As progress was made in deciphering the inscriptions, it was found that new and remarkable light was being obtained regarding the history and civilisation of half-forgotten empires. Collections of inscribed tablets had been made by Tiglath-Pileser II. (B.C. 745), who had copied some historical inscriptions of his predecessors. Sargon, the father of Sennacherib (B.C. 722), had increased this library by adding a collection of astrological and similar texts; and Sennacherib himself (B.C. 705) had composed copies of the Assyrian canon, short histories, and miscellaneous inscriptions to add to the collection. Sennacherib also moved the library from Calah, its original seat, to Nineveh, the capital; and Esarhaddon, the son of Sennacherib, added numerous historical and mythological texts. All the inscriptions of the former kings, however, were nothing compared to those written during the reign of Assurbanipal, the grandson of Sennacherib, who not only recorded the events of his own reign, but collected literature from other countries, and caused translations to be made of Babylonian records which were then ancient. Thousands of inscribed tablets were collected and copied, and stored in the royal library at Nineveh; and it is this royal library which has been found. The amount of Assyrian literature now in our possession is more than equal to the entire contents of the Old Testament. It includes religion, astronomy, mythology, history, geography, natural history, royal decrees and private letters, legal decisions and deeds of sale, lists of tributes and taxes, precepts for private life, &c. Among the sacred legends are stories of the Creation and the Deluge. These narratives did not originate with the Assyrians, for they received their religious system by inheritance from the Babylonians. But neither did they originate with the Babylonians; for we learn from their own records that this learning and these traditions were brought into their country by the Akkadians. Assurbanipal, when he made raids into Babylonia and captured a city, would carry off the sacred writings to enrich the royal library at Nineveh. When they were brought to Nineveh they were copied by the priests, and they were sometimes translated into the Assyrian tongue, although Assyrians who professed to be well educated used to learn the Akkadian language, much as English boys learn Latin, or theological students study Hebrew and read the writings in the original. It is very interesting to find that these old Assyrians and these ancient Chaldeans had their own version of the Creation, the Deluge, the Building of Babel, &c., which they venerated as being ancient even then, and regarded as most sacred.