at the Nahr-el-Kelb being the public work, the construction of which is described by Nebuchadnezzar. From line 24 it would appear to have been in the neighbourhood of Sippara. The word before ucis, “I cut down," in line 12, is probably "trees." What remains of the following columns is so meagre as to be not worth transcribing. As I stated in my last letter, the name of Nebuchadnezzar occurs, with his titles, as also the words mamis urdu, "like waters they descended." I further find Ba-bi-lu, bil-lu-ti, and kas-pu, and towards the top of the third column is sarru, "king." Here, if anywhere, would have been an account of Nebuchadnezzar's campaigns in Syria. A detached fragment contains the word tsi-i-ri, "supreme."

Pending the publication of more Kappadokian texts, I will not venture any suggestions as to the character of the language represented in them, and will content myself with offering the following tentative rendering of the tablet published by Mr. Pinches:

In line 7 we should probably read as-sa, and at the end of line 14 gar instead of ma.

Yours very truly,

A. H. SAYCE.

The following communication has been received from F. W. Eastlake :

URUKU versus ŠIŠKU.

Only a few days ago I received the Report of the Society's Proceedings at the meeting of January 11th of this year, and was much interested by Dr. Lauth's "Remarks on the name Šišku,” which are ingenious, to say the least. I agree, however, with Sir Henry Rawlinson and Mr. Theo. Pinches, that, 1st, Šišku is not the correct reading of the group (WE, and, 2nd, that it represents. most probably, another name of Erech-Warka.

In the first place, the only correct translation of Šišku-KI is “The place of the brilliant brother"; if we translate "protector," we must read Uruku-KI, for

Indeed, URU seems to have been the more ancient value of the two; as in the name of Ur-Mugheir (W.A.I., II, 46, 51), we have

and, again, in the ideogram of the god Sin (Nannaru) :

which Dr. Delitzsch correctly translates "Protector of the Earth" (AN-URU-KI). Lastly, the name of the character is urinnu, according to M. Lenormant (Les Syllabaires Cunéiformes, p. 124).

The second element in the group in question is . As regards the ancient value of this character, I think there can be no doubt that it was KU. This is fairly demonstrated by such an equation as E+ . Ma.

and the one already noted by Dr. Lauth :

....

That, however, had another value, azag or azagga-as Mr. Pinches remarked-equivalent to the Assyrian ellu, “brilliant," and alalu, “to gleam," is shown by and as parallel to (vide W.A.I. IV, 14, 18, etc.).

I would conclude, therefore, for the first part, that [] W is to be read Uruku-KI.

In the second place, it seems very probable that the group is another name for Erech-Warka. That Erech was an ancient seat of power and royalty is proved by the inscriptions discovered by Mr. Loftus. Further, among the great cities of Southern Mesopotamia an early Babylonian geographical list (published in the fourth volume of W.A.I.) mentions YEY Uru-Mugheir as the third, and Erech-Warka as the seventh in importance; while Babylon, Sippara, and Nineveh are far down in the list. Dr. Oppert (Expédition en Mésop., i, 264) translated YEY "City of the Moon"; but

as Dr. E. Schrader (Die Keilinschriften u. d. Alte Test., p. 18) has already pointed out, the ideogram for "month" (→) is very different from the ideogram in the name of the city. As an attempt

to demonstrate the correct etymology of the name would submit the following remarks:

Uruk, Arku, I

The character <<<<< seems to have had two distinct values, UNU and URU, of which the first was the older, and in the earlier texts probably the only one known. Thus, while it seems plausible that should be the phonetic writing of the name Uruk (URU-KI), I concur with Dr. Delitzscht in believing that the Sumerian reading was UNU-KI, or Unuk. As examples of this value UNU, we have the following equations:

Y=M. *Y««. *>>I ««‹ ÷ ÷

Unuk, therefore, means "place of dwelling," or as a seat of royalty, equivalent to the German "Residenzstadt."

On the other hand, had certainly another value, URU, which, however old, was not its first value. If we compare the ideogram of Uru-Mugheir on the oldest texts

texts of later date.

EW.A.I., IV, 38.

« (E W.A.I., II, 46, 51.

is used in the place of

with the

and

we find that (Y=Y=Y===N). That this was not customary in earlier times, is clearly exhibited by the Babylonian geographical list already referred to, in which Uru-Mugheir and Uruk-Erech are written within a few lines of each other:

"habi

The Sumerian word URU had probably some such meaning as tation," "dwelling," and was written, Y, which latter is

* Which Mr. Smith (Records of the Past, V. 106) read LAB-KI.

+ Assyrische Lesestücke, 2nd ed., p. 12, No. 120.

"Dwelling," subtuv, R. ; this word frequently occurs, phonetically written, in the status constructus, e.g., W.A.I, I., 39, 70.

§ Perhaps (as found in early texts) is more correct than «««« which the Syllabaries give as a compound of és (¶) and gunu.

Finally, URU became a sort of terminus technicus for a burial place, especially when joined with GAL, as in the following:

Y=M MY EYEm

The "great habitation," that is, the "grave". Now the ruins of Uruk-Erech have disclosed numerous remains of ancient coffins, so many, in fact, that the city seems to have been the necropolis (URU-GAL) of Babylonia <<««. Already the ideogram for a "dwelling-place" was used on this account in the sense of "burialplace"; received a new value URU; and the city, represented by E, UNU-KI, became URU-KI, Uruk, Arku, Erech, Warka. That was actually pronounced URU, in the sense of "burial-place," is proved by the name of the god Nergal.

This

which Dr. Delitzsch (Assyr. Lesest., pp. 22, 242) reads Nê-uru-gal, and translates "Prince of the Great City," i.e., "City of the Dead." translation is again verified by W.A.I., III, 67, 69.

The Assyrians themselves seem to have appreciated the fact that a new meaning had been forced upon <««, otherwise such frequent mistakes as:

Y=ME + M««««!. E

→Y<==-Y. YEYE W.A.I. II, 59, 37.
ETA EKY EY, etc., etc.

would be unaccountable (Dr. Delitzsch, "ungenau"; M. Lenormant, "tracé par erreur ").

On account of its form and meaning one is almost inclined to include in this category, although its ancient value was ĚŠ.