Book-bot.com - read famous books online for free

The Seven Great Monarchies Of The Ancient Eastern World, Vol 2. (of 7): Assyria - The History, Geography, And Antiquities Of Chaldaea, - Assyria, Babylon, Media, Persia, Parthia, And Sassanian - or New Persian Empire; With Maps and Illustrations. by George Rawlinson
page 46 of 524 (08%)
Phoenicians, the Israelites, and the Arabs of the northern portion of
the peninsula.

Recent linguistic discoveries have entirely confirmed the conclusion
thus, arrived at. We now possess in the engraved slabs, the clay
tablets, the cylinders, and the bricks, exhumed from the ruins of the
great Assyrian cities, copious documentary evidence of the character of
the Assyrian language, and (so far as language is a proof) of the ethnic
character of the race. It appears to be doubted by none who have
examined the evidence, that the language of these records is Semitic.
However imperfect the acquaintance which our best Oriental
archaeologists have as yet obtained with this ancient and difficult form
of speech, its connection with the Syriac, the later Babylonian, the
Hebrew, and the Arabic does not seem to admit of a doubt.

Another curious confirmation of the ordinary belief is to be found in
the physical characteristics of the people, as revealed to us by the
sculptures. Few persons in any way familiar with these works of art can
have failed to remark the striking resemblance to the Jewish physiognomy
which is presented by the sculptured effigies of the Assyrians. The
forehead straight but not high, the full brow, the eye large and
almond-shaped, the aquiline nose, a little coarse at the end, and unduly
depressed, the strong, firm mouth, with lips somewhat over thick, the
well-formed chin--best seen in the representation of eunuchs--the
abundant hair and ample beard, both colored as black--all these recall
the chief peculiarities of the Jew more especially as he appears in
southern countries. [PLATE XXXIII., Fig. 3.] They are less like the
traits of the Arab, though to them also they bear a considerable
resemblance. Chateaubriand's description of the Bedouin--"_la tete
ovale, le front haut et argue, le nez aquilia, les yeux grandes et coupe
DigitalOcean Referral Badge