Produced by The Online Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This file was produced from images generously made available by The Internet Archive/American Libraries.) [Illustration: NORTH-EASTERN FACADE AND GRAND ENTRANCE OF SENNACHERIBS PALACE KOUYUNJIK Restored from a Sketch by J Fergusson, Esqre G P PUTNAM & Co NEW YORK.] DISCOVERIES AMONG THE RUINS OF NINEVEH AND BABYLON; WITH TRAVELS IN ARMENIA, KURDISTAN, AND THE DESERT: BEING THE RESULT OF A SECOND EXPEDITION UNDERTAKEN FOR THE TRUSTEES OF THE BRITISH MUSEUM. BY AUSTEN H. LAYARD, M. P. AUTHOR OF "NINEVEH AND ITS REMAINS." "For thou hast made of a city an heap; of a defenced city a ruin; a palace of strangers to be no city; it shall never be built."--ISAIAH xxv. 2. ABRIDGED FROM THE LARGER WORK. NEW-YORK: G. P. PUTNAM & CO., 10 PARK PLACE. 1853. ENTERED according to Act of Congress in the year 1853, by GEORGE P. PUTNAM & CO., In the Clerk's Office of the District Court for the Southern District of New-York. PREFATORY NOTE. The present Abridgment of Mr. Layard's Discoveries among the ruins of Nineveh and Babylon has been prepared with much care and attention; and a studious effort has been made to retain, in the Author's own language, the more interesting and important portions of the larger work. This has been done by omitting the greater part of the minute details of the descriptions of sculpture and monumental remains, by dispensing with several tables of cuneiform characters, elaborate examinations of various matters by scientific men, &c. At the same time there has been retained every thing relating to the Bible, and illustrating and enforcing its truth and the fulfilment of prophecy; as well as the genial and life-like portraitures of Arab habits and customs, and the pleasant adventures of the Author in regions that to most men seem like fairy land. For general use it is confidently hoped and believed that the present volume will be more widely serviceable than the larger work, from its expensiveness and size, could possibly be. S. _New-York, May 2d, 1853._ PREFACE. Since the publication of my first work on the discoveries at Nineveh much progress has been made in deciphering the cuneiform character, and the contents of many highly interesting and important inscriptions have been given to the public. For these additions to our knowledge we are mainly indebted to the sagacity and learning of two English scholars, Col. Rawlinson and the Rev. Dr. Hincks. In making use of the results of their researches, I have not omitted to own the sources from which my information has been derived. I trust, also, that I have in no instance availed myself of the labors of other writers, or of the help of friends, without due acknowledgments. I have endeavored to assign to every one his proper share in the discoveries recorded in these pages.