of signs and words and objects of all classes and kinds, all of
which are of priceless value to the modern student of the Sumerian
and Assyrian languages. Annexed is an extract from a List of Signs
with Sumerian and Assyrian values. The signs of which the meanings
are given are in the middle column; the Sumerian values are given in
the column to the left, and their meanings in Assyrian in the column
to the right. To many of his copies of Sumerian hymns, incantations,
magical formulas, etc., Ashur-bani-pal caused interlinear translations
to be added in Assyrian, and of such bilingual documents the following
extract from a text relating to the Seven Evil Spirits will serve as
a specimen. The 1st, 3rd, 5th, etc., lines are written in Sumerian,
and the 2nd, 4th, 6th, etc., lines in Assyrian.

The tablets that belonged to Ashur-bani-pal's private Library and
those of the Temple of Nebo can be distinguished by the colophons,
when these exist. Two forms of colophon for each class of the two
great collections of tablets are known, one short and one long. The
short colophon on the tablets of the King's Library reads:--"Palace
of Ashur-bani-pal, king of hosts, king of the country of Assyria"
and that on the tablets of the Library of Nebo reads:--"[Country
of ?] Ashur-bani-pal, king of hosts, king of the country of Assyria."
See on the Tablet of Astrological Omens, p. 22. The longer colophons
are of considerable interest and renderings of two typical examples
are here appended:--


I. Colophon of the Tablets of the Palace Library. (K. 4870.)

1. Palace of Ashur-bani-pal, king of hosts, king of the country
of Assyria,