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4CS1MILE OF LETTER RECEIVED FROM SiR FREDERIC G. KENYON. K.C.B. LL.D.. etC.
(Director and Principal Librarian of the British Museum.).
BRITISH MUSEUM,
LoNDOU : W.C.J.
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Author's Preface
Altliougli this Handbook has received a hearty
welcome from the British Museum Authorities,
it has not been compiled for Egj-ptologists or
Assyriologists, but for Bib]e-loving visitors to the
Museum ; therefore, I am not troubled because the
Directors have not removed the " III " after " Tiglath
Pileser"; or the " lY " after " Shalmaneser "; or
at their spelling " Khu-en-Aten " thus. iVIy
sA'mpathies are ^vith Sam Weller, who, so long as
his friends knew he was Sam AVeller, didn't cure
whether the)' spelt his name " n'Jih a double U 01
a Wee." Therefore, I leave those Avho do care, to
consult such eminent authorities as Sir E. A. Wallis
Budge, Dr. H. R. Hall, and others.
Many thanks are tendered to the B. M.
Authorities, and the Oxford University Press, for
permission to reproduce their illustrations.
Especial gratitude is felt to Sir F. G. Kenyon
for his help and encouragement — better felt than
expressed : also, to his very able staff from whom I
have received much valuable afc^sistance.
FBANK G. JANNAWAY
London, SAW Q
Memoranda
HOW TO GET TO
THE BRITISH MUSEUM
FROM THE
PRINCIPAL LONEON RAILWAY TERMINI.
The British Museum can be reached
follows : —
CHARING CROSS (S. E. & C.)
EUSTON (L. & N, W.)
KING'S CROSS (G. N.)
LIVERPOOL STREET (G.E.)
MARYLEBONE (G.C.)
PADDINGTON (G. W.)
ST. PANCRAS (Mid.).
VICTORIA (L. B.&S. C, & S. E.
WATERLOO (L. & S. W.)
from the various London Termini as
Tube to Tottenham Court Road
Station.
Tube to Tottenham Court Road
Station.
Tube to Holborn Station.
Tube to British Museum Station.
Tube to British Museum Station,
changing at Oxford Circus.
Ditto.
Tube to Holborn Station.
& C) Bus to Tottenham Court Road-
Tube to Tottenham Court Road
Station, changing at Charing
Cross.
!
Phcenician
Phoenician
Hebrew
Hieroglyphic.
Hieratic.
(Moabite
stone).
(Siloam
Inscription).
(square
cliaracter).
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leaves . . .
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17
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X
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n
Hebrew and Phcenecian Alphabets
as derived from
The Egyptian Hieratic Characters
(See also page 38).
THE
BRITISH MUSEUM
WITH
BIBLE IN HAND
being
An interesting and intelligent survey
of all the exhibits on view at the British
Museum which confirm the absolute
accuracy of the Ploly Scriptures.
bv
FRANK G. JANNAWAY
Author of
'Palestine and the Powers", and other works.
ILLUSTRATED I 'I S'S ^^ ^
See what manner of stones and what buildings are here "
LONDON-
SAMPSON LOW, MARSTON & CO., LTD.
Contents
PAGE
How TO GET TO THE BRITISH MUSEUM ... 5
Publishers' Note n
Roman Gallery 14
Assyrian Transept 16
Ephesus Room 18
Elgin Room 19
Nineveh Gallery 21
Nimroud Central Saloon 22
Assyrian Saloon 29
Nimroud Gallery 31
Southern Egyptian Gallery 35
Egyptian Central Saloon 44
Northern Egyptian Gallery 47
First Egyptian Room 51
Second Egyptian Room 53
Third Egyptian Room 57
Fourth Egyptian Room 58
Fifth Egyptian Room 60
Sixth Egyptian Room 61
Fourth Room (North Gallery) 62
Third Room (North Gallery) 68
Second Room (North Gallery) 79
First Room (North Gallery) 79
North-West Landing 81
Room of Greek and Roman Life 82
Room of Gold Ornaments and Gems ... 84
Manuscript Room 84
Room of Inscriptions 86
Comprehensive Index ... 89
Illustrations
British Museum and District
Hebrew and Phcenician Alphabets
Black Obelisk
Colossal Human-headed and Winged Bull
Assyrian God Nebo
Sennacherib before Lachish
Siege of Lachish
Assyrian Sacred Tree
Assyrian Altar and Sculptured Slab
Cartouche of Ptolemy
Cartouche of Cleopatra
RossETTA Stone
Egyptian Nile-god, Hapi
Egyptian Bull-god, Apis
Tablet of Abydos
Egyptian Brickmakers
Siloam Inscription
Cyrus Cylinder
Embalmers AT work on A Mummy ...
Egyptians painting a Mummy
Mummy of Rameses H
Mummy case of Rameses H
Cartouche of Rameses H
Egyptian brick of Rameses H.
Clay Cylinder of Sennacherib
Sculptured seal of Khammu-rabi ...
Brick of Nebuchadnezzar H
Cuneiform Text
Behistun Inscriptions
Tel-el-Amarna Tablet
Moabite Stone ...
Denarius, a Penny
AssARioN, A Farthing
Emperor Titus ...
Emperor Tiberius
Wycliffe's Bible
Publishers' Note
No apology is needed for this work, seeing rt
supplies an absolute need. Every " Guide " of its
kind is now out of date. A guide that leads one into
a gallery and describes what is not there is a nuisance,
fills the visitor with disgust, and causes him to leave
the Museum with a bad, but undeserved^ opinion of
what is the finest Bible collection in the whole world.
Not only is this " Guide " based upon forty years'
intimate acquaintance with the Museum, but aiso
upon more than thirty years' practical experience
in conducting thousands of Bible students through
its galleries, and periodically lecturing therein to
Some of the largest gatherings ever seen in the
Museum's Lecture Saloon. The writer of these
pages moreover, has had the advantage of
personally visiting (in many cases three or four
times) most of the districts from whence the
monuments came — Syria, and the Holy Land ;
Egypt, and Arabia ; Ammon, and Moab, and Edom ;
Athens, and Rome ; and having, too, inspected
similar museums in Paris, TJerlin, Vienna, Petrograd,
Constantinople, Rome (The Vatican), Naples, Cairo,
and New York^ he can assure the visitor to the British
Museum^ that no where else is to be seen such a
magnificent collection of Biblically related monuments,
or a museum so well arranged and so well maintained.
Many thanks are tendered to the British Museum
Authorities, and the Oxford University Press for
permission to reproduce their illustrations.
The British Museum
with Bible in hand
FRANK G. J ANN AWAY
BRITISH MUSEUM DRY! Not a bit of it;
and so you will say before we finish our visit — that
is, if you are really interested in God's dealings with
the Earth and Man in the past, present and future,
and are not merely one of the thoughtless and godless
multitude, whose chief aim in life seems to be to eat,
drink and be merry, because to-morrow they die.
It is nearly forty years ago, since the writer of
the following pages, was first asked to take a party
of Bible Students — real Bible lovers to the British
Museum, and point out and describe some of the
objects of interest and profit therein to be seen — and
what a feast of fat things it proved to be. The party
numbered about fifty, but 'ere we reached the last
gallery, it numbered nearer a hundred, for " outsiders "
kept attaching themselves to our party, including a
" Rev." and his three boys. I can even now, with my
mind's eye, see him standing in front of one of the
Assyrian exhibits, which I was about to explain,
calling to his boys — " Here, my boys, keep up close ;
here's someone that can tell us all about them ".
Evidently the gentleman mistook me for one of the
Museum's professional guides, which of course I was
14 THE BRITISH MUSEUM
not, and am not. But, although that be so, I can
promise you that even if I cannot tell you " all about
them", I will at any rate, if you "keep up close",
make you feel Hke Oliver Twist, " want more ", and
appreciate, as you never did before, both the British
Museum and Bible history.
So please keep up close ; and do not trouble about
asking questions until we have got through ; and even
then, first commit your proposed questions to writing,
because when that is done usually either the answer
suggests itself, or the question was not worth
putting. As umbrellas and sticks are however not
allowed in the galleries for obvious reasons — people
get too interested sometimes, and in their excitement,
unwittingly take to poking the objects, and in their
familiarity with the Royalties of B.C. times do much
damage ; so please hand your sticks, &c., to the officer
at the counter, and take, in exchange, a metal and
numbered ticket, so that you may have your property
returned to you when you leave the Museum.
This way please — the first door on the left of the
main entrance — here we are in
The Roman Gallery
Let us walk to the other end, so that we may be
the better able to look face to face some of the
Caesars of Rome in their chronological order.*
* Unfortunately we shall not be able to view all the galleries
and exhibits in chronological order; to do so would not only mean
visiting this gallery last, but would necessitate our visiting and
revisiting some of the galleries several times. Consideration for
time, progress and comfort has necessitated the plan adopted,
leaving it to the visitors to note chronology where necessary.
— F .G. J.
WITH BIBLE IN HAND. 15
Julius C^SAR (b.C. ? - 44).! Although he is first
and represented by " a very characteristic portrait ", he
has very Httle interest for a Bible student, so we will
not dwell upon him, but pass on to some of his
successors whom we can stay to look at and
contemplate ; for instance :
Augustus C^sar (b.c. 29 — a.d. 14). It was in
the reign of this king that there went out a decree
that "all the world should be taxed" (Luke ii. i).
Tiberius C^sar (a.d. 14—37). In the fifteenth
year of his reig^, Pontius Pilate was Governor of
Judea, and Herod was Tetrarch of Gahlee (Luke iii. i).
And it was the image and superscription of Tiberius
that was on the penny which the messengers of the
Pharisees produced to Christ (Matt. xxii. 19), Also
it was Tiberius that the Jews referred to when they
cried out " we have no king but Caesar " (John xix. 15).
Claudius Caesar (a.d. 41 — 54). In his reign
there came to pass the great dearth predicted by the
New Testament prophet Agabus (Acts xi. 28). This
king also commanded all the Jews to depart from
Rome, among whom were Aquila and Priscilla^ whom
Paul met with on his visit to Corinth (Acts xviii. 2).
Nero (a.d. 54 — 68). This is the Caesar who it
is alleged "fiddled while Rome was burning". Be
that so or not, he was a brute of unrefined cruelty,
and the most hated and infamous of the Cassars.
Possibly his true character did not reveal itself all
at once, or Paul would scarcely have appealed to him
as is recorded in Acts xxv. 11. Paul himself refers
to this Appeal in 2 Tim. iv. 16, 17. Doubtless, many
tin almost all cases we have given the generally accepted dates,
without in any way committing ourselves to them — F. G. J.
16 THE BRITISH MUSEUM
of the believers named by Paul in Romans xyi, were
servants of Nero's household.
Vespasian (a.D. 69—79). He it was who carried
out the work concerning the overrunning of the Holy
Land, and scattering of the Jews, predicted by Christ,
and recorded in Matt. xxii. /, and Luke xxi. 24, which
work of invasion and desolation had been foretold by
God through Moses in Deut. xxviii. 49.
Titus (A.D. 79 — 81). This man, the son of
Vespasian, completed the work begun by his father.
He was general in his father's army in A.D. 70.
Hadrian (a.D. 117 — 138). It was during the reign
of tliis monarch that the exasperated Jews (under
Barcochba), broke out in open rebellion, and
endeavoured to throw off the Roman yoke, resulting
in a slaughter and devastation only second to the
terrible work of Vespasian and Titus.
Let us now retrace our steps, and passing through
the doorway by the bust of Julius Caesar turn
immediately to the right into
The Assyrian Transept
Here we have some valuable specimens of the
wonderful finds m Babylonia by Sir Henry Layard
and Sir Henry Rawlinson in the year 1849 and
onwards.
Two HUMAN-HEADED BULLS, with wings of birds.
These flanked an Assyrian palace in the district of
Nineveh. Between the legs will be seen much
writing — inscription in the cuneiform lettering, full
of information confirming what the Bible tells us, in
2 Kings xviii, as to Hezekiah, King of Judah,
WITH BIBLE IN HAND. 17
submitting to the Assyrian yoke, and paying the
tribute demanded by the successful invaders.
On the far end wall of this Transept is a
Large sculptured Slab, on which is represented,
Sargon, King of Assyria, conferring with his
commander-in-chief. This Sargon is the king spoken
of in Isaiah xx. i, and who completed the work of
his predecessor, Shalmaneser IV., in invading
Samaria and taking the Ten Tribes of Israel into
captivity, as recorded in 2 Kings xvii. i, etc. Upon
a critical reading of the divine account in 2 Kings
xviii. 9, you will notice it sa^^s " Shalmaneser " came
up, but in the details following, it reads, " they " — the
Assyrians, and "the King of Assyria", not
Shalmaneser the King. Sargon, which by interpretation
means " son of no one ", was doubtless a successful
interloper, not of royal blood. His existence was long
doubted by the so-called " Higher Critics ", whose
right to be so regarded has been impeached by so
eminent an authority as Professor Sayce. As usual,
the inspired history, as found in Isaiah xx. i, has
come out " on top ".
On the other side of the Transept are
Two COLOSSAL Lions, with men's heads, and
birds' wings. These lions flanked the entrance to
another palace near Nineveh, excavated by Sir Henry
Layard, in 1847. They remind us of the dream
experienced by Daniel, in which he beheld " a lion
with eagles' wings " (Daniel vii.).
In another comer of the Transept we see
An Assyrian Altar, standing in front of a large
stele or slab, just as discovered at the entrance to
an Assyrian Temple ; a fair sample no doubt of what
18 THE BRITISH MUSEUM
was transplanted to Samaria when, as we read in
2 Kings xvii. 29, they " made gods of their own, and
put them in the houses of the high places which the
Samaritans had made, every nation in their cities
wherein they dwelt".
Passing between the Assyrian Lions through the
doorway, and crossing the room and ante-room in
which is much Archaic Greek sculpture of no particular
interest to Bible students, we enter
The Ephesus Room
Here we feel very much " at home," not because of
any affinity with the idolatrous Ephesians, or
admiration for their goddess Diana, but because of
the exciting adventures of the Apostle Paul in that
wonderful city Ephesus as narrated in Acts xix. The
exhibits also remind us that the church, or ecclesia,
was situated there to which Paul wrote the Epistle,
known as The Ephesians. Later too, the Lord
addressed one of his " letters " to the church at
Ephesus (Rev. ii. i).
In this Room we behold some of the remains of
the great
Temple of Diana. Look at those immense
pillars, and the huge bases on which they once stood.
Look too, at the beautiful column, with its Ionic
capital. They all go to show what a magnificent
Temple the Ephesians had. Little wonder at the
consternation and indignation of the shrine-makers,
when they heard what Paul had to say about such
worship.
Did time and opportunity permit, we could well
WITH BIBLE IN HAND. 19
afford to sit down on one of the seats in this Room,
and quietly read, and meditate upon. Acts xix., the
Epistle to the Ephesians, and Revelation ii. i — 7 ; but^
we must pass on to what is termed
The Elgin Room
The writer is not alone in thinking it is about time
the British Museum authorities changed the name of
this storehouse of these world-renowned specimens of
architecture. It would be just as seemly to speak of
St. Paul's Cathedral as " Wren's Church", for the only
connection of Lord Elgin with these precious
fragments was, that, with the permission of the
Ottoman Porte, and in the course of his diplomatic
mission to Greece in 1802, he collected these marbles,
and subsequently sold them to the British Government
for ;6^3 5,000, by whose order they were placed here,
in the British Museum, in 1816.
The Parthenon. Thii was the Temple at Athens
dedicated to Athene or, Minerva, the goddess of,
among other things, war. It was erected about B.C. 442,
and in it was placed a statue of the goddess about
14 feet high. The Turks, two or tliree centuries ago,
used it as a powder magazine, and the roof was blown
off by the Venetians in 1687. The magnificence of
the Temple can be better appreciated by a careful
examination of the marvellous frieze, of which about
four-fifths are to be seen on the walls of this room.
The sculptured work represents a procession in the
Festival, which v.'as celebrated every two years in
Athens, the principal feature of which was the offering
of a new robe to the goddess.
20 THE BRITISH MUSEUM
In looking at these marbles, we are looking at the
very objects which the Apostle Paul gazed at, when
" his spirit was stirred in him " as he beheld " the city
wholly given to idolatry " (Acts xvii. 16).
Let us now turn our attention for a few minutes,
to the very fine model of the hill on which the
Parthenon stood :
The Acropolis, on our right, at the end of the
room. It is well worthy of our attention being so
realistic, as the writer can testify from his personal
visit to Athens ; in fact, it was the study of this plan
that aroused his desire to visit the Grecian capital,
and walk round about the Acropwlis, and see the city
in which were dedicated altars to " the unknown god "'.
In one comer of the plan is to be seen Mars Hill, or
the Aj-eopagus, on which Paul preached to the
Athenians, who were ever ready to hear about " some
new thing" (Acts xvii. 21). With wonderful tact
Paul referred to their religious proclivities, and
proclaimed the self-evident truth that, the Godhead
is not " like unto gold, or silver, or stone, graven by
art and man's device " (Acts xvii. 29).
Now let us 'cross to the opposite comer of the room,
and look at the excellent MODEL OF THE PARTHENON
from whence these exhibits came. In the centre of
the model you will see marked on the floor where
the statue of Diana stood. A miniature statue of the
goddess is to be seen on the floor of the room, close
by the door to the new room on the right, and which
gives one a good idea of what this ivory and gilt
statue, 14 feet high, looked hke.
Leaving the Elgin Room at the northern end we
pass through the Phigaleian Room, turn sharp to the
WITH BIBLE IN HAND. 21
ri^ht, cross gallery of the Mausoleum Room to the
Northern Egyptian Vestibule turn into the Northern
Egyptian Gallery, and enter the first doorway on our
right into
The Nineveh Gallery
The bas-reliefs (or sculptured wall slabs) in this
gallery are from ancient palaces of Nineveh — palaces
of Sennacherib and other Assyrian monarchs. You
will notice that almost all of them have been burnt,
or fractured, by fire and heat ; no doubt when Nineveh
was destroyed, according to the prophecies of Nahum,
whose book opens with, " The burden of Nineveh ",
and among the many predictions we find the
following — " The gates of the rivers shall be opened,
and the palace shall be dissolved" — marg. molten
(Nahum ii. 6) ; " The fire shall de\'our thy bars *"
(Nahum iii. 13) ; "There shall the fire devour thee"
(Nahum iii. 15;.
On the west side of the GaUery, in the bas-reliefs,
Sennacherib is represented seated on his throne,
evidently watching building operations and in
particular the erection of one of the large bulls. Note
the inclined planes of earth, the labourers raising the
latter, the ropes, pulleys, levers, wheels or rollers, and
especially the taskmasters, with their whips with which
they urge on the slaves at the work. No doubt in
these sculptures we have here represented the " stones
of roUing" (Ezra v. 8, marg.) used in the building
of the House of God.
On the opposite side of the gallfery, one of the
bas-reliefs represents the assault of a city called in
22 THE BRITISH MUSEUM
the inscription {Urus)* — alammu, which it is concluded
stands for Jerusalem. In the slab, No. 27, Jewish
features are clearly discernible. In slabs 27 and 28
note the heads of the slain, illustrating 2 Kings x. 6 — 8,
where we read that Jehu commanded that the heads
of Ahab's sons were to be laid in heaps at the entering
in of the gate. The damage done by the fire of the
Babylonians and Medes, B.C. 609 is very manifest in
these slabs, they are blacker than any of the others.
By the side of the doorway at the south end of the
gallery, is a cast of a bas-rehef of Esar-haddon, the
son of Sennacherib ; the original from which the cast
was taken being one of several which the writer
surveyed in 1902 on the occasion of his visit to
north Syria.
Passing through the aforesaid doorway wc find
ourselves in the
Nimroud Central Saloon
Of course the first exhibit that attracts our attention
in this saloon is the monument known as
The Black Obelisk. This is recognised as one
of the most important witnesses to the truth of Bible
histor>\ On each of its four sides are five rows of
sculpture depicting scenes in the various expeditions
engaged in by Shalmaneser II. during his thirty-five
years reign (B.C. 860 — 825). On the second row from
the top, on the side facing us, we see " Jehu the son
of Omri " paying tribute. In the cuneiform inscription
thereon we have "the tribute of Yana" (Jehu)
expressly detailed. Hazael, another Bible character
* Tha bttginning of the came is lost.
(Page 23
r-i^':-^3,„_^
The Black Obelisk.
{Sec page 22).
Page 24)
Colossal Human-Headed and Winged Bull
(See pa^c 16).
WITH BIBLE IN HAND. 25
is also mentioned. In connection with the pictorial, and
written evidence, contained on this monument it will
be found both interesting and profitable, at one's
leisure, to turn up and read the following Scripture :
I Kings xvi. 23; xix. 15 — 17; 2 Kings viii. 7 — 15;
ix. •:— 6; x. 31, 32; xiii. 3, 22, 23.
To the right of this obelisk will be noticed what is
not unlike a headstone of a grave, with a rounded top.
It is described in the Museum Catalogue as
Tfe Stele of Shalmaneser II. (b.c. 860 — 825).
On it^ in cuneiform writing, are recorded Shalmaneser's
conquests. The names of both Ahab, Kmg of Israel,
and Benhadad, King of Syria, are included, details by
no means unimportant in view of the facts recorded
in I Kings xx. 34 which reads " And Benhadad said
unto him (Ahab), The cities which my father took
from thy father, I will restore ; and thou shalt make
streets for thee in Damascus, as my father made in
Samaria. Then said Ahab, I will send thee away with
this covenant. So he made a covenant with him and
sent him away." Also in i Kings xxii. i we have the
matter referred to thus, "And they continued three
years without war between Syria and Israel ". So
that, in both the divine history and the monumental
record on the slab, we have the war and covenant
between Syria and Israel testified to.
But what is still more interesting, and equally
important in connection with this slab, is the fact that
it affords overwhelming evidence that Assyrian
scholars are able, without the slightest doubt, to
correctly decipher these cuneiform writings or
inscriptions. When this slab was excavated at Kurkh,
on the bank of the Tigris, and brought to the Museum,
26 THE BRITISH MUSEUM
Sir Henry Rawlinson read from the inscription that
Shalmaneser II. had set it up by the side of a similar
monument which had been erected by his father and
predecessor, Asliur-nasir-pal. Orders were at once
issued to the excavators to proceed with the work and
make thorough search for the missing stele, with the
result that the monument erected by Ashur-nasir-pal
was discovered and conveyed to London, and is now
on view as you see in the gallery, adjoining the stele
of Shalmaneser. How the cuneiform inscriptions came
to be deciphered I will explain upstairs later on.
By now turning right-about-face we are confronted
with two statues of"
The god Nebo. Note how upright he is. In view
of the fact the cuneiform inscriptions depict him as
"the lofty inteUigence and the lord of tablets", and
that in the monuments he is always erect as you now
see, it is very interesting to read in the divine
prophecies, that the day was to come when " Nebo
stoopeth" (Isaiah xlvi. i). How expressive! In the
inscriptions on these statues, Nebo is associated with
Bel, another Assyrian god, and so, too, we find they
are associated in the Bible, " Bel boweth down, Nebo
stoopeth" (Isaiah xlvi. i). The names of these two
gods occur in many Babylonian and Assyrian
names, for instance Nebuchadnezzar, Nebuzaradan,
Nabopolasser, Belshazzar, Belteshazzar, Bel-Merodach,
etc.
The first Assyrian king mentioned in the Bible
(2 Kings XV. 28*, 29 ; xvi. 7 — 18) is Tiglath Pileser III.
(B.C. 745 — 727), and he is very much in evidence on
* Pul. — "He overthrew the old dynasty and usurped the throne
under the name of Tiglath-Pileser." — Prof. Sayce.
(Page 27
The Assvkian god Nebo.
(See page 26).
Page 28)
Sennacherib before Lachish.
{Sec page JO J.
WITH BIBLE IN HAND. 29
the Assyrian monuments in this saloon, especially in
these
Wall Sculptures on the east and west walls.
Note the armour, the shields, particularly battering
ram and lorry. Here we see what is considered by
many to be the origin of the Tanks, which played
such an important part in the latter part of the great
European War — read also i Sam. xvii. 41 ; Deut.
XX. 20 ; Jer. vi. 6 ; Ezek. iv. 2 ; xxi. 22, 27.
Also note in the sculptures, the prisoners impaled
on stakes before the enemy's wall, and then read
Josh. X. 26 ; Deut. xxi. 22 ; Josh. viii. 29.
Wending our way between the colossal lion
and bull we enter the Niraroud Gallery, and turning
immediately to the right, we pass through the
glass-panelled door and find ourselves in the
Assyrian Saloon
Turning immediately to the left, let us make a tour
of the gallery and note
The Wall Sculptures. These all depict scenes
in the hves of Tiglath Pileser III. (B.C. 7AS—7V) \
Sennacherib (B.C. 705 — 681); and Ashur-bani-pal
(B.C. 668 — 626). These bas-rehefs came either from
one or the other of the palaces in the vicinity
of Nineveh. The lion-hunting illustrated on the
slabs is not only interesting as hunting scenes, but
additionally so because of what we read in the Bible
about Daniel's experience in one of the royal dens at
Babylon, for the details of which read Daniel vi. 7, 16,
17, IQ, 22, 24 and 27). How vividly too, the^e
sculptures illustrate Ezekiel xxiii, 12 — 15 which tells
30 THE BRITISH MUSEUM
us how God's chosen people " Doted upon the
Assyrians her neighbours^ captains and rulers clothed
most gorgeously, horsemen riding upon horses, all of
them desirable young men pourtrayed upwa
the wall, the images of the Chaldeans ", etc.
Upon reaching the fourth side of the gallery, we
see oh the north wall, facing us, the celebrated
bas-relief depicting
The Assault and Capture of Lachish, by
Sennacherib, B.C. 701.
We observe the King Sennacherib seated on his
throne, close by which are seen vines and hg-trees.
Officers are reporting to the king details of the Siege
of Lachish, and behind him are seen representatives
of the defeated peoples, standing and kneeling. A
little in front of the king is an inscription^ in cuneiform
letters, which reads " Sennacherib, king of hosts,
king of Assyria, sat upon his throne of state, and the
spoil of the city of Lachish passed before him ".
What a remarkable confirmation and illustration of
the Bible accounts which read " After this did
Sennacherib, king of Assyria, send his servants to
Jerusalem (but he himself laid siege against Lachish
and all his power with him) unto Hezekiah, king of
Judah, and unto all Judah, saying, etc." (2 Chron. xxxii.
9) ; " And Hezekiah, king of Judah sent to the king
of Assyria to Lachish, saying, I have offended,
return from me : that which thou puttest on me will I
bear. And the king of Assyria appointed unto
Hezekiah, king of Judah, three hundred talents of
silver and thirty talents of gold " (2 Kings xviii. 14).
Let us turn to the right and go downstairs, where,
among the many interesting exhibitSj we would
WITH BIBLE IN HAND. 31
especially direct attention to the little bas-reliet on
the left hand wall depicting
A Banquet Scene (No. 121). In this we behold
the Assyrian monarch reclining on a couch, under a
vine, and from one of the adjoining trees we see
hanging the head of the King of Elam, who it appears,
had been slain in battle. This sculpture illustrates
many texts in the Bible ; to wit, the reclining, which
custom, the Jews took on during their captivity in
Babylon ; see Luke xxii. 27 (R.v. marg.) ; John xiii.
23 ; xxi. 20 (r.v.) ; Esther i. 6 ; Mark vii. 4 (marg.)
As to dwelling under one's own vine, read i Kings iv.
25, and compare with the many prophecies of a good
time coming for the whole world, Micah iv. 4 ;
Zech. iii. 10. And as to the custom of hanging up
the heads of slain prisoners, we read in i Chron. x. 10
that the Phihstines hung Saul's head in the temple
of Dagon.
To the left of the slab we have just been examining
we note a large wall
Inscription of Sargon. This exhibits the largest
cuneiform writing in the British Museum, possibly
the largest extant in the world. On it are found
mentioned both Judah and Hamath, and as
illustrating what we are told in the Inscription, we
may profitably read 2 Kings xvii. and Isaiah x.
Ascending the staircase we pass out of the
Assyrian Saloon into
The Nimroud Gallery
On our right, we have on the walls a scries of
sculptures arranged just as they stood originally in the
32 THE BRITISH MUSEUM
Assyrian Palace of Ashur-nasir-pal (B.C. 885 — 860).
In slab numbered No. 2, we behold
The ^jacred Tree of the Assyrians. It is
thought by many that this is the god "Asherah",
translated " grove " in i Kings xvi. 33, and many
other places in Holy Writ. These groves were
formerly understood to be places after the character
of the Druidic worshipping grounds, but such texts
as 2 Kings xxiii. 6, 7 justify us in concluding that
" asherah " was an idol in the form of a tree. The text
just named, says Josiah " brought out the grove
(asherah) from the house of the Lord, without
Jerusalem, unto the Brook Kidron, and burned it at
the Brook Kidron, and cast the powder thereof upon
the graves of the children of the people ". It is
noteworthy that in the R.V. the revisers have
inserted " Asherah " in lieu of the " grove " of the A.V.
The Hebrew word rendered " grove " in Genesis
xxi. 33 is a different word {eshd — a tamarisk) and is
only found there.
Compare also Deut. xvi. 21 ; Judges vi. 25 — 30.
On the opposite side of the Gallery, in No. 35, we
have a sculpture of
The goddess Istar. In i Kings xi. ^^ it is termed
" Ashtoreth, the goddess of the Zidonians " ; and is
claimed as the wife of Tammuz (see Ezek. viii. 14).
In No. 33 on the same wall we see
The god NisroCH. It was in the Temple of this
eagle-headed deity that Sennacherib was murdered
by his two sons as recorded in 2 Kings xix. 37, which
reads, " And it came to pass, as he (Sennacherib) was
worshipping in the house of Nisroch his god, that
Adrammelech and Sharezer his sons smote him with
{Page 33
The Siege of Lachish.
{See page 30).
The Assyrian Sacred Tree.
{See page 32).
Page 34)
Assyrian Altar
AND Sculptured Slab.
(See page 17).
WITH BIBLE IN HAND. 35
the sword ; and they escaped into the hnd of Armenia.
And Esarhaddon his son reigned in his stead". (This
is the Esarhaddon whose sculpture and inscription we
looked at in the Nineveh Gallery — see page 22).
The murder of Sennacherib in the house of Nisroch
is ^Iso recorded in Isaiah xxxvii. 38.
In exhibit No. 30 on the same wall we see
The god DaGON. This fish-headed deity was
worshipped by the Philistines, and even a cursory
glance at the sculpture enables us the better to
appreciate what we read in i Sam. v. 4, " And when
they arose early on the morrow morning, behold
Dagon was fallen upon his face to the ground before
the ark of the Lord ; and the head of Dagon and
both the palms of his hands were cut off upon the
threshold ; only the stump (fishy part — marg.) of
Dagon was left to him." That happened in the Temple
dedicated to the worship of Dagon at Ashdod. There
was also a Temple of Dagon at Gaza, and it was in
that Temple that Samson did so much damage, as the
result of the Philistines making sport of him — see
Judges xvi. 21 — 30.
Now let us leave the Nimroud Gallery, and by
turning to the left and creasing the Assyrian Transept
wc find ourselves in the
Southern Egyptian Gallery
On entering the Southern Egyptian Galler}-, facing
us in the centre is the world famous
ROSETTA Stone. Tliis is the key which enabled
Egyptologists to unlock the hitherto undeciphered
36 THE BRITISH MUSEUM
hieroglyphic inscriptions which abound on the
monuments we are about to examine. For centuries
and centuries they had been enigmas. Even so late
as the i8th century, the hieroglyphics had been looked
upon as mere pictures, although some learned men
had come to the conclusion that the signs within the
cartouches, or oval frames, on the monuments
contained the name of a monarch, or some other royal
personage. That was the first step in the decipherment
of Egyptian inscriptions, and when this Rosetta Stone
was discovered it v/as not long before Egyptologists
Were able to read the monuments as easily as you
and I can read the Bible.
It was in the year 1798, that a French officer in
the course of excavations oil the bank of tlie Nile,
at a place called Rosetta, came across this stone, and
it was seen, as you can see, that it contained three
sets of writing, which proved to be — on the top
Egyptian hieroglyphic, or writing of the priests ; in
the middle Demotic, or writing of the people ; and
on the lower part Greek. The value of the stone was
at once seen, and it was handed over to the National
Institute at Cairo. On the defeat of the French by
the British, the stone came into British possession, and
was deposited in the Museum in 1802. Copies were
sent to all the learned Societies, and from the
translations of the Greek portion, which language was
Well understood, it was seen to be a Decree of the
Egyptian Priests drawn up in the year B.C. 195 in
honour of the Pharaoh, Ptolemy Epiphanes, for the
great things he had done for his kingdom. Among
the great tinngs he was credited with according to
this stone were the following :
WITH BIBLE IN Hx\ND. 37
Brought peace to Egypt
Removed heavy taxation.
Extinguished debts.
Liberated prisoners.
Increased the Army.
Strengthened the Naxy.
Exempted the priestsfrom taxation, and, above
all^ provided Uie latter with free hohdays.
No wonder the pnests smothered him with honours.
Here are a few of the titles and descriptions they
gave him, and which are also recorded on thia
memorial stone :
Superior to his adversaries.
Like the resplendent sun.
Bom of the gods.
Always living.
Beloved of Ptah.
The god Epiphanes.
The last lines on the Inscription read :
" That this Decree be engraved on a tablet of
hard-stone in hieroglyphics, enchorial (or demotic),
and Greek characters and place it in every Temple
of the first, second, and third class, near the image
of the everhving king".
From the foregoing it was evident that the Decree
contained in the Greek language, was but a repetition
of what was contained in the hierogl>T>hics of the
upper part of the inscription ; and so it proved to be.
" The method by which the greater part of the
Egyptian alphabet was recovered is this : It was
assumed correctly that the cartouche always contamed
a royal name. The only cartouche on the Rosetta
stone was assumed to contain the name of Ptolemy.
38 THE BRITISH MUSEUM
An obelisk brought from Phils about that time,
contained a hieroglyphic inscription and a translation
of it in Greek, which mentioned two names, Ptolemy
and Cleopatra, and one of the cartouches was filled with
hieroglyphic characters, which were identical with
those in the cartouche on the Rosetta stone. Thus
there was good reason to believe that the cartouche on
the Rosetta stone contained the name of Ptolemy,
written in hieroglyphic characters. Here is the
cartouche which was assumed to represent the name
PtolEMAIOS, or Ptolemy, the hieroglyphics being
numbered
^^ .AA vH"^
(:°'fl::^'^^p
and here is the cartouche which was assumed to
represent the name Cleopatra
A \\ r ) ^ .i\ "^ <z:=^ ri.K ^°ci >
i)^il'°'4
^^ Sol ^^ 8. <r=^ J^'ii.C
If the assumption be correct, we ought to fmd the
necessary letters, or signs, in their proper places. Do
we ? Let us see. Here are the signs which are said
to spell Cleopatra
\ 2 34 56 789
C L EOPATRA
Now when we look at the Ptolemy cartouche in the
(Page 39
lr*l^^^S.n!i'S^;^.£2SE.■!i;^>?l5(l«?5B!f>»
_jT5s;gr:ttl2£)siyKn(*«ws®*wtT=?f5.=r«iii=ffi*iwi
fe:M*3rytist;'i:;5Hrvj-i<'vi-<-rs-:£B£i-:a;s;iiii:?i>a:>
^..i.Ti^B;t^i2£f"KttBrroU'^uUsT^l^■<!,■5i^.s:Tv<^:s•.#.ii;!^(Sl^;VI
'>?T.=;i((i;*Ktvs3:i/>5^5'>-'E!,::::;<sMifiJi!ir5J^si#i'6»r«,iu<SfnB'.v
HIKKOGLYPHICS.
(See page 35).
Page 40)
The Egyptian Nile-god, Hapi.
WITH BIBLE IN HAND. 41
Rosetta stone, we find the sign for P is D which is
the 5th sign in the Cleopatra Phite cartouche, and
which should be so, seeing P is the 5th letter in
Cleopatra. In the Cleopatra cartouche the 2nd letter
L is represented by a lion J^ ; and, as in Ptolemy
the 4th letter is an L, we ought to find a lion, which
we do ; and so on.
Egyptologists have spent years in studying these
hieroglyphic inscriptions, and, without tlie slightest
doubt, they have correctly mastered the subject, with
results that enable us to rightly appreciate what we
are now going to examine.
Here on our right hand, near the wall^ in Bay 28,
we have a
Cast of a Decree of Canopus which hke the
Rosetta stone is inscribed in hieroglyphics, Greek, and
Demotic. It is a Decree of all the Priests of Egypt in
honour of the family of Ptolemy III., B.C. 238.
Near by where we are standing you will notice
three statues (No. 1478). The centre one affords a
good example of the Egyptian conception of a
Triune God. Observe the two faces growing out
of the sides of the figure's head.
In Bay 29 on our left we have,
Bas-Reliefs of Ptolemy II., Philadelphus. It
was in the reign of this king, and by his command
that the Hebrew Holy Scriptures were translated into
the Greek language. It was, and is known, as the
Septuagint Version, because the translation was
supposed to have been the work of seventy linguists.
In between Bays 21 and 23, on our left we have a
Statue of Pharaoh Hophra, seated (Uah-ab-ra,
who had filled the office of Commander-in-chief, etc.).
42 THE BRITISH MUSEUM
This was the Pharaoh who assisted Jehoiakim and
Zedekiah in their conflict with Babylon, and of whom
God said, "Behold I will give Pharaoh-hophra into
the hands of his enemies, and into the hands of them
that seek his life " (Jer. xliv. 30).*
On our right, in Bay 22, there is a
Statue of Hapi. This was the god of the Nile,
which god was one of the principal idols of Egypt.
You will remember that the first of the ten plagues
was directed against the river Nile, by turning its
waters into blood. No doubt this deliberate blow,
against the worship of the sacred river of the
Egyptians, was full of meaning on the part of the
God of Israel. The divine record reads, "All the
waters that were in the river were turned into blood.
And the fish that was in the river died ; and the river
stank, and the Egyptians could not drink of the water
of the river" (Exod. vii. 20, 21).
On our right, beween Bays 19 and 20, we have
two statues of
The Goddess Sekhet. The inscriptions hereon,
bear the name of Shashanq, the Shishak of I Kings
xiv. 25, who we are there told "came up against
Jerusalem " in the fifth year of king Rehoboam. And,
further, m 2 Chroa xii. 5, 7 and 9, we read of the
princes of Judah being gatliered together because of
Shishak, and that on account of their repentance God's
wrath would not be poured upon them by the hands
of Shisliak, although, he would be permitted to come
up against Jerusalem and take av/ay various treasures,
* Sir F. G. Konyon, Director of the British Museum, writes me
that in view of a doubt as to whether Uah-ab-ra the King, and
Uah-ab-ra the Commander, are identical, the ofiicial lantern slides
should have been marked as uncertain- — F. G. J,
WITH BIBLE IN HAND. 43
both from the Temple and the king's house. (On the
author's visit to Thebes in 1914, he saw a bas-reHef
in the ruins of the palace on which is a hst of the
cities taken by Shishak, including " Judah-melek,"
which is identified with Jerusalem, and many other
cities belonging to Judah). It was in the reign of
Shishak that Jeroboam fled to Egypt (i Kings xi. 40).
In Bay 18, on our right, we have a standing
Statue of Kha-em-Uast. He, it seems, was the
eldest son of Rameses II., and had the reputation,
according to the inscription, of being " The Great
Magician ". The inscription on this statue (on the
back) is of great interest. It is said that Kha-era-Uast
claimed to be able to cause the waters of the Nile
to dry up, so that he might be able to walk in dryshod
and recover his sister's bracelet, which had fallen from
her wrist while boating on the river. Of course the
** Higher Critics " would have us believe that * the
Red Sea miracle " (Exod. xiv.) was founded on some
such Egyptian legend, instead of the fairy tale of
this "magician "-son of Rameses being but a wish,
the father of a thought; just like the magicians who
tried to equal, if not out-do Moses in the matter of
the plagues.
We cross over to the other side of the gallery to
Bay 23, where we have on the wall No. 167, a very
interesting
Bas-Relief of Rameses II. This "Pharaoh of
the Oppression ", as there are good grounds to believe
he was, was not only a very great builder, but a very
dishonest and jealous one, from what we have seen
of some of his works. Look at this sculpture. Look
at the huge cartouche, half of which has been already
44 THE BRITISH MUSEUM
chiselled down and in the place of the Pharaoh's name,
which has been erased, the name of Rameses II. is
being inscribed. This it seems was a by no means
uncommon trick v/ith some of the monarchs of Egypt,
when jealous of some big work done by a predecessor.
Close by, on our right, is a large granite column where
what we might call the same kind of deception had
been perpetrated.
We now enter the
Egyptian Central Saloon
Look at that colossal
Head of Rameses II. It weighs over seven tons.
As we have said, he is generally credited with being
the Pharaoh of the Oppression of the Book of Exodus.
He reigned 67 years, and did not die until a century
old. His death is thus reported in the Bible, "And
it came to pass in process of time, that the king of
Egypt died : and the children of Israel sighed by
reason of the bondage, and they cried, and their cry
came up unto God, by reason of the bondage " (Exod.
ii. 23).
In the centre of the Saloon, look at that
Colossal Beetle. It is a symbol of the Egyptian
god Khepera. How true what Paul wrote of heathen
idolators, " Professmg themselves to be wise, they
became fools, and changed the glory of the
uncorruptible God into an image made like to
corruptible man, and to birds, and four-footed beasts,
and creeping things" (Rom. i. 22, 23).
We now pass on to the
{Page 45
Thi: Egyptian bill-god, Apis.
{See page 49).
Page 46)
ST?
O 1
«c
1-5
H3
ig
[fi^^^j
liJ(^^D^
^nii^B'
^
o t
WITH BIBLE IN HAND. 47
Northern Egyptian Gallery
Here on our right we have an excellent seated
Statue of Amenophis III. (or Amen-hetep, as
he is sometimes termed). This was the king of Egypt
who went a hunting in Mesopotamia, and got inveigled
in a love affair, from which resulted a marriage out
of the faith with slich momentous issues, as we shall
see when we look at the Tel-el-Amama tablets, later
on (see page 74 ).
Very interesting, too, is that huge
Arm of Thotmes III. (with the head thereof just
in the rear). These exhibits are interesting, inasmuch,
as Thotmes III. shares with Rameses II., the honour
of being esteemed one of tlie greatest kings. As
we look at that colossal arm^ we cannot help thinking
of Ezek. XXX. 21, 22, which reads, "Son of man, I
have broken the arm of Pharaoh, king of Egypt;
and, lo, it shall not be bound up to be healed, to put
a roller to bind it, to make it strong to hold the sword.
Therefore, thus saith the Lord God ; Behold I am
against Pharaoh king of Egypt, and I will break his
arms, the strong and that which was broken, and I will
cause the sword to fall out of his hands."
On the wall on our right in Bay 6 we have a very
valuable exhibit, part of the
Tablet of Abydos. WTien perfect this large
tablet contained in chronological order no less than
52 names of Egyptian kings. The list forms one of
the principal evidences ( !) for those very ancient dates
found in some out-of-date British Museum Guides,
and still seen on a few of the exhibits. In this
48 THE BRITISH MUSEUM
connection, however, it is profitable to heed what the
famous Egyptologist has said on this vexed subject
of chronology. He wrote, " In the age of the first
seventeen dynasties, there were in existence at one
time, two, at another three, and at another five, and
even six parallel and independent kingdoms, existing
simultaneously in different parts of the land. This
state of things continued until near the end of the
1 6th century B.C., when Egypt was united into a single
realm, the capital of which was Thebes " {Rawlinson s
Manual of Ancient History").
In the next Bay, No. 4, we have some very fine
Wall Paintings. These and similar wall-paintings
are of entrancing interest to Bible students by reason
of the confirmation they give to what the Holy
Scriptures say about Egyptian life. To quote Sir G.
Wilkinson : " In the tombs of the Pyramid-period are
represented the same fishing and fowling scenes ; the
rearing of cattle and wild animals of the desert ; the
Scribes using the same kind of reed for writing on
the papyrus ; the same boats ; the same mode of
preparation for the entertainment of guests ; the same
introduction of music and dancing ; the same trades,
as glass-blowers, cabinet makers, and others ; as well
as similar agricultural scenes, implements and
granaries" as in later times — but what is more
important, they confirm in every detail what we read
about Egypt and the Egyptians in the Pentateuch.
As we look at the wall paintings to be seen in these
galleries, it would be both interesting and profitable
to have well in mind what is recorded in Genesis
xxxvii, 25; xl. 2, 16, 22; xh. 8, 34, 45, 46;
xliii. 6, 24, 33, 34 ; xliv. 2 ; xlv. 21 ; 1. 9, 26.
(.Page 49
%AMM
1. Brinn;inj^ water from a pool.
2. Mixinjr the mud.
3. Carrying prepared mud.
4. ^loulding bricks.
5. Laying tlie bricks in rows.
6. Workman mending his mud-hoe.
1. Overseers or taskmasters. 2. Carrying bricks with a yoke and cordSi
T,. Returning with empty yoke.
4. Carrying and dcpof^iting mixed mud for the moul'ipr.
Egyptian Brickm.\kers.
(See page 48).
{Page 50
The Siloam Inscription.
{See page 80).
The Cyrus Cylinder.
(See page 76).
WITH BIBLE IN HAND. 51
Passing through the Northern Egyptian vestibule,
we wend our way upstairs, halting at the balcony half
way, to survey the cast of a colossal
Head of Rameses II. This cast of the head of
one of the four seated figures at the entrance to a
Temple at Abu Simbel, a long way up the Nile in
Nubia, enables us to realise better what the entire
statues look hke, each being over 60 feet high. The
Temple itself is 185 feet long, and 90 feet wide. The
pillars in its large hall are each 30 feet high. How
the proud Egyptians must have smiled when God
said through the prophet, " Son of Man, speak unto
Pharaoh, king of Egypt Whom art thou Hke in
thy greatness" (Ezek. xxxi. 2) and when the prophet
of Israel uttered his "Burden of Egypt" (Isaiah xix.
i); and when another prophet said of Egypt, "It
shall be the basest of kingdoms ; neither shall it exalt
itself any more above the nations" (Ezek. xxix. 14).
And yet how the burden has been fulfilled, as we
behold in walking through these galleries.
Let us continue our walk up the staircase, and
reaching the landing at the top, bear round to the left,
and walk through to the
First Egyptian Room
In this, and the adjoining rooms, we have some very
fine specimens of Egyptian mummies and mummy
cases, carrying our minds back to the times of the
Patriarchs whose inspired history we have in the book
of Genesis. When Jacob died, it is recorded In
Genesis 1. 2, 3, " And Joseph commanded his servants
the physicians to embalm his father; and tho
52 THE BRITISH MUSEUM
physicians embalmed Israel, And forty days were
fulfilled for him ; for so are fulfilled the days of those
which are embalmed ; and the Egyptians mourned
for him three-score and ten days ". Concerning
Joseph's death too, it is recorded, "So Joseph died,
being a hundred and ten years old ; and they
embalmed him, and he was put in a coffin in Egypt "
(Gen. 1. 26).
The process of embalming, or transforming the
corpses into mummies, appears to have been as follows.
The internal parts were taken out of the side and
placed in jars dedicated to genii. The brain was
extracted, and the body soaked in salt for forty days
(at Thebes it was seventy days). Linen bandages
were then wound round, interspersed with spices,
charms and ornaments. In some cases from 400 to 700
yards of linen bandages were used. The mummy was
then placed in a cedar or sycamore oofBn ; and in the
case of a royal or wealthy person the coffin was
deposited in a stone sarcophagus, such as we saw
downstairs in the Southern Egyptian Gallery. A much
simpler, and less expensive method of embalming was
adopted among the Jews, the body being wrapped in
linen cloths, spices and ointment distributed in the
folds thereof, after which the embalmed body was
speedily buried — see 2 Chron. xvi. 14 ; John xii. 3 — ^ ;
xix. 39, 40.
On entering this (First Egyptian) Room, the first
case on our right, is Case B. We see the remains,
and the coffin of the builder of the third large pyramid
at Gizeh.
King Menkau Ra. They were discovered by
Colonel Vyse in the year 1837, when he entered the
WITH BIBLE IN HAND. 53
King^s Chamber in the centre of the pyramid. The
vessel in which the coffin was brought to England was
wrecked, but the coffin itself was washed ashore near
Gibraltar. On the end of the coffin is the inscription :
" Osiris, king of the North and South^ Menkau Ra,
living for ever " ; and the inscription concludes
" O, Menkau Ra, living for ever ".
On the wall at the end of the room is a painting of
The Judgment Scene. This is an enlargement
from the papyrus of Ani, a Scribe of the gods, at
Abydos. On the right is Osiris the god of judgment,
seated on his throne, and behind him, his two sisters,
Isis and Nepthys. Before him kneels Ani, praying.
The dead Ani again appears, led before Osiris by
Horus. Next is Am-mit, the devourer of the wicked.
On the left are the balances in one scale of which is
weighed the heart, or conscience of the deceased, and
in the other the feather as the emblem of the law.
Anubis (with the jackal's head) is seen examining
the indicator^ while the Ibis-headed Thoth is making
a note of the result, and which note reads, " The heart
of Ani is weighed, and his soul stands in evidence
thereof. His case is straight upon the balance ".
Let us pass on in to the
Second Egyptian Room
In this room, we not only have a very fine collection
of mummies and mummy cases, but in a glass mounted
frcime on the right hand, there is a series of excellent
portraits of royal mummies in which the features are
most distinctly marked. Of particular interest to us,
as students of Bible history, are the following :
King Seti I., whose mummy is in the Imperial
54 THE BRITISH MUSEUM
Museum^ at Cairo, and, like all who have seen it, the
writer can testify as to the extraordinary nobility and
comeliness of expression. It is considered almost
beyond all doubt, that he was the Pharaoh whose
daughter rescued Moses from the waters of the river.
He was the father of Rameses II. The white alabaster
sarcophagus, in which his mummy was found, is the
most wonderful piece of work, covered with pictures
and hieroglyphics. No one ought to miss seeing it.
It is on view in Sir John Soane's Museum, Lincoln's
Inn Fields, London.
Next to Seti I. we behold
Rameses II., son of Seti I. and the Sesostris of the
Greeks. As already stated, he has been identified as
the Pharaoh who oppressed the children of Israel —
" he knew not Joseph " (Exod. i. 8). He it was who
had built by the Israelites, the treasure cities of Pithom
and Raamses (Exod. i. 1 1). His mummy, like his
father's, is on view at the Egyptian Museum in Cairo.
In the same frame we also see
Menephthah, the Pharaoh of the Exodus. In his
Temple v/hich Professor Flinders Petrie discovered
among the ruins at Thebes in 1896, and which the
author visited in 191 4, there is a large sculptured
granite stele, or slab, on which is engraven a hymn of
victory commemorating the defeat of Libyan invaders
who had overran the Delta. At the end of the hymn,
other victories of Menephthah are touched upon, and it
states that " The Israehtes are minished so that they
have no seed ". This is very important as well as
interesting, having in mind that this Menephthah is the
Pharaoh of the Exodus, and son of Rameses II., the
Pharaoh who knew not Joseph.
{Page 55
EMBALMERS at work on a MlMMV
fSee page 52).
Egyptians painting a Mimmv
(Sec page 52. J
Page 56)
r^^.
' ^ft
^1
vf^^
fl
MlMMV AND MUMMV CaSE OF
Rameses II.
(See page 54) .
CARTorcHE OF I O I l^l iN— ^ I Rameses II,
Gsa
WITH BIBLE IN HAND. 57
Let us now go into the
Third Egyptian Room
On our right, as we enter, we see a case labelled Y,
in which is the
Mummy of a Musician, buried with his cymbals,
just as in ancient times warriors were buried with their
weapons of war; for instance, we read in Ezekiel
xxxii. 27, of those " which are gone down to hell
(sheol — the grave) witli their weapons of war ", and
" they (their undertakers) have laid their swords under
their heads."
Note too, the nngs on the fingers of the mummy.
Also the comb in its hair ; and the remains of a wreath.
In Case DD, further along the room, on our left,
we note a mummy case at the feet end of which are
paintings, doubtless, of the enemies of the deceased
ruler whose remains were in this coffin. The picture
reminds us of various texts of Scripture such as, " He
shall subdue the people under us, and the nations
under our feet " (Psalm xlvii. 3) ; also Lamentations
iii. 34, which refers to the work of one, " To crush
under his feet all the prisoners of the earth " ; also
in I Corinthians xv. 25, where we read of Christ,
" He must reign till he hath put all enemies under
his feet ".
In Case DD, too, we have what is considered the
finest specimen in existence of mummy swathing.
In Wall Cases 112 — 113 is r very fine specimen
of an unrolled mummy.
We now proceed to the
58 THE BRITISH MUSEUM
Fourth Egyptian Room
In the wall case? of this room are
Mummied Animals, including bulls (or calves),
gazelles, cats, dogs, apes, crocodiles, etc., all of which
were regarded by the Egyptians as sacred, and kept
in Temples where they were carefully tended. At
death they were embalmed as we now see them on
these shelves. No wonder at God saying, "Against
all the gods of Egypt will I execute judgment "
(Exod. xii. 12).
The bull was worshipped throughout Egypt. There
can be no doubt that from here, sprung the why and
wherefore of the terrible sin of Israel in demanding
Aaron to make a golden calf, as recorded in Exodus
xxxii. I. This hankering after the Egyptian bull-deity,
again manifested itself, when the Ten Tribes broke
away from the Two Tribes, on the death of Solomon
as detailed in i Kings xii. 25 — 33.
The author will ever remember his visit to the
Serapeum, near Memphis, which Serapeum was
discovered by Pasha Mariette, in 1851. This famous
Egyptologist had learned from Strabo that there was
a Temple of bull tombs in the vicinity, and that
leading to the entrance of the Temple was an avenue
of sphinxes. After two months of searching and
digging, M. Mariette was rewarded for his labours,
by coming upon the head of one of the sphinxes,
and finally had laid bare an avenue of 141, extending
over a distance of 600 feet. At the end of the avenue
was a propylon (or gate), with a lion on either side,
some 70 feet below the ground. Here he found a
WITH BIBLE IN HAND. 59
subterranean passage with huge vaults^ about sixty in
all, 24 of which contained solid granite sarcophagi,
which had formerly contained mummified bulls. The
sacred bull was known as Apis, and was, as we have
said, embalmed at death, and buried with great pomp
at this necropolis. These huge coffins, each consists of
a single block of polished granite or limestone,
measuring about 1 3 feet long, 7 feet wide, and 1 1 feet
high, weighing about 65 tons. Many of them bear
inscriptions. We noticed one such coffin was in the
subterranean passage, as though when the burying
place was deserted, the coffin was in course of removal
to its vault. Another we noticed had the huge cover
sideways. In connection with the mummihed gols
which we see on the shelves in this room, the Bible
student will do well to read, and study at leisure,
Exodus xii. 12; xx. 4; Deut. iv. 15-20 ; Psalm cvi.
19, 20; Ezek. viii. 10 ; Rom. 1. 23.
In Table Case C. we have before us various
writing materials, pens, tablets, etc. — of the kind used
by the " officers " (literally Scribes) whom Pharaoh set
over the Hebrews to record " the tale or number of the
bricks " (Exod. v. 6-8).
In Wall Case 169 is an interesting model of an
Egyptian Granary with seven bins, affording some
idea of the kind of storehouses used by Joseph in
making provision for the seven years of famine, as
recorded in Genesis xli.
In the Frames F. and L. are to be seen not only
interesting but important
Frescoes or Wall Paintings from the tombs at
Thebes and elsewhere, illustrating Egyptian life as
so naturally referred to in Genesis (ste page 48 hereof).
60 THE BRITISH MUSEUM
Table Case O. is a very fine collection of Signet
and other nngs, which carry our minds back to the
days of Joseph, and such incidents as those referred
to in Genesis xli, 41, 42, which says, "And Pharaoh
said unto Joseph, See, I have set thee over all the land
of Egypt. And Pharaoh took off his ring from his
hand, and put it upon Joseph's hand, and arrayed him
in vestures of fine linen, and put a gold chain about
his neck ".
As we enter this room, we note the
Fifth Egyptian Room
Table Case B. in which are exhibited quite a lot
of sandals made of palm leaves, fibre, papyrus, etc.,
which enable us to appreciate what we read about
footgear in such texts as Gen. xix. 2 ; Exod. iii. 5 ;
Josh. V. 15 ; John i. 27 ; xii. 3 ; xiii. 4, 5.
But by far the most interesting exhibits in this room
are the series of the exceeding well-preserved bricks.
In Wall Cases 246-248. rhese bricks vividly
bring before our mind's eye the following from the
book of Exodus (v. 5-12), "And Pharaoh commanded
the same day the taskmasters of the people, and their
officers, saying, Ye shall no more gi\ e tTie people straw
to make brick, as heretofore ; let them go and gather
straw for themselves. And the tale of bricks, which
they did make heretofore^ ye shall lay upon them ; ye
shall not diminish ought thereof ; for they be idle ;
therefore they cry, saying, Let us go and sacrifice to
God. Let there more work be laid upon the men, that
they may labour therein ; and let them not regard vain
words. And the taskmasters of the people went out,
WITH BIBLE IN HAND. 61
and their officers^ and they spake to the people, saying,
thus saith Pharaoh, I will not give you straw. Go ye,
get you straw where ye can find it ; yet not aught of
your work shall be diminished. So the people were
scattered abroad throughout all the land of Egypt to
gather stubble instead of straw". Note these bricks in
the case, each about 1 8 inches long by about 9 inches
wide. Many of them bear the stamp of Rameses II.,
who, as we have before said, is generally accepted as
being the Pharaoh of the Oppression. Not impossible
that some of these bricks, in which we can see bits of
straw, were made by the oppressed Israehtes.
Let us pass on to the
Sixth Egyptian Room
There are two sets of exhibits well worthy of our
attention in this room — the
Hand Mirrors in Table Cases J. and K. You
will notice these are not made of glass like modern
mirrors, but of highly polished metal, so that it is not
correct to term them looking-glasses as they are in
Exodus xxxviii. 8 of the A.V. The Revised Version,
correctly renders the Hebrew original, by the word
" mirrors ". Being metal they could very well be
melted down and made into " the laver of brass which
stood in the court " of the Tabernacle in the Wilder-
ness. In James i. 23, the A.V. speaks about " a man
beholding his natural face in a glass ", but the R.V.
rightly renders it "mirror". Again the same fact is
seen in the rendering of 2 Cor. iii. 18.
In Wall Cases, 269-271, we see Toilet
Apparatus including such vamties as eye paint,
62 THE BRITISH MUSEUM
cosmetics, etc., Jezebel, we read, painted her eyes when
she expected King Jehu would pay her a visit at
Jezreel (2 Kings ix. 30, marg.). Also the same practice
is referred to in Ezek. xxiii. 40, which compare with
Jer. iv. 30 (marg.).
In Table Cases E., F. and G. are to be seen some
beautiful specimens of Egyptian Papyri, which is no
longer cultivated (see Isaiah xix. 7).
Now we will cross over the room and leaving by the
door on our right we enter the
Fourth Room (North Gallery)
On our right in those wall cases, are hundreds of
Assyrian and Babylonian books, in the form of baked
clay tablets, from the Royal and other Libraries at
Nmeveh
In the wall cases on the left hand are more of
such tablets from Nineveh, as well as sundry earthen-
ware, upon some of which you will see inscriptions iji
Hebrew.
Now let us turn our attention to the centre cases.
In Table Case H. are several many-sided
cylinders, numbered one to six. These are of great
value and of especial interest to Bible students,
inasmuch as they not only record some of the exploits
of Sennacherib, but refer to the invasion of Palestine,
the siege of Jerusalem, and the subjection and tribute
of King Hezekiah.
Upon Cylinder No. 6 (22,500), which is also
known as the Taylor Cylinder, Sennacherib describes
his victory, in which he says, " I drew nigh to Ekron
WITH BIBLE IN HAND. 63
and I slew the governors and princes who had
transgressed, and I hung upon poles round about their
city their dead bodies ... I brought their King
Padi forth from Jerusalem, and I established him upon
the throne of dominion over them^ and I laid tribute
upon him. I then besieged Hezekiah of Judah who
had not submitted to any yoke and I captured forty-
six of his strong cities and fortresses, innumerable
small cities which were round about them, with the
battering rams and the assaults of engines, and the
attack of foot soldiers, and by mines and breaches.
I brought out therefrom two hundred thousand, and
a hundred and fifty people, both small and great, male
and female, and horses, and mules and asses, and
camels and oxen, and innumerable sheep I counted as
spoil. (Hezekiah) himself like a caged bird, I shut up
within Jerusalem, his royal city. I threw up mounds
against him, and I took vengeance upon any man who
came forth from his city ... I reduced his land. I
added to their former yearly tribute, and increased the
gift which they paid unto me. The fear of the majesty
of my sovereignty overwhelmed Hezekiah, and the
Urbi and his trusty warriors, whom he had brought
into his royal city of Jerusalem to protect it, deserted.
And he despatched after me his messenger to my
royal city Nineveh to pay tribute and to make sub-
mission with thirty talents of gold, eight hundred
talents of silver, precious stones, eye paint ....
ivory couches and thrones, hides and tusks, precious
woods, and divers objects, a heavy treasure together
with his daughters and the women of his palace, and
male and female musicians ".
This is very interesting in view of what we read in
64 THE BRITISH MUSEUM
2 Kings xviii. 19, which reads, "And Rabshakeh said
unto them, Speak ye now to Hezekiah, Thus saith
the great King, the King of Assyria^ What confidence
is this wherein thou trustest " ? and, in 2 Chron. xxxii. i,
"After these things, and the estabhshment thereof,
Sennacherib, King of Assyria came and entered
into Judah, and encamped against the fenced cities
and thought to win them for himself". But instead
of being cowed as this cyhnder record would have us
beliere, Hezekiah, after taking "counsel with his
princes and his mighty men " (verse 3) " Strengthened
himself " and " spake comfortably to his people ",
" Saying be strong and courageous, be not afraid nor
dismayed for the King of Assyria, nor for all the
multitude that is with him ; for there be more with us
than with him. With him is an arm of flesh ; but with
us is the Lord our God to help us, and to fight our
battles. And the people rested themselves upon the
words of Hezekiah, King of Judah " (2 Chron. xxxii.
5-8). The confidence of Hezekiah was not misplaced
for the divine record in Isaiah xxxvii. 33, informs us
that God said, " He shall not come into this city, nor
shoot an arrow there, nor come before it with shields,
nor cast a bank against it . . . for I will defend
this city to save it for mine own sake, and for my
servant David's sake. Then the angel of the Lord
went forth, and smote in the camp of the Assyrians a
hundred and four score and five thousand ; and when
they arose early in the morning, behold they were all
dead corpses". This latter disaster to the Assyrian
host, the swaggering Sennacherib did not think worth
mentioning on his cylinders !
In Table Case D., there is another eight-sided
(Page 65
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Page 66)
• -,.-.„ '*t*»!' " '
- iiTi ititrifc iMiiirii --^ .«.-r-vJi
Clay Cylinder of Sennacherib
Recording his Campaigns.
(see page 62).
WITH BIBLE IN HAND. 67
Cylinder. No. 13 (22,508) recording certain building
operations of Sennacherib ; and yet another, No. 1 2
(22,505) recording sundry expeditions of Sargon
(B.C. 721-705), the successor of Shalmaneser IV. All
three of these Assyrians are well known to Bible
students by reason of their Bible history.
In Table Case A. we have those well known
Babylonian Tablets setting forth the Babylonian
accounts of the Creation ; the Tower of Babel ;
and the Flood. And, here let me reproduce
the remarks of the late Miss A. Habershon on these
tablets ; she says, " According to the translations that
have been made, there are many passages in them
which remind us of the Bible records, but they are
mixed up with the Pagan mythology, the legends of
their gods. The similarities have led some of the
German professors and so-called ' Higher Critics ' to
imagine that the inspired account is derived from the
poluted Pagan source. ' Doth a fountain send forth
at the same place sweet-water and bitter? . . .
So can no fountain both yield salt water and fresh '
(James iii. Ii, 12). As well might we affirm that the
ocean receives her supply of seaweed from the shore
by gathering with her waves the dried dead piles of
weed that lie upon the beach. The shrivelled weed
originally came from the ocean. It was once living
and fresh, but exposure to the air and sun has made
it dry and putrid, and it only has a slight resemblance
to what it once was. So with the ancient records of
the past they too are dead and dry, and con-
taminated with many traces of heathen religion".*
* On the subject of Bible Criticism a little work entitled, "My
New Bible," will be sent free on receipt of addressed label and
four stamps, to the Author, 99 Stockwell Park Road, S.W. ji
68 THE BRITISH MUSEUM
We now pass on into the
Third Room (North Gallery)
Here we shall have to spend more time, by reason
of the large number ot exhibits connected with
Biblical times, matters, and persons.
In Wall Cases No. 13, on our right hand, we
have a cast of a stele or sculptured slab, of Khammu-
Rabi, who has been unmistakably identified by
Professor Sayce and others, with Amraphel, King of
Shinar^ referred to in Genesis xiv. i. The Professor
says, " Khammu-Rabi, like others of his dynasty,
claimed divine honours, and was addressed by his
subjects as 'god', the Hebrew el and Ammu-rapi-
tlu, would be ' Khammu-rapi — the god '. Now
Ammu-rafi-ilu is letter for letter the Amraphel of
Genesis ". The slab, of which this exhibit is a cast was
discovered in the year 1901 by the French Excavator,
M. de Morgan, among the ruins at Susa (" Shushan the
Palace " as it is termed in Daniel viii. 2). Beyond all
doubt, this monument dates back hundreds of years
before Moses, and " deprives the ' critical theory '
which makes the Mosaic Law posterior to the Prophets
of one of its main supports. The theory was based
on two denials — (i) that writing was used for literary
purposes in the time of Moses and (2) that a legal code
was possible before the period, of the Jewish Kings.
The discovery of the Tel-el-Amarna tablets disproved
the first assumption, the discovery of the Code of
Khammu-rabi has disproved the second ". (Sayce).
WITH BIBLE IN HAND. 69
This slab was set up in the Temple of Esagila, in
Babylon^ so that it might be consulted by all who had
need to consult the Babylonian laws. It was after-
wards carried away by an Elamite King to Susa,
where it was discovered as already stated. The lower
part has been obhterated, doubtless to make room for
later laws^ which laws were never added.
A little to our right in
Wall Case, Section i6 is a Boundary Stone of
Merodach Baladan (about B.C. 1 150). Upon many of
the Boundary Stones in these galleries there is a curse
added very similar to the curse in the Mosaic Law,
which reads " Cursed be he that removeth his
neighbour's landmark" (Deut. xxvii. 17).
In the Wall Case on the opposite side of the room
are scores of
Babylonian Bricks bearing the names of
Shalmaneser, Sargon, Sennacherib, Esar-haddon,
Nebuchadnezzar and other Assyrian and Babylonian
Kings, which names are household words with Bible
students.
In Wall Case Section 37, is an exhibit which
makes plain how the cuneifonn inscriptions were
finally and successfully deciphered. In brief the story
is this : After many guesses as to the solution, a
German scholar, named Grotefend, hke many other
scholars^ noticed that numberless inscriptions on
important monuments began with nearly a line of the
same signs or words, with the exception of one word ;
and they rightly assmned such inscriptions were royal
decrees, or proclamations, beginning with the same
70 THE BRITISH MUSEUM
sentence, but with the name of a different King, foi
instance — "I am the great King Darius", or "I am
the great King Cyrus " as the case might be. A later
authority, Sir Henry RawHnson wrote, " Professor
Grotefend has certainly the credit of being the first
who opened the gallery into this rich treasury house
of antiquity. In deciphering the names of Cyrus,
Darius, Xerxes, and Hystaspes, he obtained the true
determination of nearly a third of the entire alphabet
and this at once supplied a sure and ample basis for
Biblical research." It was in the year 1837 the whole
secret was revealed, by certain inscriptions on a lofty
rock at Behistun, on the highway from Babylon to
Persia. There are nine inscriptions in all, five Persian,
three Assyrian, and one Babylonian. Sir Henry
Rawlinson, at very great risk, scaled the precipitous
rocks and took squeezes of all the inscriptions. He
found that no less than 67 paragraphs began with the
same four cuneiform words and which are now knowa
to read, " says Darius the King". To make this matter
of decipherment quite plain, I will extract from the
British Museum Official Guide the following groups
of signs from two inscriptions at Mount Elwend, near
Hamadan, in 1835. It was noticed that the inscription
corresponded throughout, with the exception of two
groups of signs ; each contamed the names of the
Kings who set up the inscriptions and possibly those
of their fathers. But in these two inscriptions the
groups of signs which occupied the second place in
one of them, and which from its position seemed to
represent the name of the father of the man who set
it up, occurred in the first place in the other. This will
be clear from the following transcriptions of these
{Page 71
Sculptured Slab of Khammu-kabi
The Amraphel of Genesis xiv.
{Seepage 68).
Page 72)
1
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WITH BIBLE IN HAND. 73
groups of signs : —
Inscription I
"tt" iff H A"!'^ <n <<
£) a TV V u sn. i.e. Darius
Visktaspky j^ Hystaspes
Inscription II
«TT 77 T<- TTt H 7< rfr
fCh sh y a r sh a ie. Xerxes
n TTr HI r<- M <n X{
Jj a. v y V VL in. i.e. Darius
It Will be seen that group No. 4 which occupies
the second place in No. 2 inscription, is identical with
group No. I which occupies the first place in No. i
inscription. Thus Rawlinson inferred that the King
for whom No. i inscription was set up, and that
groups Nos. 2, and i and 3 gave the names of the
Persian Kings in consecutive order. But what
Kings could fhese have been? The most famous
Kings of the Akhaemenian line were Hystaspes,
the founder of the dynasty, Darius his son, and
Xerxes his grandson. On applying these names
to groups Nos. 2, I and 3, he found that they answered
74 THE BRITISH MUSEUM
in all respects satisfactorily, and were in fact the true
identifications*.
A portion of the actual squeeze made by Sir Henry
Rawlinson from the rock at Behistun is exhibited in
the lower shelf of WALL CASE, 37.
In Table Case C. (36-96) we have a series of
interesting letters of Khammu-rabi (Amraphel) and
other Assyrian Kings, containing agreements, disputes,
accounts, etc.
In Table Case E, (number 105) is a lease of land
in Jerusalem.
In Table Case F. we see those exceedingly
important letters known as the
Tel-EL-Amarna TalBETS, discovered in 1887.
They are mostly addressed to Amenophis III., and his
son Amenophis IV. What an impeachment they afford
to those " literary critics" of the Pentateuch who had
denied the existence of writing in the days of Moses.
It appears that Amenophis III. in search of sport which
was not to be had in Egypt, had gone further afield,
and while engaged in such in Assyria had come across
a Princess Ti, which ended as one might expect, in
courtship and marriage. No doubt there would be the
usual sophisticated and mutual " understandings " in
such mixed marriages, Amenophis with his many
Egyptian gods promising not to interfere with Ti's
one-god religion — but things had assumed a less
sentimental^ and more practical shape, when in the
course of a year a young Amenophis appeared upon
the scene. " His mother " instructed him both in
her cuneiform language and in her one-supreme-
god religion. The result was that when his father
* See British Museum Guide, page 104.
WITH BIBLE IN HAND. 75
died, and he came to the throne of Egypt, he found
himself at cross purposes with the many gods of Amen
at Thebes, quarrelled with the priests there, removed
his Court and Temple to Tel-el-Amarna, changed his
name from Amenophis to Khu-en-Aten, thus shewing
that his mother had not laboured in vain to wean him
(if there were any weaning needed) from the adoration
of the Egyptian god Amen to the Assyrian god
Aten. Not only so, but he preferred the Assyrian
language to the Egyptian, as the medium of
correspondence, for all his letters found at Tel-el-
Amama are in cuneiform inscription and not
hieroglyphic.
In this same CASE, F. we might particularly notice
Exhibit No. I. One of the Tel-el-Amama Tablets
concerning a love affair of Amenophis III. ; Exhibit
No. 28, a Tablet mentioning Zimrida (concerning
whom there is a cuneiform Tablet in the Royal
Museum at Constantinople), and a cast of which you
see in this Case, at top ; Exhibit No. 29, a letter from
Governor of Tyre ; Exhibit No. 53, a letter from the
the Governor of Askelon ; and Exhibit No. 58, a letter
from Palestine addressed to the Kings of Canaan.
As we look at the contents of this case with its
letters, the identical letters (some written in the days of
the patriarchs), we do well to remember that within
the lifetime of many now living, no scholar who
valued his reputation would have dared to have
opposed the Higher Critic's contention as to the late
use of writing. Even so late as 1869 an eminent
German "scholar" wrote a book : "The Unhistorir- ]
Character of Genesis Fourteen ", in which we fin ! such
sentences as — " Criticism has for ever disproved its
76 THE BRITISH MUSEUM
claim to be historical ", " The whole story is a fiction
based upon the Assyrian conquest in Palestine in later
days *', " The names of the Princes commemorated in
it are etymological inventions", and even as recently
as 1888 certain Higher Critics asserted that Menes
the founder of Egypt was an imaginary Pharaoh,
whereas now the poor old fellow's mummy the writer
gazed upon at the Egyptian Museum in Gizeh.
In Table Case G. we have exhibited several
barrel shaped cylinders recording the building
operations of Nebuchadnezzar. We can quite under-
stand the boastful King exclaiming " Is not this great
Babylon that I have built for the house of the
Kingdom, by the might of my power, and for the
honour of my majesty?" (Dan. iv. 30).
Of particular interest is the baked clay
Cylinder, No. 67, on which we have the
conquest of Babylonia by Cyrus recorded, "without
battle and without fighting". This is more than
interesting in view of what we read about Cyrus and
the fall of Babylon in the Bible (see 2 Chron. xxxii.
22, 23 ; Ezra. i. I-3 ; Isaiah xlv. 1-4, 13 ; Jer. xxv. 12 ;
li. 32, 33, R.V. ; Dan. v. 30 ; vi. i 2).
In Table Case G. there are also many tablets
recording legal transactions of the reigns of
Nebuchadnezzar and Cyrus, reminding us of what we
read about in Jeremiah xxxii. 9, " I bought the field
of Hanameel, my uncle's son, that was in Anathoth,
and weighed him the money, even seventeen shekels
of silver. And I subscribed the evidence and sealed it
and took witnesses and weighed him the money in the
balances." Also, we are reminded of Jer. xxxii. 44,
where we read, " Men shall buy fields for money, and
(Page 77
< ^
1-1 CO
w ^^
j
H
Page 78)
Thk MoABiTE Stone.
{Seepage 79).
WITH BIBLE IN HAND. 79
subscribe evidences and take witnesses".
We will now pass into the
Second Room (North Gallery)
In passing through this room we might just look in
the
Centre Table Case, in which are to be seen some
good specimens of
Tear Bottles from Hebron, reminding us of the
Psalmist's sad cry of " Put thou my tears into thy
bottle " (Psalm Ivi. 8). There are also some excellent
Lamps from Palestine^ which make Bible students
think of Christ's parable of the Wise and Foolish
Virgins, with lamps which needed replenishing with
oil (Matt. XXV. I, 7, 8).
In Wall Cases, 24-27, we may notice some
interesting pottery from Mesopotamia (Gen. xxiv. 10;
Acts ii. 9).
We now enter the
First Room (North Gallery)
Of supreme interest in this room is what we see
on our right in
Wall Case 5 (No. 362), a cast of
The Moabite Stone. The original was found at
Dibon, in Moab, east of the River Jordan, in the
year 1868, and contains information which supplements
Bible history by recording the war which Mesha, king
of Moab, successfully waged against the successors of
Ahab, kmg of Israel. The Holy Scriptures state,
" Mesha, king of Moab, was a sheepmaster, and
rendered unto the king of Israel, a hundred thousand
80 THE BRITISH MUSEUM
lambs, and a hundred thousand rams with the wool"
(2 Kings iii, 4). The inscription on this Moabite stone
begins with, " I am Mesha, son of Chemosh-gad, king
of Moab. My father reigned over Moab thirty years,
and I reigned after my father " ; and it goes on to
say, " Omri, king of Israel, and he oppressed Moab
many days and his son (Ahab) succeeded him,
and he, too, said I will oppress Moab And
Omri occupied the land of Medeba, and he dwelt
therein, and (they oppressed Moab he and) his son
forty years ".
The date of the Moabite stone is about B.C. 900.
On the left hand of the Moabite stone in
Wall Case, Section 3 (No. 364) is the famous
cast of the
SiLOAM Inscription. The original slab was found
by some lads, in 1880, when playing in the reputed
Pool of Siloam. The discovery was quite accidental,
the outcome of one of the lads slipping and falling into
the Pool. He noticed the writing while clambering
out of the Pool. The lad happened to be a pupil of
Dr. Schick, the well-known architect of Jerusalem,
who subsequently made a squeeze of the inscription,
which was of pure Biblical Hebrew of the time of
Isaiah, and reads thus, " (Behold) the Excavation !
Now this is the history of the excavation. While the
excavators were still lifting up the pick, each towards
his neighbour, and while there were yet three cubits
to (excavate, there was heard) the voice of one man
calling to his neighbour, for there was an excess ( ?)
in the rock on the right hand (and on the left ?). And
after that on the day of excavating the excavators had
struck pick against pick^ one against another, the
WITH BIBLE IN HAND. 81
waters flowed from the Spring to the Pool for a
distance of 1,200 cubits. And part of a cubit was the
height of the rock over the head of the excavators"
(Prof. Sayce's translation).
It is agreed by all recognised authorities that the
Inscription has reference to what is recorded in
2 Chronicles xxxii. 30, " This same Hezekiah also
stopped the upper water course of Gihon, and brought
it straight down to the west side of the City of David ".
Similarly the work is treated of in 2 Kings xx. 20,
where we read, " And the rest of the acts of Hezekiah,
and all his might, and how he made a pool, and a
conduit, and brought water into the City, are they
not written in the book of the Chronicles of the kings
of Judah ? "
The generally accepted date of tne Inscription is
B.C. 700.
Let us proceed to the
Northwest Landing
In the wall cases here we have what are known
as the
HiTTITE Remains, sculptures brought from
Jerabes, which it has been shown, beyond question,
is the site of ancient Carchemish, the old Hittile
capital, the discovery of which, together with mucli
else, has put to flight, if not to shame, those
"distinguished scholars " who, even so recently as the
middle of last century, denied the Bible records of the
Hittites, and positively asserted that, " No Hittite
Kings can have compared in power with the Kings
of Judah " in the day stated in 2 Kings vii. 6, which
82 THE BRITISH MUSEUM
reads, "For the Lord had made the host of the
Syrians to hear a noise of chariots, and a noise of
horses, even the noise of a great host : and they said
one to another, Lo, the King of Israel hath hired
against us the Kings of the Hittites, and the Kings
of the Egyptians, to come upon us ". Commenting on
that Scriptural record, these " distinguished scholars "
said, its " unhistorical tone is too manifest to allow of
our easy belief m it ". The " Higher Critics "
" professing themselves to be wise " have over-reached
themselves, and proved themselves to be " fools ", as
is clearly shown by Professor Sayce in his work
entitled '"Ike Hittites".
Just look round this Landing, and note the Hittite
Remains in the Wall Cases, especially exhibits
Nos. 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 8 and lo.
We will now enter the Room on our left, and
walking through the first four Rooms (which are
known as the Vase Rooms) we reach the fifth, the
Room of Greek and Roman Life
On our right hand we see four Standard Cases with
eight frames. In
Frame VIII. we find in the lower portion a
selection of
Coins illustrating the Bible of which the
following are the more interesting :
(l) A SHEKEL, (2) K HALF SHEKEL, (4) A STATER
or " Piece of money " which Christ told his disciples
would be found in " the fish that first cometh up ", and
wherewith they were to pay the tribute (Matt. xvii.
24—2/). (5) A DENARIUS, or "penny" which Christ
WITH BIBLE IN HAND. 83
referred to in his parable of the two debtors, one of
whom owed his creditor " a hundred p>ence " (or
denarii). This, too, was the coin the Lord asked to
be shewn, when he was questioned by the Pharisees,
as to their duty about paying the Roman Tribute —
" They brought unto him a penny " (Matt. xxii. 9 — a
denarius). Now turn to
Table Case K. In No. 22 E>dnbit we see a
SCOURGE with its lash loaded with bronze beads, and
which scourge was frequently used for the punishment
of slaves. As we look at this instrument of torture
which was used by tlie Romans we think of Matt,
xxvii. 26, where we read that Pilate " scourged Jesus" ;
also of 2 Corinthians xi. 24, where Paul states that no
less than five times he received " forty stripes save
one ". (Under Roman Law no man could be given
more than forty stripes).
In Wall Case 97, on the second shelf is seen
AN ALTAR dedicated to THE UNKNOWN GOD CGreek)
' — see Acts xvii. (also p. 20 ).
In Wall Case 109 are samples of Greek Armour
(made of brass), but none of Roman, for the simple
reason that the latter having been made of iron, it has
long since perished. In stating these facts we are
reminded of the fact that in the divine dream of
Nebuchadnezzar, God foretold the Greek and Roman
Empires under the symbols of Brass and Iron — the
Image's belly and thighs of brass and the legs of iron
(Dan. li). Even historians, too, write of the " brazen-
coated Gieeks ".
84 THE BRITISH MUSEUM
Before leaving this flo-or let us pay a passing visit
to the
Room of Gold Ornaments
and Gems
In Case X. we see some beautiful little
Cameos and Intaglios, portraits of (46) Titus,
Vespasian^ Nero and Hadrian ; (47) Commodus,
Septimus Severus and Trajan; (52) Nero; (53)
Tiberius, Augustus and Claudius.
Coming out of the Gem Room we turn to the left
and then to the right, and walking through the Room
of Terra Cottas into the Room of Greek and Roman
Antiquities, we turn immediately to the left, and
descend the Principal Staircase. Arriving on the
Ground Floor, we cross the Main Entrance Hall, and
walking through the Grenville Library we reach the
Manuscript Room
Here we find much to interest us as Bible students.
Let us turn our attention to
Case G. No. i Exhibit is
The Pentateuch (or Five Books of Moses) in
Hebrew. Its date is the Ninth Century A.D., and it
is claimed to be the old MS. now in existence of any
substantial part of the Holy Scriptures in Hebrew.
No. 2. The Codex Alexandrinus ; the Bible in
Greek, dating back to the middle of the Fifth Century
A.D. It is one of the three earliest and most important
WITH BIBLE IN HAND. 85
MSS. of the Holy Scriptures containing both the Old
and the New Testaments.
(Photographic specimen pages of the other two
oldest — the Codex Vaticanus and the Codex Sinaiticus
— are shewn in the same case. The originals thereof
are respectively in the custody of the Vatican Library,
at Rome, and in the Imperial Library, at Petrograd,
each of which it has been the author's privilege to
inspect).
No 6. The Septuagint Version, the Old
Testament Scriptures in Greek. This copy was
written in the 13th Century A.D. This version of the
Hebrew Scriptures, was made by order of Ptolemy
Philadelphus (see page 41 of this Guide).
No. 9. The Pentateuch in Syriac, also called,
The Peshitto. This copy was made in A.D. 464, and
is the earliest known MS. of the Bible in any language
of which the date is known.
Now we will turn to
Case D., where there are several Latin Bibles
known as the Latin Vulgates, the work of Jerome
(Saint Jerome as some prefer to call him). This
version formed the basis of
Wycliffe's Bible, which we also can see a copy
of in Case I. It is the first English Version of the
Holy Scriptures, and bears date of the 14th Century
A.D.
An interesting exhibit is to be seen in
Case V. No. 38. The Bull of Pope Innocent III.
ratifying the grant by King John ot " England and
Ireland " to the Holy Roman Church in return for
" the protection of St. Peter and himself ". It is
attested by the " sentence " of the Pope — viz., " Fac
86 THE BRITISH MUSEUM
mecum, domine^ signum in bomim " (Psalm Ixxxv. 17).*
Case VII. No. 2'6. An agreement by Edward
Gibbon, the historian^ for the sale of his work the
" His/or y of the Docline and Fall of the Roman
Empire'' dated i6th August, 1787.
And now, last but not least, there is something we
must look at in the
Room of Inscriptions
This way please — to tlie Entrance Hall, in between
which and the Reading Room, just behind where
some of you left your umbrellas, is a
Cast of an Inscribed Stone. The original,
which is m the Museum at Constantinople, was dug
up by excavators on the Temple Area in Jerusalem.
It contains 7 lines of Greek, forbidding Gentiles, on
pain of death, to go within the Sanctuary. The
Greek word (on this stone) for sanctuary {heiron) is
the same as translated '' Temple " in Matt. xxi. 12 and
Acts xxi. 28, and the same as used by Titus and
Josephus (see " Wars of the Jews ", v. v. 2 ; v. xi. 4 ;
and "Antiquities of the Jews'\ xv. xi. 5). After
looking at this stone you will enjoy reading Paul's
exciting adventures with Trophimus (Acts xxi. 29) ;
also compare with Ephes. ii. 11 -16.
Who now will say the British
%:J _ Museum is a dry place to visit ?
* That is, in the Latin Vulgate; in the A. v. it is Pfahn Ixxxvi.
17, the first six words of which read, "Shew me a token for
(Page 87
The Denarius ok Penny, Matt, xvii, 24.
(Sec page SJ) .
The AssAKiON or Fakthinc;, matt. x. 29.
The Emperor Titus.
(See page 16).
The Emperor Tiberius
as a young man.
(Seepage 15),
Page 88)
tTpucvcj)oiir yat 19' mxmjfflv^nyvc
lm\v am cncti^ ii^t? grtt? vot^fei^T^t
ct)cmtt2:()tiD ie:ii/vgoD.nn?5oO*^
m}i p2ij^i}^t)a{t vcnr fefaucii
in t r^tCifme of mm (tonOfgc ftt^otrte*
IjcrtynstrCfj^tra/ loo i/ertqj:); •help/
fo)?U oon m!Kngrt:Attji>n3rfl{|jpiT
ge ^uiV \n|hrg^ t Vtrttffft nt^oiitt tc fi
itctr/^ancijitn DiyiMfC)ni\sc/(ii(
frc?cr^fttifec;if ijel;; njmrfintpto
l)rfn CDtl/fotfovtitfr* nsixrt? voir?
fcBtc otrfcrDpett oifcntotitycl^iccy,
ivcwl opvttemplc t^liit m totitio.
fro re Vfmfr tlto »tT/5;t:^J!^^
ctntiino icmjgerf iei^ri)c(tote eiifti
vvtlj> rt^mmi \ijftrgoOOitfoiie/fovl^
^er wncn tor Wjhncn.lnljoliJjnise
nu ft ft! re motigc. itn;tcl)eABarniar(f'
iimivlclQni vi-tnftnr of ^ftincs r^lcflh
tuiomr of ^ofq)l) tfaHom^/t^ftljant
i^fpiufts m eaiiicrvn fo^nmtmMn •
tm;>nvftntcntolnin%^nimTK^tBp^
ntw VRt^togpo' TO5rtcniq)i9tr]nln
Wvcliffe's Bible,
MARK XV. 33 — 41.
{See page 85).
Comprehensive Index
PAGE
Abu Simbel 51
Abydos 47
Acropolis 20
Ahab 25, 22, 80
Altar to Unknown God 20
Amen — the god 75
Amenophis 111 47, 74
Amenophis IV' 74
Am-mit 53
Amraphel 68, 74
Ani 53
Anubis 53
Apis 59
Areopagus 20
Armour 83
Ashdod 35
Asherah 32
Ashtoreth 32
Ashur-bani-pal 29
Ashur-nasir-pal ... 26^ 32
Askelon — Tablet from. 75
Assarion 82
Assyrian Altar 17
Atea — the god 75
Athene 19
Augustus Cassar ... 15, 84
Babel Tablets 67
Babylon— Fall of 76
Banqueting Scene 31
Barcochba 16
Behistun 70, 74
Bel 26
Bel Merodach 26
Belteshazzar 26
Benhadad 25
Bible— My New 67
Black Obelisk 22
Boundary Stones 69
Brass Armour.(Grecian) 83
Bricks — Babylonian ... 69
^0
Index Continued.
PAGE
Bricks — Egyptian 60
B.ull— The Sacred 58
Calves and Bulls 58
Canopus — Decree of 36, 41
Cartouche 38, 41
Claudius Caesar ... 15, 84
Cleopatra 38
Codex Alexandrinus... 84
Codex Sinaiticus 85
Codex Vaticanus 85
Coins 82
Commodus 84
Creation Tablets 67
Cuneiform Inscrip-
tions 25, 69
Cylinder — Sennacherib 67
Cyrus 70, 76
Cyrus Cylinder 76
Dagon 31, 35
Darius 7^, 73
Deluge Tablets 67
Demotic 36
Denarius 82
Diana — Goddess 18
Diana — Temple of 18
Earthenware 62
Elam 3i> 69
Elgin Marbles 19
Elwend 7^
Embalming 5^
Enemies under feet ..57
Esar-Haddon ... 22, 35,69
Eye Paint 61
Farthing 82
Flood Tablets 67
Frescoes 4^, 59
German Higher
Criticism 75
PAGE
Gaza 35
Gibbon the Historian... 86
Granary 59
Grotefend 69, 70
Habershon — Miss A. ... 67
Hadrian 16, 84
Hamath 31
Hand Mirrors 61
Hapi 42
Hazael 22
Hezekiah ... 16, 30, 62, 81
Hezekiah Cylinder 62
Hieroglyphics 36
Higher Critics ...17, 67, 75
Hittite Remains .... 81, 82
Hophra 41
Horus 53
Hystaspes 70, 73
Innocent III. — Pope ... 84
Iron Armour (Koman) .. 83
Isis 53
Istar 32
Jehoiakim 42
Jehu 22
Jerabes 81
Jeroboam 43
Jerome 85
Jerusalem 22, 30
Judah 30
Judgment Scene 53
Juhus Caesar 15
Kha-em-Uast 43
Kenyon — ^^Sir F. G 42
Khammu-Rabi 68, 74
Khepera 44
Khu-en-Aten 75
Lachish 3°
Lamps 79
Index Continued.
91
Latin Vulgate 85
Layard— Sir H 16, 17
Lions — Colossal 17
Lion-Hunting 29
Looking-Cjlasses 61
Mariette, M 58
Mars Hill 20
Memphis— Priests of... 36
Menephtha 54
Menkau-Ra 52
Merodach Baladan 69
Mesha 79
Mesopotamia 79
Minerva 19
Mirrors 61
Moabite Stone 79
Morgan — M. de 68
Moses and the Higher
Critics 68
Mummied Animals 5^
Mummies 51. 57
My New Bible 67
Nabopolassar 26
Nebo 26
Nebuchadnezzar 26, 69, 76
Nebuzaradan 26
Nepthys 53
Nero 15. 84
Nineveh 21
Nisroch 32
Obehsk— Black 22
Omri 22
Osiris 53
Papyrus 62
Parthenon 19
Penny — Roman 82
Pentateuch 84
Pentateuch in Syraic ... 85
Peshitto 85
Petrie-Flinders — Prof. 54
Pharaoh Hophra 41
Pharaoh of the Exodus 54
Pharaoh of the Oppres-
sion 43
Philae 38
Pontius Pilate 15
Ptolemaios 38
Ptolemy Epiphanes .... 36
Ptolemy Philadelphus... 41
Pul 26
Rawlinson — Sir H.
16, 26, 48, 70, 74
RamesesII. 43, 44, 5 1. 54
Rehoboam 42
Rosetta Stone 35
Samson 35
Sandals 60
Sargon 17, 31, 67, 69
Sayce — Professor
17, 26, 68
Schick— Dr 80
Scourge 83
Sekhet 42
Sennacherib
21, 29, 30, 35, 67, 6q
Septimus Severus 84
Septuagint 41, 85
Serapeum 5^
Sesostris 54
Setil 54
Shalmaneser H.
25, 26, 69
Shalmaneser IV. ... 17, ^7
Shekel 82
Shishak 42
Signet Rings 60
92
Index Continued,
PAGE
Siloam Inscription 80
Soanes (Sir J.) Museum 54
Stater 82
Strabo 58
Susa (Shushan) 69
Tablets (Babylonian) 67
Tammuz 32
Taylor Cylinder 62
Tear Bottles 79
Tel-el-Amarna ...47, 68, 74
Temple Inscription 86
Thoth 53
Thotmes III 47
Ti Princess 85, 74
Tiberius Caesar 15, 84
Tiglath Pileser III. 26, 29
PAGE
Titus 16, 84
Toilet Apparatus 61
Trajan 84
Tree (Sacred) 32
Tyre — Tablet from ... 75
Uah-ab-Ra 41, 42
Unknown God 20, 83
Vespasian 84, 16
Vulgates — Latin 85
Wall Paintings 48, 59
Wilkinson — Sir G 48
Writing Materials 59
Wycliffe's Bible 85
Xerxes 73
Zedekiah 42
Zimrida 75
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