Persian periods. He described with considerable minuteness the
contents of this "Library," and illustrated his description by illus-
trations, chiefly half-tone reproductions, entitled "Astronomical
Tablet from the Temple Library," "Multiplication Table," etc.,
thus conveying the impression that these objects were found by
him at the place and time described, and were parts of that
"Library." I showed that all his photographic reproductions of
objects found in the "Library" which he thus described repre-
sented either objects purchased a number of years before the al-
leged discovery of that "Library" or dug up in other parts of the
Nippur mounds before the "Library" was excavated. I pointed
out that this threw discredit on his other statements with regard
to this alleged "Library," and that the whole manner in which the
discovery had been handled was such that it appeared to be im-
possible to rely upon any statement about it made by Dr. Hil-
precht, unless and until that statement was supported by manifest
and palpable proof of such a nature that it could be verified by
the testimony of others or by the contents of the inscriptions
themselves.
In his official publications, The Babylonian Expedition of the
University of Pennsylvania, Series D., Vol. I., and In the Tem-
ple of Bel, as also in his unofficial publications, practically identi-
cal with these, namely, Explorations in Bible Lands During the
Nineteenth Century, and Die Ausgrabungen im Bel Tempel zu
Nippur, Professor Hilprecht published some eight photographic
illustrations of objects found in the part of the "older library,"
antedating 2000 B.C., described by him as "a combined library and
school" found in the northeast portion of "Tablet Hill," "in the
rooms nearest to the temple" (p. 524), at a depth of twenty odd
feet beneath the surface, namely, an "Astronomical Tablet from
the Temple Library," two multiplication tables, a "Drawing by a
Temple Scholar," two bas-reliefs of "Beltis leading a Worship-
per" and "Lutanist surrounded by Animals," a "Hexagonal Clay
Prism" and a "Round Practice Tablet." Of these I stated that
the first, an "Astronomical Tablet from the Temple Library,"
was purchased from an antiquity dealer, Khabaza, in Baghdad,