In the preceding number of this journal we described how in the Spring of 1949 we returned to the site of the famous N.W. Palace of Assur-naṣir-pal and set to work in chamber V where, more than a century ago, Layard had first unearthed the famous collection of Nimrud ivories. There, and in the adjacent chamber W, we found hundreds of mutilated fragments, most of them undecorated, which the workmen had cast aside and thrown back when the chambers were refilled with the soil that had come out of them. None the less our return to these rooms was worth while, for in the debris of V we found two unfinished plaques, Plate VI, 3, 4, which indicated that some of the ivories must actually have been carved at Calah, and in the same room, on an undug patch of soil about one metre above the level of Assur-naṣir-pal's pavement, we found the beautiful figure of the cow suckling its calf, Plate I, 2, 3. These three figures are all that we can illustrate here from Layard's excavations: the remainder was found by us in the newly discovered S.E. wing of the Palace which we began digging in the Spring of 1950. With these three exceptions, the rest of the collection comes from rooms FF, GG north of OO, HH, OO, and QQ, see text Fig. 1, and in every case the pieces were found lying in confusion on a pavement level which can with certainty be attributed to the reign of King Sargon, thanks to the fortunate discovery in room HH of a clay docket bearing the name of a limmu who is known to have held office in the year 715 B.C. Most of the pieces, including the Bull, ND. 762, and the remarkable head, ND. 763, Plates II–V, were found in room HH; see Plate X for a picture of the N.W. corner of that room and the objects as they appeared at the time of discovery.

The Bronze Age settlements of Baluchistan comprise an assortment of cultures and local wares which stylistic comparison with stratified sites in Persia and Iraq is gradually reducing to a workable chronology. Material, for the most part collected from the surface, abounds: the difficulty lies in its interpretation. With the close of the Bronze Age, however, the problem becomes not so much the interpretation of the material as its scantiness. Throughout Baluchistan there are signs of widespread disturbances during the second millennium B.C.: of cultures dying out and villages destroyed or occupied by alien inhabitants. Across the eastern border the Harappan cities of the Indus Plain were overrun by a semi-barbarian people from the west in or about the fifteenth century B.C. Between that date and the Persian invasion of the North-West Frontier Province some ten centuries later the course of events in Baluchistan is obscure. Of particular interest, therefore, is a new ware from Londo and other sites, which on account of its affinities with Persian pottery as well as on other grounds may be provisionally dated to around 1200-1000 B.C.

The following pages are translated from an unpublished Bodleian MS. They form the first part of the introduction to an Arabic commentary on the Eisagoge of Porphyry, which the title page and the Bodleian catalogue ascribe to the well-known Arab philosopher al-Fārābī (first half of the tenth century A.D.). We know from independent sources that al-Fārābī wrote a commentary to the Eisagoge. This is evidently what we have before us, but the text dealing with the Eisagoge, which was later itself commented on by Avempace, is a different work.

The world empire of the Arabs was already an established fact considerably earlier than A.D. 700, It is generally admitted that the Arabs in the countries which they came to rule were the heirs of classical antiquity to a considerable extent. This is nowhere more evident than in philosophy and the sciences. If at first sight it seems surprising that they made more use of ancient philosophy and science than the general literature and common institutions of the Graeco-Roman world such as the theatre and the gymnasium, the reason is doubtless to be found in the abstract character of these branches, in consequence of which they did not impinge directly on the prejudices of the new rulers.

It is proposed to anticipate the publication of the complete catalogue of the epigraphical material found at Nimrud during the 1950 season by this short account of two historical inscriptions.

While clearing Room U of the “Governor's Palace” a single kiln-baked fragment of a tablet was uncovered about 1 metre above a brick floor. The circumstances of stratification therefore suggest that this tablet lay in rubbish which was part of the filling used to raise the level of the Governor's Palace, probably after the death of King Sargon. See also Iraq, Pt. 2, 163 f., for evidence of stratification and successive floors of occupation. ND. 400 would seem to come from a large tablet similar to K 3751 found in 1873 by G. Smith in the Nabu Temple to the south-east of this room.

Inscribed in two columns upon the base of a clay cone found at Ur and recently presented to the British Museum (no. 130729, measuring 15.4 cms. in diameter) is the following text. Its imperfections are indicated by the photograph and copy (Pls. xiii, xiv); they cannot be supplemented from the duplicate which doubtless existed upon the shank of the cone, for this has completely disappeared.

Col. I. 1. en-an-e-du, 2. en-(d)nanna 3. nam-gal nam-en-na šà-kù-ta nam-ge7-an-na 4. šà-ki-àg (d)nin-gal-e nì-bár nam-en-na bar šu-ta-gar 5. me-te é-kiš-NU-gál zag-gub utaḫ (U+GA)-ḫi bàd-na 6. ḫé-du7 é-nun-na u4-sa-sa-a7 kalam-šè è 7. múš nam-en-šè kù-gi-eš-e túm-ma 8. giš-ḫur šu-luḫ nam-dingir-šè zi-dè-eš-e pà-da 9. nun-ní-tuk du8-maḫ é-lugal-la-na-šè šu-luḫ-luḫ-ḫa-ta al-gub-bu-a 10. en-an-e-du7 11. en-igi-du8-a (d)nanna-(d)nin-gal-bi 12. urí (Kl) uru(KI)zag-è ki-en-gi-ra 13. ki-šu-tag za-na-ru en-(d)aš-im-babbar-e 14. lù ge6-pàr nam-en-bi-šè ki-sikil-la dù-a gal-bi túm-ma me-en 15. u4(d)nanna-(d)nin-gal-bi 16. sakki-zalag-ga-ne-ne-a igi-bar-ra-bi nam-ti-la 17. igi-ḫúl-la-bi mu-un-ši-in-sè-eš-àm 18. èš é-kiš-NU-gál ki-tuš-nam-dingir-ne-ne-a 19. mu-mu mi-ni-in-maḫ-eš-a 20. ka-mu-sikil-la nam-X nam-ti-la mu-nn-gar-ri-eš-àm 21. šu-si-sá-mu u4-nam-ti (d)ri-im-(d)sin 22. šeš-mu u4-ma-na-mu 23. sù-sumun-u5-dè mu-un-ne-ri-eš-a 24. kur gu-erím-gál-la-ni (Col. II) 25. šu-ni-šé bí-in-si-iš-eš …. 26. u4-ba ge6-pàr-kù-ga ki-tuš-nam-en-na-mu 27. sig4-bi úr-bi-ta nu-ús-sa 28. en-an-e-du7 29. en mu-maḫ zi-dè-eš pà(?)-da(?) 30. dumu ku-du-ur-ma-bu-ug me-en 31. ge6-pàr-kù-ga úr-bi-sumun-na sig4-zi-DU ḫé-ni-ús 32. ingar-bi šu-si-tag-ga IM-KÚŠ-ḫu-mu-ag 33. é-bi bil-bi-eš ḫu-mu-tu 34. u4-ba unú-ŠEŠ-ba-an-DU ki-UD nam-tar-ra 35. en-en-e-ne libir-ra-méŠ 36. ki-bi bàd nu-um-gú gìr-bi ŠIM-BÚR-bi ḫé-šub 37. en-nu-un ba-ra-gar ki-bi ba-ra-sikil 38. gá-e geštú-gal-zu-mu-ta 39. nam-tar-u4-da-egir-ra ki-bi bi-kin-kin 40. diri ki-ná en-en-e-ne libir-ra-meŠ 41. ú-zu-ug-dagal-la ḫu-mu-gar 42. ki-bi-šub-ba bàd-gal-e ḫu-mu-dub 43. en-nu-un-kal-ga bí-gar ki-bi ḫu-mu-sikil 44. mu-pà-da-nam-en-na-mu pà-pà-dé-dé 45. kin-bi ki-bi-šè ḫé-im-mi-gar 46. temen šuššar nam-en-na-mu mu-sar (?) 47 … . a … . gál-la … . ka-ta ḫé-im-mi-ús(?) 48. bàd-bi ní-te-gá-mu ḫé … im(?)-i(?) mu-bi ḫé-im-mi-sa4.

The document here published belongs to Major Watson and will be exhibited in the Honiton Museum, Honiton, Devonshire, For the kind permission to publish this tablet, I wish to express my best thanks to both Major Watson and the authorities of the Honiton Museum, and at the same time, I owe thanks to Mr. Gadd, the Keeper of the Department of Egyptian and Assyrian Antiquities of the British Museum who suggested this publication.

Opinion remains divided on the question of the dating of Tepe Hissar III and Dr. C. F. A. Schaeffer's recent work on the comparative stratigraphy of Western Asia provides further backing for the acceptance of a late third millenium dating. This being so, although the writer has already put forward a number of points to support a relatively low dating, it is felt that a more thorough examination of the material available, and a clearer appreciation of its implications are necessary. It has been recognised that there are definite and undeniable links between Luristan, Giyan I, Sialk V and VI, and the whole Caucasian region from Persian Talish to Koban, and that this association must lie between 1800 and 1200. The question that has to be decided is—did the period Hissar III B and C also lie between these dates, or had it come to an end three hundred or more years prior to 1800?

The Catalogue of the inscriptions discovered during the season of 1950 at Nimrud (Kalḫu) conforms with the system adopted for the publication of tablets discovered in 1949. This summary method of presentation appears to be the most practical way of recording the copious material with a minimum of delay. It is true that ideally a more detailed and definitive publication would be desirable, but it seems of greater importance to make available for scholars such information as can be gleaned from a considered study of the texts within a year of their discovery. Indeed it is doubtful if the contents, which in general conform to types of documents already known, warrant a fuller publication. Moreover the tablets themselves, like most unbaked Assyrian texts, are for the most part fragmentary. As each successive Expedition is likely to recover additional texts of the kind, the danger of postponing publication is all the more evident. It is therefore hoped that due allowance will be made for the inevitable imperfections, some of which might have been eliminated had more time and labour been available for the completion of our task.