| Show I t How Further Discoveries in the Historic i Ruins of Abrahams Abraham's Birthplace A gol Bold bracelet r a p c t v that wa was worn warn May Carry History Back to the belles by one of Ur of in the the sixth or seventh trot a a Vey r Beginning of the Stone Age L century B G C f pad z G 1 4 a k 1 d 7 Vi e a h tr ry t zw t f 2 1 t 1 k fy fi rss ss S t r rk y y ro i a afy c p 4 R t t aM t fM 1 r e f ljra a m p i y t FT b r d x P y yA t L 4 Y t q 1 A Y Yf v ag Lw i x 0 Y d Ip a 1 t taH H a MaNt l lar ar f L Lf F tx 7 f s x J r r T y r r t p I is 1 sR ecy tJ av Nett a t yf t 1 t r l j Y ap iI ra hj at a aJ aa aai A J a ai f ft t I b ha L i tt t ti s T t pr the Yb 4 ly sir s r 1 4 r rr r 4 p pt t ir r r l t tM M r ti e r t ta a t a r ry rn y p n tl if s t A i h py j rf x iLL s 1 remarkable discoveries In Inthe inthe inthe RECENT the ruins rums of the ancient ity city of Ur of the e in Mesopotamia tamia encourage the belr that further excavations here may prove this spot to have been the very sery cry cradle of or the human race If not the al actual cradle this His seems likely to haye been one of or the place where here mankind first learned to read and nd state rite and practice ce many of the other arts of civilization In fact many scholars are inclined to believe that it t may pro prove e eto to have been an older center of culture than any of or Egypt's ancient cities The city of Ur I is is of interest to Bible students as the birthplace of Abraham It was from Ur that Abraham went fol lowing fol-lowing lOWIng what hat he considered a command from Jehovah to lead his people to anew a anew anew new home in m the far distant land of 0 o Canaan For archaeologists ts and hl historians t t has a still stilt broader interest L They know It as one of the great centers of com com- commerce commerce commerce merce and culture which played an important Im- Im Important im important part in history throughout thE Chadean Cha Babylonian Assyrian A Cha- Cha dean and Persian civilizations Evidences ot of o all these civilizations of o others that were y y with Witt them and of still others that came later have been brought to light by the joint expedition sent out oat by the U University DIversity of ani a and the British Museum Relics that carry the history of or this spot back to B C a tine Une in the dawn of history hen alien man had not y yet yeti t emerged from the Stone A Age have i recently re- re re recently been discovered The expeditions expedition's la latest st taiL ud Las has been the laborious one of clearing away the masses of debris that tat surrounded the Bruins rums ruins of the great Temple of the Moon God This is now completed ted and the SCIentists scientists engaged on it were well repaid for all the time labor and expense it cost them In uncovering unco the v vell ell preserved walls of or the main mam part of the temple believed Cd to have hate been erected by Ur about 2300 B C they hate ha made a great number of finds as inter inter- interesting interesting esting and important as the temple Itself Chief among these is It d a tablet that IS the oldest dated document yet set et known It t carries carnes the history of this place back to a period croo years lears ears ago ard and establishes establishes lishes the reality ofa of a long lone lon line of kings who ho were said to have reigned d dafter after the flood but who were until the finding of the inscription on this tablet commonly regarded as mythical Other evidence uncovered shows that the people who lived at Ur in those an an an- an cleat times were at least cast In to part Su- Su Sum Su m nan Although still in to the Stone Age and using many tools and weapons of stone they nevertheless quite familiar with w ith copper and hat ha 3 J developed great skill in to hammering and casting the metal The Temple of the Moon God Itself s s the most remarkable pre Christian pre monument yet found in Mesopotamia It was what is known as a Ziggurat Zigg a pee pe- pe peculiar culiar staged tower kmer which was the form of architecture the Babylonians thought best suited salted to do honor to the strange gods tI ft ey held in 1 s such h superstitious rev rev- reverence reverence and nd f fear ea r Although perhaps not so awesomely Impo ng as the temples of or Egypt it was mu much h more beautiful and was quite one un- un unlike like the tie achievements of the architects of an any other age The Tower of Babel was as an exaggerated form of ot this staged tower lower The fhe Ziggurat consisted ofa of a tower compo composed ed of a number of massive square structures ono one ono above above the the other other The ruins of the imposing T Temple mple of the Moor Moon M where arch archaeologists from the University of Pf P PA f n Museu-n recently have made some lome rem rems the left left a ritual A Sk the early history of ofa o a region region wi w fOn on found at Ur fiSSA have been the real cradle of the huma hum a believed i d to i bel eve used toof h of the interesting pieces of Jewelry elry by e e been lace of beads buds of hammered S y got goli in the priests e f i y SS 9 atones stones of lapis lazuli and c ceremonies 1 with the ther a ar r hip of the theon e s on God It is w IS r ved from a solid e ce of ivory and thought t o 0 be bc b but e c ut 2600 years yean old and ea 1 succeed succeeding and m ing mg one a little thin then the theone t a iv r rone below Lelow aC f fw era a at t one r w i- i if i f i f f The most fa faMOUS fanous 4 z c pi pious o us of the Zig Zig- Ziggurats Zig had set se seen en ens std p ww stages s tag e s each 1 r i painted a differ different different G s f x IL h f ff f ent color black color I f 3 orange red gold a x i pale fl- fl yellow J n deep blue and ails orR or er Each of the seven R f was dedicated to toone toone deJ one o of the heat heat- he l lenly enly h b ha bod a d I e sv sa s- s a r Saturn Jupiter v r RN Mars liars the sun Venus Mercury a a x and the moon Th The e shrine I 0 of f The oldest dated document the Vor world I d das b has as yet a seen seen athe I the god was as at atthe the runs runs of Ur t that h at was b e d aou about b t 2 2200 00 B C a athe ar arthe aup the lery very top ton top of up the mystery of kings Lings who reigned nearly J the tower to but it con contained tamed no image of the deity this being kept in one OM of or the temples that filled the interior The statue was as or of gold and was seated on a golden throne and surrounded by altars At Ur the worship of the Moon God is 13 to have base involved human sacrifices sacrifices The ruins rums of the temple reveal an elaborate drainage El C system stem that IS thought to have ha ve e been used to carry off the flood of human blood with Ith which the tre altar was as o often ten drenched in the effort to propitiate the god Nobody would ever suspect that the Moon God was worshipped in this cruel and revolting way from reading ome some of the hymns that were sung in hi his honor Many of or them were not at all unlike the hymns and anthems which are heard in 1 our pla places es of worship to-day to m in honor honorof honorof honorof of God the Father The Tho following hymn to the Moon Go God gives a good idea of the conception the worshippers who gathered in the tern temple piG at Ur had of the deity deit delt they thy thought so powerful powerful all Father long and full of forgiveness forg Whose Whole hands hand up uphold bold the life of all 11 mankind barn omnipotent whoa heart beut r is immensity There r is none who may fathom iL it In bea heaves heaven who It Is supreme 1 Thou alone tho thou art supreme On earth earlb who i is r supreme preme Thou lone alone thou art supreme As A foe Co- to thee lhee th thy willis will r is made known in heaven And the te angels bow their Cace faces faco As A for foE r or thee thy Iby will willis ill 11 r is made known upon earth And th the tho spirits below dow km klu the ground und The people of Ur are thought thou to base e stood in 1 a as great creat dread of evil Spirits as the people of Babylon and to used all aU sorts of or charms and magi to escape esca their wicked tricks Of some ot of theta these evil spirits I it was said that the thedoor door cannot shut them out nor bolt present them from entering they glide like serpents beneath the door I and Ind and nd creep through th the joints of hinges like a puff or of Then The The dreaded demons nemons in the water they drank sa says Dorothy Mills m in her Book Boo of or the Ancient World and in inthe inthe the food they ate so harms charms had to be learned and recited in order r to make them harmless they thought that sick nes ne's Ick- Ick s ne-s and especially madness was as due dut to eVil spirits to bo o the wise Ise man or magician was as called d in m at such times to drive away the disease They believed ed the number seven had magic powers power so tl ey bound magic threads seven even times sund o othe the limbs of ot a patient They v s ere eio so afraid that witches and demons n ht enter their houses house that they put pot Images to the right and left of the door to scare away an any such unwelcome un VIsitors and these the e images weir ele so hideous they would have been belD enough to frighten away an anybody body They were ere firm believers to n astrology a and thought that the he future could b ba told from the stars as well as aa the fate fate- nd fortune of individuals Science believes God in Ur of the and the British discoveries cone con conch ch many believe to C race Below one iq found found-a neck and carved Y r tiTles Tl r s bt r w wr r 9 x y Y ry t 15 Cc 4 found in that clears ago r- r rl l that the Three t 1111 l W Wise 15 e 1 Men e n who i who ho according i to the New Testament t II f loweda lowed lo a star tot to tho t h ho o manger fJ m in Bethlehem t i w where h her c r e the Christ child t 1 lay w were ere e r e Chaldean Chaldean ora or R Per Persian i ia I Persian t I a 8 a n as astrologers i iI i r 3 The worship worshippers pers of the f Moon God be- be be believed bet t IThe I hexed lie cd in 1 a fu future t lure ture life but beI I x the h he heaven e a ve n i the they pictured p Q r i i was the most d dismal 1 sma I of places quite Abraham who was different from and left there att at G t the b be e blissful ul mand to go into int o Elysian field fields through which Inch the ancient Ig Egyptians fit felt sure Bure their souls bouts would oud roam foam alter after death They called it The Lard of No Return and one of ot their old legends it as a house of darkness a place where dust is mens men's men food theIr nourishment clay Besides BesIde the tho temple of tae Moon God which Inch was an imposing structure and Ind covered a considerable area aret the cava tors tors have laid hid bare a number of smaller temples that did honor to various carious minor gods and goddesses The frieze of one of these is formed formed of or ora o a number of re- re re w ar copper copper- copper h of cat cat- cattie cattie cat cattle tie tle represented as lying down Both technically and artistically says C Leonard Wooley of Philadelphia director of the joint expedition which IS the ruins rules of Ur the how a degree of e which would Jo credit to any age and is quite amaze amazing ing mg when one considers their actual date Though the metal is completely oXidized and cracked into hundreds of pieces It has been possible to remove the figures l for the most part in good condition These formed a frieze m in the facade of the temple Another frieze smaller was as composed of figures of men and oxen carved in fine white stone and silhouetted against a background of black pa paste te the whole framed in 1 copper yet another her showed birds similarly treated In buck blick and white One part of the building was decorated deco deco- decorated decorated rated with copper statues of bulls in the round a little over two feet high One naturally supposed that copper Imported as it had to be from a great distance was a runty in m da days das s when hen flints were still in com corn corn- cornmon mon man use but the wealth of the metal lavished on this little i bit of decoration is astonishing t How some of arch arche t most precious discoveries disco erles are often the tha result of mere luck luckA recently hada had a striking exemplification at Ur Mr fr Wooley was s S ious sous to find out whether there was a Babylonian Pavement beneath a II 3 ty certain piece of ot Per Per S 1 sian sign pavement and ho hog had set his workmen to top I It digging on the latter M i i Presently a small te a H Arab came rushing up W e to the director his 1 i f r f f black blad eyes aglow with w t t ta t a t astonishment Come Comet f quick and see sec what the t 1 diggers have foundS found t p I Returning to the S jj spot w where cre he had leftt left t t j the workmen digging 1 the director saw spread f out on an old cloak many curious gold and andS andI silver ornaments which S y had lam lain buried bUrled beneath t that Persian pavement for tor twenty five centuries He ordered the work worl wor t men away nail and continued ALy 1 I the digging himself With in a few minutes he be had born at Ur brought to light a quan quan- come com of beads bits of gold Canaan necklaces ornaments set act with lapis lazuli and other semi precious stones and most important tant tent of all a magnificent gold statuette of cf a woman executed in a highly are ar artistic tJ Bete tc manner While packing this treasure a anay ay in boxes bOlle he received another doe de- de delightful surprise The Arab who had ha hl be been n n ii I charge ch of the diggers cams cam hur hUf hurrying n m to toward ard hun him I Here Sahib he exclaimed empty empt emptying ing uig his capacious pockets of severn several I I of or jewels Je I was as afraid to It the men nien see sec these for fear they th lh y r would murder me for them T 0 Ufa |
