OF THE SOCIETY OF BIBLICAL ARCHEOLOGY. SESSION 1878-9. First Meeting, 5th November, 1878. SAMUEL BIRCH, ESQ., PRESIDENT, D.C.L., LL.D., &c., IN THE CHAIR. THE following Presents were announced, and thanks ordered to be returned to the Donors : From the Royal Society :-" Proceedings;" Vol. XXVII., Nos. 188, 189, 8vo. London, 1878. From the Society of Antiquaries of London :-"Proceedings;" Vol. VII., No. 4, 8vo. London, 1878. From the Royal Geographical Society :-Vol. XXII., Nos. 5 and 6, 8vo. London, 1878. From the Geological Society :-" Quarterly Journal;" Vol. XXXIX., Part 3, No. 135, 8vo. London, 1878. : From the Anthropological Institute of Great Britain and Ireland :"Journal," Vol. VII., No. 4, Vol. VIII., No. 1, 8vo. London, 1878. From the Royal Institute of British Architects :-"Sessional Papers," Nos. 14, 15, 16, 17, 4to. London, 1878. From the Philosophical Society of Glasgow:-" Proceedings;" Vol. XI., No. 1, 8vo. Glasgow, 1878. From the Royal Archæological Institute of Great Britain and Ireland :-"The Archæological Journal;" Vol. XXXIV., Nos. 136 and 137, 8vo. London, 1878. From the Société Royale des Antiquaires du Nord :-"Mémoires," Nouvelle Série, 1877. Copenhagen, 8vo. "Tillog til aarboger for Nordiske oldkyndighed og historie aargang, 1877," 8vo. Copenhagen, 1877. From the American Oriental Society :-"Proceedings;" May 29, 8vo. Boston, 1878. From the Palestine Exploration Fund :-"Quarterly Statement;" July and October, 1878. London, 8vo. From the Swedenborgian Society :-"Sixty-eighth Report," 8vo. London, 1878. From the Author:-" Ein Mathematisches Handbuch der alten Aegypter," übersetzt und erklärt, von Dr. August Eisenlohr (Papyrus Rhind des British Museum), 2 parts; 1 vol. text, 4to., 1 vol. plates folio. Leipzig, 1877. From B. T. Bosanquet, Esq. :-"History of Sennacherib," translated from Cuneiform Inscriptions, by George Smith, edited by the Rev. A. H. Sayce, M.A., 4to. London, 1878. From Mr. Bernard Quaritch :-General Catalogue of Books, 1875-1877, 8vo. London, 1878. From the Author :--Collection de M. Strauss ("Description des Objets d'Art Religieux Hébraïques "), 4to. Poissy, 1878. From the Author:-"Le Conte de deux Frères," par M. G. Maspero, 8vo. 1878, Paris. (Reprint from the "Revue Archéologique.") "Les Peintures des Textes Egyptiens et la Mosaïque de Palestrine" par M. G. Maspero, 8vo. Paris, 1878. From G. Bertin, Esq. :-"Essai du Manuscrit Troano,” par H. de Charency, 8vo. Paris, 1875. From S. M. Drach, Esq. :-"Descrizione della Settimana Santa," 12mo. Rome, 1818. From Wm. Simpson, Esq. --" Descriptions of Drawings of Mycenæ, Troy, and Ephesus," 8vo. London, 1878. A special vote of thanks was awarded to Dr. Eisenlohr, for his donation to the Library. The following Candidates were nominated by the Council for election as Members of the Society : William H. Allen. C. E. Appleton, D.C.L. Mrs. Benson. Professor C. A. Briggs (N.Y.) F. H. Crosier John Dixon, C.E. J. Dunlop, M.A. (Richmond, Frank W. Eastlake (Berlin). William Edwards. Rev. E. H. Gifford, D.D. Professor C. Goertz (Moscow). James H. Johnson. H. H. Kitchener, Lieut. R.E. Prof. Alex. McWhorter (U.S.A.) Rev. Malcolm McLean, M.A. Claude J. Morris. J. Cotter Morrison, M.A. Rev. George Jebb Perram, M.A. W. D. Reynolds (U.S.A.) Royal Library, Berlin. Manchester Free Public Library. Mr. R. Cust, having attended the Congress of Orientalists held at Florence during September last, as the Delegate of the Society, read a long and interesting account of the various sections of the Congress. An abstract will appear in a future number of the "Proceedings." Thanks were returned for this communication. Some remarks were added by R. Cull, F.S.A., and the Rev. A. Löwy. Theophilus G. Pinches then read a paper--" Upon the Bronze Gates of Shalmaneser II.," discovered by Mr. Rassam at Balawat. Part I. : This paper contained an account of the bronze plates which covered the front of the larger of the two pairs of gates set up by Shalmaneser II. (B.C. 859 to 825) in the city of Imgur-Beli, now represented by the mound of Balawat, a formerly unnoticed site about nine miles north-east of Mosul. It is probable that they formed the entrance to the court-yard of his palace. The restoration of these gates show them to have been a pair of enormous folding rectangular leaves, each about twenty-two feet in height and six feet in breadth. They were originally made of wood (probably cedar) three inches in thickness, and turned upon pivots of bronze fixed to the base of cylindrical posts about one foot in diameter, supported at the top by strong rings. The bronze plates, now almost the only remaining portion, are about eight feet in length. They were nailed (with bronze nails) horizontally across each leaf of the gates, and one end being turned right round the post to which the pivot was fixed, their total visible length was reduced to about six feet, which is, as before stated, the entire width of each leaf. The remains of fourteen plates of bronze, some quite perfect, others very fragmentary, have been discovered. This would allow seven to each leaf, but it is not improbable that the original number was greater. Each plate of bronze contains, in two bands, representations of the expeditions, battles, sieges, triumphs, devotions, and cruelties of the King, Shalmaneser II., accompanied by short inscriptions explaining each scene. In addition to the horizontal plates, others were nailed upon those portions of the gates technically called the "styles." These plates, extending from the top to the bottom of the gates, are covered with long inscriptions in five columns of six or seven lines each. The posts upon which the leaves turned were evidently surmounted by the ornamental caps and knobs of bronze found with the rest of the monument. As all the horizontal chased bands are not yet cleaned, the author only touched upon the inscription on the " styles," leaving the description of the pictures and their explanations for a future paper. This inscription is rather fuller than the other texts now known (the Black Obelisk, the Kurkh Inscription, and the Bull Inscription), and treats only of the first nine years of the reign of Shalmaneser, or from the beginning of the year 859 B.C. to the end of the year 851 B.C. Shalmaneser boasts of having conquered, with the assistance of his favourite deities, "all the lands," "the sea of the country of Na'iri and the sea of the country of Mu'asabattāni and the great sea of the country of Phoenicia" (the Mediterranean). He boasts also of having "poured out the terrors of his dominion over the country of Hit." He set up images of himself upon the shores of the Mediterranean Sea and Lake Van, and received "the tribute of the kings of the coasts of the sea, all of them." After stating that he passed through the countries of the Enzitě and Dayaeni, he narrates the capture of the cities of the country of Ararat, and that he compelled Aramu, the King, to flee to the mountains. He then states that he destroyed the vast country of Qutie like the god Nergal, and rained upon the inhabitants of the countries of Gozan and Khupuskia like Rimmon, the inundator. The next year, B.C. 856, he marched against Akhuni, King of Tul-Barsip, who had conspired with other kings against, the predecessors of Shalmaneser. Shalmaneser had made an expedition against this monarch in the first year of his reign, but really without any great success; however, in the account of the campaign made in this, the fourth year of his reign, he refers back to the former one, |