There is little doubt that it and kindred languages were extensively spoken in early times throughout Susiana and the lower valley of the Euphrates down to the Persian Gulf. Its connection with the Old Susian has never been doubted. Lenormant, Oppert, Sayce and Hommel have testified to its more distant relationship with the Akkadian, the primitive language of Babylonia. Weisbach is naturally more sceptical, for in 1890 he had scarcely emancipated himself from the heresy of Halévy, who doubted the existence of Akkadian as an independent language.[702] Sayce and his disciple Hommel added the speech of the Kossaeans to the same group.[703] They were indeed disposed to create a new family of languages which they called Alarodian,[704] and included within it the Elamite, embracing New and Old Susian, Kassite,[705] Hittite[706] and Vannic.[707] They considered that the nearest modern representative of this language is the Georgian and Basque, an opinion which, it will be remembered, had somewhat fascinated both Westergaard and Rawlinson. The propriety of this classification was, however, doubted by Lenormant, and it has never been satisfactorily established.[708] CHAPTER VI DECIPHERMENT OF THE THIRD OR BABYLONIAN COLUMN—HINCKS AND RAWLINSON—A.D. 1846-1851 The task of deciphering the Third or Babylonian Column led to far more important results, and cannot be so briefly summarised. The earliest inscriptions found in Babylonia were observed to consist of two well-marked styles of writing the cuneiform character. One of these styles was to be seen on the Michaux Stone, published in the Collection of Millin. The other occurs on the numerous bricks that were picked up upon the ancient site of Babylon, and on a number of cylinders. But the most remarkable example of this style was found in the long inscription obtained by Sir Harford Jones and published by the East India Company. The first style is by far the simplest, and it is known as the Cursive or New Babylonian; the other is so elaborate that Grotefend called it the ‘Zierschrift’;[709] but it is generally described as the Lapidary or Old Babylonian. All the early scholars were struck by the close similarity of the writing in the third column at Persepolis to the first or simplest form of Babylonian. Münter went a step farther, and pointed out that the similarity extended to the Old Babylonian of the brick inscriptions. In the collection of inscriptions made by Mr. Rich, he thought he discerned three well-marked varieties of writing; but he was able to announce that Grotefend, after a careful comparison, considered that they were all closely related to one another and to the third Persepolitan.[710] It was soon recognised that there are in fact only two varieties of Babylonian, and what Mr. Rich supposed to be a third is due only to the vagaries of the scribe, or, as Rawlinson explained, it ‘arises from the distortion of oblique elongation.’[711] It was long, however, before the identification