At this restoration of Calah, he founded the celebrated library in which, with other literature, was deposited the great work on astronomy, entitled the “Observations of Bel.” This work was first composed for the library of Sargon at Agane, and throughout Assyrian and Babylonian history had a wide reputation. It was translated in later times into Greek by Berosus, the Chaldean historian, from many copies of the work made for the great library of Assur-bani-pal, at Kouyunjik. Many fragments of these copies are now in the British Museum, but the table of contents which remains gives a good conception of the subjects treated in the original work. Assur-bani-pal says of the founding of his royal library, that inspired by “Nebo, the prophet god of Literature,” and “his wife, Tasmit, the Bearer,” he had regard to the engraved characters of which, as much as was suitable on tablets, he had written and explained and placed in his library for the inspection of his subjects. To this library, strangers from all countries were also admitted, and for their assistance in the study of literature and the translation of these documents, syllabaries were prepared in which the cuneiform characters were classified and arranged. With these were the phrase books and dictionaries presenting the ancient Accadian form of the word with its Assyrian equivalent. By these means the modern student of cuneiform has been able to translate this long forgotten language as readily as the student of the period of Assur-bani-pal. Like testimony from other localities is coming to light, of the literary activity which prevailed for long centuries—we may say milleniums—throughout the vast region affected by Babylonian influence. There were books and libraries everywhere, and those who could read and write them. The imperishable nature of these baked clay records is yet to furnish other and greater surprises. Beneath the mounds which dot the plains and valleys of Mesopotamia, Syria and Palestine, the treasures of many ancient libraries undoubtedly still await the spade of the explorer. ----- Footnote 4: Palestine Explorations, 1890. Journals of Dr. Petrie. CHAPTER X. THROUGHOUT the whole history of cuneiform writing, with the Babylonians and Assyrians it continued a syllabic system. There was no development with them of alphabetic characters. The first evidences we have as yet of such development through this cuneiform was at the time when the Medes, an Aryan people related to the Persians, received from the primitive or earlier inhabitants of Media their system of writing. These Proto-Medic tribes were a Turanian people of Ural-Altaic stock speaking an agglutinative language. Their system of writing was the cuneiform, and had been a development from the Semitic Babylonian script.