. Since the decipherment of the inscriptions the following works upon the subject have appeared :

E. Botta, "Mémoire sur l'écriture cunéiforme Assyrienne" (in Journ. Asiat.), 1847. De Saulcy, "Recherches sur l'écriture cunéiforme Assyrienne," Paris, 1848. E. Botta and E. Flandin, 66 Monument de Ninive," 5 vols., Paris, 1849-50.

(The inscriptions in vols. iii. and iv. contain Sargon's annals from Khorsabad.) Sir H. Rawlinson, "Commentary on the Cun. Inscr. of Babylon and Assyria," London, 1850. E. Hincks, in Transact. of R. Irish Soc., 1850 (the names of Sennacherib and Nebuchadnezzar identified). Dr. G. F. Grotefend, in the Götting. Gelehrt. Anzeigen, 1850, No. 13 (on the age of the Black Obelisk). E. Hincks, Journ. of R. Asiat. Soc., xiv., 1851, pt. 1. H. Ewald, in Götting. Gel. Anz., 1851, No. 60. A. H. Layard, "Inscriptions in the Cuneiform Character from Assyr. Monum." (Brit. Mus.), 1851 (untrustworthy copies; contains the inscr. of the Black Obelisk). Grotefend, "Bemerkungen zur Inschrift eines Thongefässes mit Niniv. Keilschrift," Göttingen, 1850-51 (Grotefend had already published a memoir on this inscription in 1848, and had attempted the Assyrian inscriptions in a paper, "Zur Erläuter. d. Babylon. Keilschr.," 1840); "Die Tributverzeichniss d. Obelisken aus Nimrud nebst Vorbemerkungen über d. verschied. Ursprung u. Charakter d. persischen u. Assyr. Keilschr.," Göttingen, 1852; "Erläuter. d. Keilinschr. Babylon. Backsteine," Hanover, 1852. Dr. E. Hincks, "On the Language and Mode of Writing of the Ancient Assyrians," read before the Brit. Asso., 1850. In Transact. of Royal Irish Soc., xxii., 1852, xxiv., 1854 (the numerals made out, and the Babylonian characters deciphered). J. Bonomi, "Nineveh and its Palaces," London, 1852. Grotefend, "Erläuter. der Babyl. Keilinschr. aus Behistun," Göttingen, 1853. Rawlinson, "Memoir on the Babylonian and Assyrian Inscriptions," 1854. De Saulcy, in Journal Asiatique ("Traduction de l'Inscription Assyr. de Behistoun"), 1854-55. C. C. Bunsen, “Outlines of a Philosophy of Universal History," vol. i.,

London, 1854. Grotefend, "Erläuter. zweier Ausschr. Nebukadnezar's in babyl. Keilschr.," Göttingen, 1854. Hincks, "On Assyrian Verbs," in Journ. of Sacred Literature, 1855-56 (extremely valuable, the foundation of an Assyrian grammar). J. Brandis, "Ueber d. histor. Gewinn aus d. Entziffer. der Assyr. Inschriften," Berlin, 1856 (he had already published, in 1853, "Rerum Assyriarum tempora emendata," Bonn). Fox Talbot, "On Assyrian Inscriptions," in Journ. of Sacred Lit., 1856. M. von Niebuhr, "Geschichte Assur's u. Babel's seit Phul," Berlin, 1857. Rawlinson, Fox Talbot, Hincks, and Oppert, "Inscr. of Tiglath-Pileser I. transl.," 1857. J. Oppert, in Journ. Asiat., v., tom. 9, 10, 1857-8. J. Ménant, "Inscriptions Assyriennes des briques de Babylone (Essai de lecture et d'interprétation)," Paris, 1859; "Notice sur les Inscriptions en caractères cun. de la collection epigraphique de M. Lothoi de Laval," Paris, 1859. Hincks, "Babylon and its Priestkings," in Journ. of Sacred Lit., 1859. Fox Talbot, "Annals of Essar-Haddon," in same, 1859. Oppert, "Eléments de la Grammaire Assyr.," Paris, 1860 (first attempt to form a full grammar; very useful to the student). Ménant, "Recueil des Alphabets pour servir à la lecture et l'interprétation des écritures cun.," Paris, 1860. Hincks, "Arioch and Belshazzar," in Journ. of Sac. Lit., 1861. Rawlinson and Norris, "The Cun. Inscr. of Western Asia,” vols. i., ii., iii., London, 1861, 66, 70 (lithographed for the Brit. Mus.). Ménant, "Les Noms propres Ass.," Paris, 1861; "Principes élémentaires de la lecture des Textes Ass.," Paris, 1861; "Sur les Inscr. Assyr. du Brit. Mus.," 1862-3. G. Rawlinson, "Herodotus," vol. i., London, 1858 (contains valuable essays by his brother)

"The Five Great Monarchies of the Ancient Eastern World," vol. i., London, 1862. Hincks, "The Polyphony of the Assyrio-Babylonian Cun. Writing" (reprinted from the Atlantis), 1863 (valuable). Oppert, "Expédition scientifique en Mésopotamie," vols. i., ii., 1863. Ménant, "Inser. Assyr. de Hammourabi," Caen, 1863. Oppert and Ménant, "Les Fastes de Sargon" (trad.), Paris, 1863 (important to the historian; a commentary and vocabulary are added); "Grande Inscription de Khorsabad, publ. et comment.," two vols., Paris, 1865. Ménant, "Eléments d'Epigraphie Assyr.," second edit., Caen, 1864 (first edit. 1860). J. Olshausen, "Prüfung des Charakters d. in d. Assyr. Keilinschriften enthaltenen semit. Sprache," in the Abhdl. d. Kön. Akad. d. Wiss. zu Berlin, 1864 (valuable attempt at a comparison of Assyrian with the cognate languages; Oppert's grammar criticized). Rawlinson, in the Journ. R.A.S. 1864 (on the bilingual, Ass. and Phoenician inscriptions). Ménant, "Inscr. des revers des plaques du Palais de Khorsabad trad.," Paris, 1865. Hincks, "On the Assyrio-Babylonian Measures of Time," 1865; "Specimen Chapters of an Assyr. Grammar," in Journ. R. A. S., 1866 (the most important contribution to Assyrian Grammar yet made). E. Norris, "Specimen of an Assyrian Dictionary," J.R.A.S., 1866. Fox Talbot, "Assyrian Vocabulary," in J.R.A.S., 1867-9 (full of unscientific comparisons). Ménant, "Exposé des éléments de la grammaire Assyrienne," Paris, 1868 (Oppert's first edition enlarged; inaccurate and incomplete). Oppert, "Grammaire Assyrienne," second edit., Paris, 1868 (very good and useful, but disfigured by the theory of a stat. emphat. and an incomplete theory of the verb). Norris, "Assyrian Dict.," vols. i., ii.,

1868, 70 (useful, but premature; has not as yet advanced further than in the nouns). D. Haigh, G. Smith, Oppert, and Lenormant, in the Zeitschrift für Aegyptische Sprache, 1868-70 (mostly on Assyrian history; the question of the canon reviewed by Lepsius in the Abhdl. d. Berl. Akad., 1870). Lenormant, in the Rev. Archéologique, 1869. G. Smith, in the North British Review, 1869-70 (especially an important paper on "Assyrian and Bab. Libraries"). E. Schrader, in the Zeitschr. d. D. Morgenl. Gesellsch., xxiii., 1869 (proof of the decipherment and its results); also pp. 82-5 in his edition of De Wette's "Lehrbuch," Berlin, 1869. Ménant, "Le Syllabaire Assyrienne" (useful, but too long and incomplete). A. Sayce, in the Journal of Philology, 1870 (attempt to form an Accadian grammar). Renan, in Mémoires de la Société de Linguistique de Paris, 1869, "Sur les formes du verbe Sémit." (Assyrian grammar compared with those of the cognate languages). M. A. Harkavy, Revue Israélite, 1870, Nos. 2, 6, 8, 10, 12, and 14. G. Smith, History of Assur-bani-pal," 1871 (cuneiform texts, translated); "Phonetic Values of the Cuneiform Characters," and "Chronology of the reign of Sennacherib," 1871. Lenormant, "Lettres Assyriologiques" (on Media and Armenia), 1871. Criticism of the interpretations (more or less favourable). Ewald, in the Götting. Gel. Anz., 1857, 58, 59, 60, 68. Renan, in Journ. des Savants, 1859. F. Hitzig, "Sprache u. Sprachen Assyriens," (attempt to compare Assyrian with Sanskrit by rejecting polyphons!) Leipzig, 1871. Ch. Schöbel, "Examen critique du déchiffrement des inscr. cun. Assyr.,” Paris, 1861. Assyrian used for comparative purposes in Rödiger's Gesenius' Heb. Gram., 20th edit., 1869. Ewald,

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