Page:Palestine Exploration Fund - Quarterly Statement for 1894.djvu/198

Rh subjects touched on in this volume, and further discoveries have cast some new light on the period."

"A Mound of many Cities," a complete account of the excavations at Tell el Hesy, with upwards of 250 illustrations, is now ready. This book, which will perhaps become the most popular work of the long list of books issued by the Palestine Exploration Fund, is a history by Mr. F. J. Bliss, of a Tell, or Mound, in Palestine, from the first building erected upon it, 2000 years B.C. to its final abandonment, 400 B.C. Mr. Bliss is a young American, educated partly at Beyrout, partly at Amherst College, Vermont. He is perfectly familiar with the language of the Fellahin. He took up the work upon this Tell where Prof. Flinders Petrie left it, and carried it on until he had compelled the Mound to yield up its secrets. He is the master of a free and lively style, and his work is interesting, not only for the story lie has to tell, but also for the manner in which it is told. The work is also illustrated by very numerous drawings of objects found, plans, sections, and elevations. In the history of this Tell we go back far beyond the beginning of European civilisation. A thousand-years before David, a thousand years before the siege of Troy, a city stood upon the bluff overhanging the stream which is now called Tell el Hesy. The site formed a natural fortress. The first city was built by the Amorites. This city was taken, sacked, and destroyed, in one of the countless tribal wars. But the site was too important for the place to be left long deserted; another town was raised upon the ruins. Note that they did not clear away the rubbish when they re-built: they raised the new town upon the débris of the old. On the second town fell the same fate as that which destroyed the first. Then came a third, a fourth, and so on, until the ruins which are now covered with grass hide the remains, certainly of eight, probably of eleven cities. Probably the last city, which was not re-built, was destroyed about the year 400 B.C.

The broken pottery and other remains found on the various levels serve to give a date to the destroyed city. Thus, at a certain level, Phœnician pottery is found for the first time; at higher levels, Greek pottery. But there was also found an unexpected and very precious treasure in the shape of a cuneiform letter, on a clay tablet. The letter is written from the Governor of Lachish to the Egyptian Pharaoh, and the writer, Zimradi, or Zimridi, is mentioned in the Tell el Amarna Tablets as Governor of Lachish. We also learn from the same authority that Zimridi was murdered by servants of the Pharaoh. The letter in the original cuneiform, with its transliteration and translation, will be found in the volume. In a word, the complete story of this Biblical City is here presented. It is the first time that one of the Tells of Palestine has been excavated, and therefore the first time that any of them has yielded up its secrets in illustration of the Biblical narrative. It is a history which is attractive from its subject, and made doubly attractive by the light, easy, and lucid manner in which Mr. Bliss presents it to the readers.

Price to subscribers to the Fund, 3s. 6d.; non-subscribers, 6s.

Mr. George Armstrong's Raised Map of Palestine is attracting much attention, and it is difficult to supply promptly all the orders that come in for it.