Assyrian Discoveries.

ASSYRIAN DISCOVERIES .

( Continued from page 15 . ) WHAT interests us most is the vast literature they produced and the religious forms they bequeathed to posterity . To illustrate this , I will only dwell upon the famous series of twelve tabletsof Avhich

, the flood legend forms a part . TAvelve adventures are related there , most probably in connection Avith the passage of the sun through the twelve signs of the Zodiac , of a hero , Avhose name is read in the Chaldean from Izdulbar , meaning " the

fire-brand , " another word for the sun . His deeds remind altogether of the twelve labours of Hercules and of Samson , the JoAvish Hercules . He is represented as a mighty giant and a conqueror of many cities , killing lions and monsters . Having

triumphed over all his enemies , he falls a victim to a woman , Avhose love turns , like that of Delilah or Deianira , into hatred ancl curse . But Firebrand ' s love is the goddess of love herself , named Isbtar , the HebreAV Astarte . Having offered to marry him but to meet his refusal , she heaps misfortune upon misfortune on him . His wise counsel ancl interpreter of dreams ,

Heabani , whom he had taken , like Joseph , from a dark , perilous cave to his court , Avas taken from his side , and at last a disease befell him , too , from Avhich nobody could cure him , except the Avise Hasisadra , AVIIO had escaped the flood , and lived on

the isle of the blessed . To him he then journeyed along , passing a country enwrapped in dark clouds , Avhere giants stood , like Atlas , guarding the rising sun , "their crown at the lattice of Heaven , their feet under hell . " Traversing thishe

, arrived at a garden , like tbe Western Land of the Hercules legend , full of trees glittering with gold and jeAvels , there to meet Hasisadra , the man * vho had survived the flood . From him he learns the story of the flood , told much in the same Avay as

in the Bible . Hasisadra , too , offered a sacrifice to the gods , who had made him build a shi p to save his life therein . Plaving told the story of the flood , and how he Avas carried up into the company of the gods , ^ Hasisadra reveals him the secret of the life-giving waterand made him bathe

, in the lake , when "his disease in the Avater to beaut y turned . " Having reached

his home again , he laments the loss of his friend Heabani , Avho finds no rest in the grave , and is finally , like Henoch , of the Bible , transferred into Heaven by tbe aid of Ilea , the god of the ocean and infernal regions , after having offered the folloAving prayer :

Return me , he says to his OAvn ghost , from hell the land of doom , From the house of the departed , the seat of the god of Hell , From the house within Avhich there is no

exit , From the place Avherein they long for light , But light is never seen , in darkness tbey chvell , The place Avhere dust is their nourishment , ancl their food mud .

To the place of seers I will enter , Where they are Avearing croAvns , who from clays of old , ruled the earth , To whom the gods Ann ( of Heaven ) , and Bel ( of earth ) have given renowned names .

A place Avhere water is abundant draAvn from perennial springs . To the place of seers I Avill enter , To the place of bards and great men , To the place of interpreters of the Avisdom of the great gods .

Thus ends these remarkable legends . But their value lies not in the direction of confirming , but of throwing neAV light

on , the Biblical legends . Both "Firebrand ' s" and " Hasisadra ' s ark " are often mentioned on the inscriptions , ancl seem to point to tbe same arks , on which Osiris , the Egyptian god ( Hesiri ) , rides Avhile descending into the nether Avorld , Avhere hell ancl Heaven meet . But while the ark

of Noah is still a mere chest , the ark of the Chaldean legend is a regular ship , launched into the sea and navigated by boatmen . The god who told Hasisadra to build a ship , is Ilea , the god of the ocean , the same who calmed the anger of Bel , the

prince of the gods , ancl prevailed upon him not to destroy men any more by a deluge , there having been during six clays and seven nights ram which swept away all life from earth . The Avhole flood legend , however , is merely an episode , inserted

into the grand epopee of "Firebrand . " But Firebrand , the ruler of Babylon , with her four cities united into one , turns out