combination are the _mediae, b, q, d_; the aspirates _kh, tj_; and the
sibilants _ts and z_.

Such is the first and simplest syllabarium: but the Assyrian system does
not stop here. It proceeds to combine with each simple vowel sound two
consonants, one preceding the vowel and the other following it. If this
plan were followed out to the utmost possible extent, the result would
be an addition to the syllabarium of seven hundred and sixty-eight
sounds, each having its proper character, which would raise the number
of characters to between eight and nine hundred! Fortunately for the
student, phonetic laws and other causes have intervened to check this
extreme luxuriance; and the combinations of this kind which are known to
exist, instead of amounting to the full limit of seven hundred and
sixty-eight, are under one hundred and fifty. The known Assyrian
alphabet is, however, in this way raised from eighty, or, including
variants, one hundred, to between two hundred and forty and two hundred
and fifty characters.

[Illustration: Partial PAGE 173]

Finally, there are a certain number of characters which have been called
"ideographs," or "monograms." Most of the gods, and various cities and
countries, are represented by a group of wedges, which is thought not to
have a real phonetic force, but to be a conventional sign for an idea,
much as the Arabic numerals, 1, 2, 3. etc., are non-phonetic signs
representing the ideas, one, two, three, etc. The known characters of
this description are between twenty and thirty.

The known Assyrian characters are thus brought up nearly to three
hundred! There still remain a considerable number which are either