The Cuneiform inscriptions and the Old Testament; - The Search For ...

114 THE CUNEIFORM INSCRIPTIONS AND THE 0. T.
129 of names of towns formed with Bab-. Thus we have
mentioned in Khors. 20 a town called Bab-Dtir i. e. ''Gate
of the Fortress." The interpretation of the name adopted
bj me in the first edition of this work, ''Gate-way of El",
must be given up on account of the plural form of the
ideogram for deity, occurring in V Rawl. 35, 15. 17 and
elsewhere , which shows that the Babylonians took the
second part of the name in an appellative sense. On Tjtt'K^
= Babel see on Jerem. XXV. 26; LI. 41.
Babilu occurs on the inscriptions at a very early period as
the name of the country (comp. 7j3 |^1N Jer. L. 28) or of
the kingdom Babel (often in O. T.). Even then we find
an ancient Babylonian king, Agu-kak-rirai styling himself
sar mat Bab-ilu ra-pa-as-tiv "king of the land
Babel the extended"; Keilinsch. u. Geschichtsf. p. 2 71.
For later times, see the I'gibi-tablet Transactions VI. 1
p. 8, in which Nebucadnezar also is called sar m^t B&bilu.
28. D"''nti'3 "11N Ur of the Ghaldees, the name of the town
from which Abraham migrated. This is identical with the
town Uru of the cuneiform inscriptions, which in its remains
is at present represented by the ruins of Mughair (-^iiJ'
i. e. Asphalt-town), lying on the Western or right bank of the
Euphrates, a little South of 3 V Lat. The identity of the
ruined town with the locality mentioned in the inscriptions
is proved by the records of ancient Babylonian kings found
on the very spot, especially of Uruk(?) (Amll-apsi?
see above p. 77 footnote *) and of his son Dun - gi ;
as well
asofKu-du-ur-Ma-bu-ug, of Is-mi-Da-gan and
others. The place was certainly existing at the time when
the New-Babylonian empire fell; indeed cylinders of the
last king of Babylon Nabunit (Nabuna'ld) have been disco-