Part 16

3. In Phornicia and northern Syria, which formed the greater part of the fifth satrapy, a great quantity of coins were struck off by the tributary dynasties. The kings of Tyre, Sidon, Gebal, and Aradus had their own coinage, but there seems to have been no satrapal coinage struck off in Phornicia. In Page 139 northern Syria, when Mazaios added this satrapy to his own, he levied and assembled troops from that entire region; this accounts for the numerous issues of coins in northern Syria at that time.

4. The dynasties of Cilicia coined money under the same conditions as did the cities of Phornicia, Caria and Lydia. The chief mint of Cilicia was at Tarsus, but money was also coined at Soli and at Mallus. About the end of the fifth century a coinage was issued from these mints which is ascribed to uncertain satraps. The distinguishing mark of these coins, according to Mr. Waddington, is the use of the neuter adjective in [Greek: ikon], but this theory is not conclusive. Besides these anonymous coins there were others coined in Cilicia bearing the names of satraps, who were the envoys of the great king to raise armies and equip fleets. The satrap Tiribazus employed the mints at Issus, at Soli and Mallus; the satrap Pharnabazus established his mints in various cities in Cilicia,

## particularly at Nagidus; Datamus also issued coinage in

Cilicia. M. Six holds that Mazaios coined money, not only in Cilicia, but also in Syria and Mesopotamia, and preserved the right to a coinage under Alexander, but always in a military capacity.

5. After the conquest of Alexander, his generals issued coinage under his name in their satrapal authority. These were the coins of Alexander, bearing on one side the particular symbol of the generals who had issued them; there were the eagle of Ptolemy, the demi-lion of Lysimachus or the horned horse of Seleucus. Those of the generals who became kings, in 306, issued coins in their own name, preserving on them the personal emblems which they had employed in their satrapal authority. The generals who did not become kings never issued a coinage in their own names.

6. On the island of Cyprus are found numerous coins which present all the distinctive signs of satrapal money; they are believed to have been struck by Evagoras II, the successor of Nicocles I; but the question arises, Were these satrapal pieces of Evagoras coined on the island? It has been held that they were issued from a mint on the continent, in Caria, because the army of Evagoras was recruited in Asia Minor, and because their weights are Rhodian, but the form of the letters is Phornician, as upon all Cypriote corns; while, on the other hand, in Asia Minor the Semitic money is inscribed with Aramean characters. Moreover, all symbols and types which figure on these coins are essentially Cypriote.--E. BABELON in _Revue Numismatique_, 1892, p. 277.

SASSANIAN COINS.--The Museum of the Hermitage has just come into possession of the collection of coins of General Komarof, Page 140 once governor of Russian Turkistan. It consists of more than two thousand pieces, of which sixty are of gold. The most remarkable coins of this rich collection are: Four Sassanian pieces in gold, unpublished, (one of Hormuzd II and three of Sapor II), a dinar of Nasr I, a dinar of Kharmezi of Tamerlan, a dinar of Abdallah-ben-Khazim, and about fifty unpublished Sassanian silver coins.--_Revue Numismatique_, 1892, p. 348.

PERSEPOLIS.--CASTS OF SCULPTURES.--The English archæologist Mr. Cecil Smith has lately returned from an expedition to Persia. He had with him two Italian makers of casts, and by their means has obtained a valuable series of casts of the sculptures of Persepolis from moulds of a fibrous Spanish paper. Among the casts are those of a long frieze (perron) which decorated the stairway of the main hall or "apadâna," erected by Xerxes; it represents a procession of figures presenting to the king the reports of his governors and the offerings of his subjects. Another cast is that of the famous monolith of Cyrus.--_Chron. des Arts_, 1892, No. 31. We understand that the collection of casts of the Metropolitan Museum is to receive a copy of all these casts.

SYRIA.

EDESSA.--HISTORICAL SKETCH.--M. Rubens Duval, the eminent Syriac scholar, has been publishing in the _Journal Asiatique_ a history of the city of Edessa under the title: "_Histoire religieuse et litteraire d'Edesse jusqu' à la première Croisade_", (_Jour. As._ t. 18, No. 1 to t. 19, No. 1). This monograph has been crowned by the French Academy. It includes a considerable amount of information concerning the monuments of the city, especially those belonging to the early Christian period, and some idea can be gained of them by the following abridged note. As Edessa was one of the principal cities of the Christian East, the information is of interest. Edessa was from its position a fortress of the first rank and reputed impregnable. The citadel rose on a peak on the southwest angle of the rampart. At the west end there still remain two columns with Corinthian capitals, one of which bears an inscription with the name of Queen Shalmat, daughter of Ma'nu, probably the wife of King Abgar Ukhama. Within the citadel, on the great square called Beith-Tebhara, King Abgar VII built, after the inundation of 202, a winter palace, safe from the river floods, and the nobles followed his example. In the city itself were the porticoes or forum near the river, the Antiphoros or town-hall, restored by Justinian. In 497, the governor of the city, Alexander, built a covered gallery near the Grotto Gate Page 141 and Public Baths, near the public storehouse; both the summer and winter baths were surrounded by a double colonnade. To the south, near the Great Gate, were other baths, and near them the theatre. Within the Beth Shemesh Gate was a hospital and outside it a refuge for old men. North of the city, near the wall, was the hippodrome, built by Abgarus IX on his return from Rome. The city had six gates which still exist under different names.

Edessa is one of the few cities that are known to have had a Christian church as early as the second century. This church was destroyed by the inundation of 201, was then rebuilt, being the only church in the city, suffered from the inundation of 303 and was rebuilt from its foundations in 313 by Cona, bishop of Edessa, and his successor Sa'd. It was called the Ancient Church, "the cathedral," also sometimes the Church of St. Thomas, because in 394 it received the relics of the apostle Thomas. The Frankish pilgrim woman who visited it at the close of the fourth century, or later, speaks of its size, beauty and the novelty of its arrangement. Duval believes her words to relate to Justinian's building, believing in a later date than is usually assigned to the above document. In 525 the church was overthrown by an inundation and then rebuilt by Justinian in such splendor as to be regarded as one of the wonders of the world. It was overthrown by earthquakes in 679 and 718.

The other churches were as follows:

370. The Baptistery is built. 379. Church of S. Daniel or S. Domitius, built by Bishop Vologese. 409. Church of S. Barlaha, built by Bishop Diogenes. 412. Church of S. Stephen, formerly a Jewish synagogue, built by Bishop Rabbula. 435. The New Church, called later the Church of the Holy Apostles, built by Bishop Hibhas. " Church of S. John the Baptist and S. Addasus, built by Bishop Nonnus (died 471), successor of Hibhas. " Church of S. Mar Cona. 489. Church of the Virgin Mother of God, built on the site of the School of the Persians after its destruction in 489. c.505. Martyrium of the Virgin, built by Bishop Peter early in VI century.

Outside the walls were the following churches:

Towards the N. Chapel of SS. Cosmas and Damian, built by Nonnus (middle V century).

E. Church of SS. Sergius and Simeon, which was burned in 503 by the Persian King Kawad. Page 142 W. Church of Confessors, built in 346 by Bishop Abraham, and burned by Kawad in 503. Church of the Monks, near the citadel.

The cliffs to the west had been from early times excavated for burial purposes. In the midst of the tombs rose the mausoleums of the family of the Abgars, especially that of Abshelama, son of Abgarus. They were also honeycombed with anchorites' cells. This mountain received the name of the Holy Mountain and was covered with monasteries, among which were the following: Eastern Monks; S. Thomas; S. David; S. John; S. Barbara; S. Cyriacus; Phesilta; Mary _Deipara_; of the Towers; of Severus; of Sanin; of Kuba; of S. James. Arab writers mention over 300 monasteries around Edessa. Two aqueducts, starting from the villages of Tell-Zema and Maudad to the north, brought spring-water to the city; they were restored in 505 by Governor Eulogius.

Bishop Rabbulas (412-435) built a hospital for women from the stones of four pagan temples which were destroyed. He destroyed the church of the sect of Bardesanes and the church of the Arians, erecting other structures with their materials. After the Persian wars (505) Eulogius, governor of Edessa, rebuilt many of the damaged public monuments. He repaired the outer ramparts and the two aqueducts; rebuilt the public baths, the prætorium, and other structures. The bishop, Peter, restored the cathedral and built the Martyrium of the Virgin, and also covered with bronze one of the cathedral doors. Justinian restored and rebuilt many buildings after the inundation of 524-25. Even under the early period of Muhammadan rule the Christian structures were cared for. Under the Khalif Abd-el-Malik (685-705) the Edessene Christian Athanasius, who enjoyed great political influence, rebuilt the Church of the Virgin, which was on the site of the School of the Persians; rebuilt also the Baptistery in which he placed the portrait of Christ sent to Abgarus and placed in it fountains like those of the Ancient Church, decorating it also with gold, silver and bronze revetments. He also built two large basilicas at Fostat in Egypt. There is an interesting account of an artistic treasure of great value discovered in a house belonging to a noble family of the Goumêaus in 797 and belonging to the Roman and Byzantine period; it is supposed to have been hidden in 609. The churches were often destroyed and rebuilt according to the tolerance or intolerance of the Muhammadan governors. At one period of persecution, c. 825, a mosque was built in the _tetrapylum_ in front of the Ancient Church. It is not important to trace the vicissitudes of the building of Edessa any further. Page 143

COINS OF THE KINGS OF EDESSA.--Marquis de Vogué sends to M.E. Babelon a description of a bronze coin brought from Syria, found either in the province of Alep or of Damas. It bears the name of Abgarus, the name of several of the kings of Edessa. The type is that of the small bronze pieces attributed to Mannou VIII; the character and inscriptions are the same. It must then be attributed to a king Abgarus whose reign approaches as nearly as possible that of Mannou VIII. Mr. Rubens Duval, in his history of Edessa, mentions two kings of this name, Abgarus VIII, whose reign cut into that of Mannou VIII, and Abgarus IX, who succeeded him. It is to one of these two princes that this coin must be assigned. It is possible that this monument may shed some light upon a portion of Oriental chronology, hitherto very dark. Two other coins are described from M. Vogué's collection, one of which, it seems, should be attributed to the same king Abgarus as the preceding; the other bears a name which M. Duval assigns to Abgarus XI, who reigned for two years during a short restoration of the government of Edessa.--_Revue Numismatique_, 1892, p. 209.

SINJIRLI.--SEMITIC INSCRIPTIONS.--The German Oriental Committee discovered, as is well known, an ancient city buried under a number of mounds at a place called Sinjirli in the Amanus Mountains. Here were found a number of statues bearing cuniform inscriptions, Hittite inscriptions and two long Aramean inscriptions of the VIII or IX century B.C.

M. Helévy, the well-known French Orientalist, was sent by the Paris Institute to the Museum of Berlin, where these statues are placed, to report upon the inscriptions. M. Helévy finds that the two kings were rulers of Yadi and that their reigns were a century apart. The first statue is that of Panémon, founder of his dynasty--a 40 line inscription relates the events of his reign, the protection of the Jews, _etc._ The second is a king who was a vassal of Tiglath-Pilezer, king of Assyria. The inscription describes wars of his father, his own relations with Assyria, his defeats and victories. It gives an account of his own reign and terminates by invoking the protection of the gods.

M. Helévy says that these inscriptions are not in the Aramean language, as was first supposed, but a Phornician dialect very analogous to Hebrew, which was spoken by the people whom the Assyrians named Hatte, that is to say, Hittites or Hetheim. He adds that the current opinion as to their not being of Semitic race is quite erroneous and that the hieroglyphics discovered in various parts of Asia Minor are of Anatolian and not of Assyrian origin, the few texts of this kind found at Hamath and Page 144 Aleppo being due to Anatolian conquerors, whose domination, however, was very temporary in character.--_Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society_, 1892, Oct., p. 887.

NAMES OF CITIES AT MEDINET HABU.--Prof. Sayce writes: The list of places conquered by Rameses III in Palestine and Syria, which I copied on the pylon of Medinet Habu, turns out to be even more interesting than I had supposed, as a whole row of them belongs to the territory of Judah. Thus we have the "land of Salem," which, like the Salam of Rameses II, is shown by the Tell-el-Amarna tablets to be Jerusalem, _arez hadast_, or "New Lands," the Hadashah of Joshua (XV. 37), Shimshana or Samson, "the city of the Sun" (Josh. XV. 10), Carmel of Judah, Migdol (Josh. XV. 37), Apaka or Aphekah (Josh. XV. 53), "the Springs of Khibur" or Hebron, Shabuduna, located near Gath, by Thothmes III, and Beth-Anath, the Beth-Anoth of Joshua (XV. 59). The discovery of these names in the records of an Egyptian king, who reigned about 1200 B.C., raises a question of some interest for students of the Old Testament.--_Academy_, April 2.

JAFFA.--The Committee of the Palestine Exploration Fund have received through Mr. Bliss a squeeze of a long inscription stated to have been recently discovered at a place not far from Jaffa, which appears to contain about 250 letters in the Phornician character.--_Academy_, March 5.

JERUSALEM.--A BYZANTINE BRACELET.--Mr. Maxwell Somerville of Philadelphia has added to his collection a large bronze bracelet found near Jerusalem and bearing a Greek inscription. It was communicated to the _Acad. des Inscr._ by M. le Blant. At one end of the inscription is a lion _courant_, at the other a serpent _rampant_. On the left end is soldered a small round plaque on which is engraved a subject identical with that found on some of the amulets published by M. Schlumberger in the _Rev. des Études Grecques_ (see under _Byzantine Amulets_ in Greek news of this number). A mounted warrior--whom Mr. Schlumberger identifies as Solomon--pierces with his lance a prostrate female figure who apparently represents the devil, a "Fra Diavalo."--_Chron. des Arts_, 1892, No. 23.

RETHPANA-DEAD SEA.--Prof. Sayce has discovered at Medinet Habû the Egyptian name of the Dead Sea. Between the names of Salem and Yerdano and the Jordan comes "the lake of Rethpana." As the Dead Sea is the only "lake" in that part of the world, the identification of the name is certain. Rethpana could correspond with a Canaanite Reshpôn, a derivative from Reshpu, the sun-god, who revealed himself in flames of fire.--_Academy_, May 14. Page 145

TEL-EL-HESY--LACHISH.--CUNEIFORM TABLET.--We quote from a letter written to the Times by Mr. James Glaisher, chairman of the executive committee of the Palestine Exploration Fund:--

The excavations commenced two years ago by Dr. Flinders Petrie at a mound in Palestine named Tell-el-Hesy have been continued during the last six months by Mr. F.J. Bliss, of Beirût. The Tell has been identified by Major Conder and Dr. Flinders Petrie with the ancient city of Lachish, an identification which is now amply confirmed.

Mr. Bliss has found among the _débris_ a cuneiform tablet, together with certain Babylonian cylinders and imitations or forgeries of those manufactured in Egypt. A translation of the tablet has been made by Prof. Sayce; it is as follows:--

'To the Governor. [I] O, my father, prostrate myself at thy feet. Verily thou knowest that Baya (?) and Zimrida have received thy orders (?) and Dan-Hadad says to Zimrida, "O, my father, the city of Yarami sends to me, it has given me 3 _masar_ and 3 ... and 3 falchions." Let the country of the King know that I stay, and it has acted against me, but till my death I remain. As for thy commands (?) which I have received, I cease hostilities, and have despatched Bel(?)-banilu, and Rabi-ilu-yi has sent his brother to this country to [strengthen me (?)].'

The letter was written about the year 1400 B.C. It is in the same handwriting as those in the Tell-el-Amarna collection, which were sent to Egypt from the south of Palestine about the same time.

Now, here is a very remarkable coincidence. In the Tell-el-Amarna collection we learn that one Zimrida was governor of Lachish, where he was murdered by some of his own people, and the very first cuneiform tablet discovered at Tell-el-Hesy is a letter written to this Zimrida.

The city Yarami may be the Jarmuth of the Old Testament.

'Even more interesting,' writes Prof. Sayce, 'are the Babylonian cylinders and their imitations. They testify to the long and deep influence and authority of Babylon in Western Asia, and throw light on the prehistoric art of Phornicia and Cyprus. The cylinders of native Babylonian manufacture belong to the period B.C. 2000-1500; the rest are copies made in the West. One of these is of Egyptian porcelain, and must have been manufactured in Egypt, in spite of its close imitation of a Babylonian original. Others are identical with the cylinders found in the prehistoric tombs of Cyprus and Syria, and so fix the date of the latter. On one of them are two centaurs arranged heraldically, the human faces being shaped like those Page 146 of birds. European archæologists will be interested in learning that among the minor objects are two amber beads.--_Academy_, July 9.

The _Quarterly Statement_ of the Palestine Exploration Fund for April contains a detailed report of Mr. F.J. Bliss's excavations at Tell-el-Hesy, the site of Lachish, during last winter, illustrated with several plans and woodcuts. The most interesting objects found were a number of bronze weapons, and fragments of pottery with markings, both from the lowest or Amorite town. Mr. W.M. Flinders Petrie adds a note on the weights discovered, almost all of which belong to the Phornician and Aeginetan systems.

ARMENIA.

SEALS OF KING LEO II AND LEO V.--At a meeting of the _Acad. des Inscr._ M. Schlumberger communicated three magnificent bulls or gold seals of Leo II, king of Lesser Armenia. These gold bulls, appended to letters from this king to Pope Innocent III, written early in the XIII century, are preserved in the Vatican archives, and are probably the only examples of the king in existence. Leo II, in royal costume, is on one side; the lion of Armenia on the other. Another royal Armenian seal is preserved in the Bibliothèque Nationale. It is that of Leo V, the last king of the dynasty, who died, an exile, in Paris.--_Chron. des Arts_, 1892, No, 6.

CAUCASUS.

THE IRON AGE.--M. Ernest Ghautre has given a statement of his ideas on the iron age in the Caucasus and elsewhere in a pamphlet entitled, _Origine et Ancienneté du premier age du fer au Caucase_, Lyon, 1892. He says: "Necropoli of unequalled richness have been discovered in the Great Caucasus and on several points of Transcaucasia. These necropoli, in which inhumation appears to have been almost exclusively used, should be divided into two large groups. The most ancient corresponds to the Hallstatt period; the later to the Scythian period in the East and the Gallic period in the West. The Hallstatt type or that of the first iron age is met with especially in the most ancient tombs of the necropolis of Kobau, in Ossethia; those of the second iron age are to be found essentially in the necropolis of Kambylte in Digouria and certain localities of Armenia. The first iron age was introduced into the region of the Caucasus between the XX and XV century B.C. by a dolichocephalic population of Mongolo-Semitic or Semito-Kushite and not of Iranian origin. It was transformed toward the VII century by the invasion of a brachycephalic Scythian people of Ural-Altaic origin." Page 147

ANI.--The Russians are excavating at Ani, in Turkish Armenia, the ancient capital. They have found some ecclesiastical and other antiquities.--_Athenæum_, Sept. 3.

ASIA MINOR.

PRIVATE GREEK COINAGE BY REFUGEES.--The Persian kings accorded to certain illustrious Greeks who had sought refuge in Asia Minor on Persian territory the right to coin money. To this they joined the privileges inherent in the title of hereditary despot which was granted to them. The principal coinages are those of Themistokles at Magnesia, of Georgion at Gambrium, and of Euripthenes at Pergamon. M. Babelon read a memoir on the subject before the _Soc. des Antiquaires_, giving genealogical details regarding those families of exiles.--_Chron. des Arts_, 1892, No. 16.

COMPARISON OF HITTITE AND MYCENÆAN SCULPTURES.--M. Heuzey has read before the _Acad. des Inscr._ (Oct. 14) a comparative study on an engraved gold ring found at Mycenæ and a relief in the Louvre which belongs to the series of Hittite reliefs and was found at Kharpout, in the Upper Euphrates region on the frontier of Armenia and Cappadocia. The relief is surmounted by two lines of ideographic inscription. The subject on both is a stag-hunt; the stag is hunted in a chariot, as was always done before the horse was used for riding, that is before the VIII century B.C. The relief is a rustic variant of the Assyrian style; certain details prove it to belong to the IX century. The stag is of the variety called _hamour_ by the Arabs, characterized by horns palm-shaped at their extremities. On the ring the attitudes are far more lively and bold, but the identity of the subject is none the less striking.--_Revue Critique_, 1892, No. 43.

HITTITE INSCRIPTION.--M. Menant has communicated to the _Acad. des Inscr._ (Aug. 7, 1891,) a new Hittite inscription, noted during the preceding summer, in the pass of Bulgar-Maden, in Asia Minor. It is in perfect preservation and of unusual length, and is therefore of great value for the study of the Hittite language. M. Menant sees at the beginning the genealogy and titles of a prince, some other of whose inscriptions have already been found; then an invocation to the patron divinities of his kingdom; then the main body of the inscription, which will doubtless be the most difficult to decipher; and at the close a re-enumeration of the divinities already invoked.--_Revue Critique_, 1891, No. 35-6.