Annals of the Kings of Assyria: the Cuneiform Texts, with Translations, Transliterations, &c., from the original documents in the British Museum

Abstract

IT is an interesting fact that practically all the materials which exist for the reconstruction of the ancient history of Mesopotamia are to be found within the walls of the British Museum. Neither at Paris, nor even at Constantinople, far less at Berlin, does there exist any collection of ancient Babylonian and Assyrian records which can for a moment be compared to that of the British Museum, The researches of British archæologists have resulted in the transfer to London of the whole of the royal library of the palace of King Ashurbanipal (668-626 B.C.) at Nineveh; here the thousands of inscribed clay tablets of which it was composed have found their permanent home. It is then to London that every student must turn if he wishes to learn the story of ancient Mesopotamia. Here are preserved almost all the ancient monuments and records of those mighty monarchs of Assyria and Babylon, who lighten the background of the Biblical story with the splendour of their continual goings forth to war, and the rumour of whose glory makes so deep an impression on the history of Herodotus. The Trustees of the national Museum have now commenced to publish a national and official edition of all the most important of the Assyrian historical records preserved under their care. This edition will contain the original cuneiform texts, with their transliteration, a translation, and extremely useful footnotes and annotations below.

Annals of the Kings of Assyria: the Cuneiform Texts, with Translations, Transliterations, &c, from the original documents in the British Museum.

Edited by E. A. Wallis Budge, Keeper of the Egyptian and Assyrian Antiquities, and L. W. King, M.A., F.S.A., Assistant in the Department of Egyptian and Assyrian Antiquities, Vol. 1. Pp. lxxv + 391. (Printed by order of the Trustees, 1902.) Price 1l.