_The "Hittite" Monuments._--It remains to consider in the light of the
foregoing evidence a class of monuments to which attention began to be
called about 1870. In that year two Americans, Consul J. A. Johnson and
the Rev. S. Jessup, rediscovered, at Hamah (Hamath) on Orontes, five
basaltic blocks bearing pictographic inscriptions in relief, one of
which had been reported by J. L. Burckhardt in 1812. In spite of their
efforts and subsequent attempts made by Tyrwhitt Drake and Richard
Burton, when consul at Damascus, proper copies could not be obtained;
and it was not till the end of 1872 that, thanks to W. Wright of Beirut,
casts were taken and the stones themselves sent to Constantinople by
Subhi Pasha of Damascus. As usually happens when a new class of
antiquities is announced, it was soon found that the "Hamathite"
inscriptions did not stand alone. A monument in the same script had been
seen in Aleppo by Tyrwhitt Drake and George Smith in 1872. It still
exists, built into a mosque on the western wall of the city. Certain
clay sealings, eight of which bore pictographic signs, found by A. H.
Layard in the palace of Assur-bani-pal at Kuyunjik (Nineveh), as long
ago as 1851 and noticed then as in a "doubtful character," were compared
by Hayes Ward and found to be of the Hamathite class. A new copy of the
long known rock-sculpture at Ivriz[1] in S.W. Cappadocia was published
by E. J. Davis in 1876, and clearly showed Hamathite characters
accompanying the figures. Davis also reported, but did not see, a
similar inscription at Bulgar Maden, not far away. Sculptures seen by W.
Skene and George Smith at Jerablus, on the middle Euphrates, led to
excavations being undertaken there, in 1878, by the British Museum, and
to the discovery of certain Hamathite inscriptions accompanying
sculptures, a few of which were brought to London. The conduct of these
excavations, owing to the death of George Smith, devolved on Consul
Henderson of Aleppo, and was not satisfactorily carried out. Meanwhile
Wright, Ward and Sayce had all suggested "Hittite" as a substitute for
"Hamathite," because no other N. Syrian people loomed so large in
ancient records as did the Hittites, and the suggestion began to find
acceptance. Jerablus was confidently identified with Carchemish (but
without positive proof to this day), and the occurrence of Hamathite
monuments there was held to confirm the Hittite theory.
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