ni-pal.

By far the larger number of rock-inscriptions that have yet been found
and copied in the mountainous districts bordering on Assyria were
engraved by this ancient Vannic people, and Drs. Lehmann and Belck have
done good service by making careful copies and collations of all those
which are at present known. Work on other classes of rock-inscriptions
has also been carried on by other travellers. A new edition of the
inscriptions of Sennacherib in the gorge of the Gomel, near the village
of Bavian, has been made by Mr. King, who has also been fortunate enough
to find a number of hitherto unknown inscriptions in Kurdistan on the
Judi Dagh and at the sources of the Tigris. The inscriptions at
the mouth of the Nahr el-Kelb, "the Dog River," in Syria, have
been reexamined by Dr. Knudtzon, and the long inscription which
Nebuchadnezzar II cut on the rocks at Wadi Brissa in the Lebanon,
formerly published by M. Pognon, has been recopied by Dr. Weissbach.
Finally, the great trilingual inscription of Darius Hystaspes on the
rock at Bisutun in Persia, which was formerly copied by the late Sir
Henry Raw-linson and used by him for the successful decipherment of the
cuneiform inscriptions, was completely copied last year by Messrs. King
and Thompson.

Messrs. King and Thompson are preparing a new edition of
this inscription.

The main facts of the history of Assyria under her later kings and of
Babylonia during the Neo-Babylonian and Persian periods were many years
ago correctly ascertained, and recent excavation and research have done
little to add to our knowledge of the history of these periods. It was
hoped that the excavations conducted by Dr. Koldewey at Babylon would
result in the recovery of a wealth of inscriptions and records referring
to the later history of the country, but unfortunately comparatively
few tablets or inscriptions have been found, and those that have been
recovered consist mainly of building-inscriptions and votive texts. One
such building-inscription contains an interesting historical reference.
It occurs on a barrel-cylinder of clay inscribed with a text of
Nabopolassar, and it was found in the temple of Ninib and records the
completion and restoration of the temple by the king. In addition to
recording the building operations he had carried out in the temple,
Nabopolassar boasts of his opposition to the Assyrians. He says: "As for
the Assyrians who had ruled all peoples from distant d