The catalogue of the astronomical works in the library of Sargon I instructs the reader to write down the number of the book that he needs, and the librarian will thereupon give him the tablet required.— _Sayce, Bab. Lit., p. 9._ Footnote 5: Diodorus, Sec. 23. Footnote 6: The word Nineveh is made up of signs which mean city, coach and Nana respectively, all of which means the resting place of the chief god, Nana. (E.A. Budge.) The great commerce of Nineveh—the fact that her merchants were greatly “multiplied”—is illustrated by the large collection of contract tablets in the British Museum. Footnote 7: The problem of the relative value of gold and silver had been solved to a certain extent in this ancient kingdom, a silver shekel being one-tenth the value of a gold shekel, and the silver half shekel one twentieth of the value of the gold shekel. The drachma, or silver half shekel, is supposed to be the most ancient type of the English shilling, as one-twentieth of the English gold sovereign. Footnote 8: For the empire of Nebuchadnezzar, the records of the Egebi family are invaluable—dated deeds extending, year by year, from the reign of Nebuchadnezzar to the close of that of Darius Hystaspes.—_Sayce, An. Emp., p. 105._ Footnote 9: Sayce—An. Emp., p. 195. Footnote 10: Astarte or Ashtaroth. Footnote 11: Jer. li, 47; Isa. xxi, 2-9. Footnote 12: Ezekiel xxvii, 10; xxxviii, 5. Footnote 13: The Persians called wine Zeher-e-kushon, or “delightful poison.” Footnote 14: Scarcely a century has elapsed since the burnished shields and helmets of ancient Persian royalty were laid aside for the lighter military accoutrements of modern Europe. Footnote 15: Ezra vi, 1. Footnote 16: 226 A.D. Footnote 17: Darmesteter, Sa. Bks. of the E., Vol. IV, Int., p. 3. Footnote 18: These appear to have been written upon the face of the Behistun rock about 515 B.C. Footnote 19: Max Müller—Chips, Vol. I, p. 91. Footnote 20: The Dihkans were the landed nobility of Persia. They kept up a certain independence, even under the sway of the Mohammedan Khalifs. Footnote 21: About 570 A.D. See Quartremére. Footnote 22: 1000 A.D. Footnote 23: 870 A.D. Footnote 24: In Persian mythology the earth is surrounded by a mountain range of pure emerald. Footnote 25: “The Ausindom mountain is that which, being of ruby, of the substance of the sky, is in the midst of the sea Vouru-Kasha.”—_Zend-Avesta—Tir Yast, VI, 32, n._ CHAPTER II. THE CUNEIFORM INSCRIPTIONS. EARLY LITERATURE—HISTORIC TABLETS—THE INSCRIPTIONS OF NEBUCHADNEZZAR—THE FALL OF BABYLON—CYRUS, THE ACHÆMENIAN—BEHISTUN INSCRIPTIONS—DARIUS AT PERSEPOLIS—INSCRIPTIONS OF XERXES—ARTAXERXES—A LATER PERSIAN TABLET—RÉSUMÉ.