The Bronze Ornaments of the Palace Gates from Balawat. [SHALMANESER II, B.C. 859-825.] EDITED, WITH AN INTRODUCTION, BY SAMUEL BIRCH, Esq., D.C.L., LL.D., F.S.A., &c. Parts I, II, and III have now been issued to Subscribers, with some portion of the letterpress description by Mr. THEO. G. PINCHES. In accordance with the terms of the original prospectus, the price for each part is now raised to £1 IOS. Terts in the Babylonian Wedge = writing. Being a series of carefully autographed plates, copied from tablets written in the Babylonian character only; compiled by THEO. G. PINCHES, of the Department of Oriental Antiquities, British Museum. The design of the Author is to furnish students with the means of making themselves acquainted with the Babylonian style of writing, and to this end the texts, which will be of high value and interest, will be accompanied by as complete a syllabary of the Babylonian characters as can now be made, arranged in a convenient form for reference. It is proposed to issue the work in two parts :-Part I is now in preparation, and will shortly be ready for issue. The price will be about 45. for each part. HARRISON AND SONS, PRINTERS IN ORDINARY TO HER MAJESTY, ST. MARTIN'S LANE. Sixth Meeting, 2nd May, 1882. SAMUEL BIRCH, D.C.L., LL.D., &c., PRESIDENT, IN THE CHAIR. The following Presents were announced, and thanks ordered to be returned to the Donors : From the Royal Society :-The Proceedings. Vol. XXXIII. No. 218. London. January, 1882. From the Royal Geographical Society :- Proceedings, and Monthly Record of Geography. Vol. IV. Nos. 4 and 5. 8vo. London. April and May, 1882. From the Royal Asiatic Society:-The Journal. New Series. Vol. XIV. Part II. 8vo. London. April, 1882. From the Royal Institute of British Architects :-Proceedings, Session 1881-1882. Nos. 11, 12, and 13. 4to. London. 1882. From the Palestine Exploration Fund:-The Quarterly Statement. 8vo. London. April, 1882. From the Victoria Institute :-The Journal of the Transactions. From the Archæological Institute of Great Britain and Ireland :- London. 1882. From the American Oriental Society :-The Journal. Vol. XI. No. I. 8vo. New Haven. 1882. The American Antiquarian and Oriental Journal. Vol. IV. No. 2 (No. XIV). 8vo. Chicago. January, 1882. Contains articles on Ancient Temple Architecture, by Rev. Stephen D. Peet, and on the Hittite Inscriptions, by John Campbell, M.A., &c. Report of the Third International Geographical Congress, Venice, From the Author :-Dizionario di Mitologico Egizia, R. V. Lanzone, Seconda Dispenza, con XLVIII Tavole. 4to. Torino. 1882. From the Author :-Les origines de l'histoire d'après la Bible et les traditions des peuples orientaux. Par François Lenormant. Tome deuxième, Ire partie. L'humanité nouvelle et la dispersion des peuples. 8vo. Paris. 1882. From the Author:-The Law of Kosmic Order, an investigation of the physical aspect of Time. By Robert Brown, jun., F.S.A. London. 8vo. 1882. From the Author:-Otium Norvicense, pars tertia. Notes on select passages of the Greek Testament, chiefly with respect to recent English versions. By Frederick Field, M.A., LL.D. 4to. Oxford. 1881. From the Author :-Les fouilles de M. de Sarzec en Mésopotamie; Antiquités Chaldéennes. Par J. Menant. Reprinted from the Gazette des Beaux Arts. From the Author :-Light and Darkness, &c. By the Rev. Alfred Jones, B.D. 8vo. London. 1881. From W. Morrison :-Tent Work in Palestine, a record of Discovery and Adventure. By Claude Reignier Conder, R.E. 2 vols. 8vo. London. 1878. The following have been purchased by the Council for the Library of the Society: Description of the East and some other Countries. By Richard Pococke, LL.D., F.R.S. 2 vols. Folio. London. 1743-45. Travels through Different Cities, etc., and several parts of Asia, as far as the banks of the Euphrates. By Alexander Drummond. Folio. London. 1754. Travels in Ethiopia. By G. A. Hoskins. 4to. London. 1835. Sandys Travailes. The Sixth Edition. Folio. London. 1658. Rudiments of a Vocabulary of Egyptian Hieroglyphics. By Samuel Sharpe. 4to. London. 1837. The Palaces of Nineveh and Persepolis, restored by James Ferguson. 8vo. London. 1851. Nineveh and its Palaces. By Joseph Bonomi, F.R.S.L. Second Edition Revised. 8vo. London. 1853. Travels and Researches in Chaldea and Susiana, &c. By William Kennett Loftus, F.G.S. 8vo. London. 1857. The Monumental History of Egypt. By William Osburn, R.S.L. 2 vols. 8vo. London. 1854. The Religions of the World. By William Osburn. 8vo. London. 1857. Memoranda illustrative of the Tombs and Sepulchral Decorations of the Egyptians. 8vo. London. 1822. The following were elected Members of the Society, having been nominated on March 7th: Rev. William Barnard, B.A., Alveston Vicarage, Stratford-on-Avon. Robert A. Bellman, 38, Cawley Road, South Hackney, E. Alfred Kemp Brown, B.A., Arundel Lodge, Unthanks Road, Alexander George Ellis, B.A., Suthrey House, Mortlake, S.W. General Pitt-Rivers, F.R.S., 4, Grosvenor Gardens, S.W. Rev. Frederick William Ragg, M.A., Masworth Vicarage, Tring. Mrs. Warne, Penn Hill, Yeovil. The following were nominated for election at the next Meeting, 6th June: Samuel Bird, 15, Sussex Place, Victoria Road, Kensington, W. R. P. Greg, Buntingford, Herts. E. H. C. Stephenson, Lympsham Manor, Weston-super-Mare. The Rev. A. Löwy read the following paper, entitled "Notices concerning Glass in Ancient Hebrew Records." The Hebrew word Zěchuchith is employed to denote "glass." Whether it has this signification (in Job xxviii, 17), or whether it relates to some precious stone, is a debateable question. The word zěchuchith means a pure substance, and does not imply transparency. The Phoenicians, though credited with the invention of glass, have not left any other records except the names of some makers of glass vessels. On some Phoenician relics occurs the name of Artas the Zidonian. Whether the Jews, as neighbours of the Phoenicians, were manufacturers of glass during the Biblical period of their history, cannot be proved by any relics. M. Longpérier published in 1856 the drawing of a vase in opaque white glass,* which was brought from the East by M. Péritié, the Chancellor of the French Consulate at Beyrout, and he suggested that this was a Jewish glass vessel, in which case it must be of a post-biblical period. Of glass which came from Assyrian excavations, the British Museum has several specimens: one of B.C. 700 bears the inscription of Sargon. A more direct insight is given by the Egyptian monuments, where we have pictorial representations of glass-making. The earliest relic brought from Egypt bears the inscription of Thothmes III, and was made B.C. 1,500. The Coptic name of glass, Badjiein or Abadjein, and some variations of this word, have no connection with Semitic words. The Coptic names of the substances of which glass is made are likewise unconnected with Semitic vocables, sand being called in Coptic sha and nitre hasmen; whilst the Hebrew for sand is chol), and for nitre nether (), corresponding with the Greek and Latin vipo and nitrum. In the Aramaic dialects glass is called zegugitha, or zugitha, from which is derived the Arabic zajaj. In the Aramaic languages zug has * "Bulletin Archéologique de l'Atheneum Français." 1856. January, p. 4. |