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HOLWAN, CALAH, OR HALAH. (SAR-PULI-ZOHAB.)

JEWISH TRADITIONS-INTERESTING ANTIQUITIES.

SCRIPTURE NOTICES.

"ASSHUR... builded Calah."— Gen. x. 11.

"And the king of Assyria did carry away Israel unto Assyria, and put them in Halah and in Habor by the river of Gozan, and in the cities of the Medes: because they obeyed not the voice of the Lord their God."2 Kings xviii. 11, 12.

[2 Kings xvii. 6; 1 Chron. v. 26.]

The site of Holwán, one of the eight primeval cities of the world, was at Sar-Púli-Zoháb, distant about eight miles south of the modern town of Zohab, and situated on the high road conducting from Bagdad to Kirmánsháh. This is the Calah of Asshur, and the Halah of the Israelitish captivity. The region along the skirts of Mount Zagros was sometimes adjudged to Media, and sometimes to Assyria; and we are thus able to explain the dominion of Shalmaneser, the Assyrian king, over the cities of Media. In the third century, this place was indifferently called by the Syrian Christians, who established a bishopric there, Caleh, Halah, and Holwán, and some of the Christian Arabs in their histories, directly translate the Halah of the captivity by Holwán. Jewish traditions abound in this part of the country. The Kalhur tribe, who are believed to have inhabited, from the remotest antiquity, these regions, preserve in their name the title of Calah. They state themselves to be descended from Nebuchadnezzar, the conqueror of the Jews; perhaps an obscure tradition of their real origin, which may possibly be from the Samaritan captives; they have many Jewish names among them, and, above all, their general physiognomy is strongly indicative of an Israelitish descent.

A narrow gorge, through which flows the river of

Holwán, forms a sort of gigantic portal to the city. Here, upon either side of the river, are tablets sculptured on the rock; the execution is most rude, and they are now nearly obliterated... There is also a well-executed representation on the rock; of a victor king trampling on a captive monarch, and other figures of captives are represented naked, and kneeling in the background.

The other antiquities of Holwán consist of a ruined wall, a palace, or fire-temple, at the foot of which issues. a sulphureous spring, and a vast assemblage of mounds, which appear to mark the site of the principal edifices of the city. One of these is full 50 feet in height, and in several places around it brickwork is exposed to view, of the peculiar character of the Babylonian building. Apparently beyond the limits of the city are the remains of an edifice, which I believe to have been a fire-temple of the Magi: a hot spring issues from the foot of a mound adjoining it. But the most curious monument of Holwán is found about two miles distant from the sculptures that I have already described, this is a royal sepulchre excavated in the rock ... the tomb appears to have been forcibly broken in ... Upon the smooth face of the rock, below the cave, is an unfinished tablet, representing a high-priest of the Magi, clothed in his pontifical robes; there is a vacant space in the tablet, apparently intended for the fire altar, which we usually see sculptured before the priest. This tomb is named David's Shop; for the Jewish monarch is believed to follow the calling of a smith, and is really supposed to dwell here, though invisible. The broken shafts are called his anvils, and a part of the tomb which is divided off by a low partition, is said to be a reservoir to contain the water which he uses to temper his metal. I never passed by the tomb without seeing the remains of a bleeding sacrifice; and the pilgrims, who regard the smithy as a place of extreme sanctity, prostrate themselves on the ground, and make the most profound reverence as soon as they come in sight of the spot.

Holwán was long a great and populous town: but at length sank beneath the exterminating hand of war, never to be again inhabited. The river of Holwán rises in the Gorge of Ríjáb, on the western face of Mount Zagros, about twenty miles east of the town of Zohab. It bursts in a full stream from its source, and is swollen by many copious streams as it pursues its way down this romantic glen. The defile of Ríjáb is one of the most beautiful spots I have seen in the East; it is in general very narrow, closed in on either side by a line of tremendous precipices, and filled from one end to the other with gardens and orchards, through which the stream tears its foaming way with the most impetuous force until it emerges into the plain below. The village of Ríjáb, containing about 100 houses, is situated in a little nook above the stream, where the glen widens into something like a bay. The peaches and figs of its gardens are celebrated throughout Persia; hence the saying that "the figs of Holwán are not to be equalled in the whole world."—Abridged from MAJOR RAWLINSON'S Notes in the Geographical Journal.

At Zarnah, a village due south of Holwán, in the plain of Iwan, and about two miles distant from the right bank of the river Gangir, are found the ruins of a large city, which Major Rawlinson conjectures to have been the Hara of the captivity, mentioned in 1 Chron. v. 26. Benjamin of Tudela found here 20,000 families of Jews.

The plain of Iwan is extensive, and plentifully watered by the Gangir.

PLAINS OF SHINAR, OR BABYLONIA.

MARSHES OF LEMLUN.

SCRIPTURE NOTICE.

"THEY found a plain in the land of Shinar: and they dwelt there."-Genesis xi. 2.

The land of Shinar, to which the children of Noah came after the Deluge, is the same with Babylonia, on the alluvial plains of the Euphrates and the Tigris. This territory was afterwards called the land of the Chaldeans, in Scripture, to which the children of Judah were carried captive.

Cush, the father of Nimrod, is the same with the Bel of the Babylonians.

The plain of Babylonia is bounded on the south by the marshes of Lemlun. The soil of these marshes consists, for the most part, of a soft alluvial clay and mud; the greater part of the basin is, however, occupied by water, or by marshes of reeds and rushes. These marshes feed large flocks of buffaloes, and the mud that is not covered by vegetation, or which is dried by the summer heat, becomes during the season clothed with luxuriant crops of rice. The wild and robber inhabitants of these districts are celebrated for their fine forms, and are descendants of a Persian race. They live in reed huts, temporarily erected on isolated dry spots, like islets in a wilderness of waters; but these are very frequently flooded, and it is no uncommon thing to see the children swing in cradles attached to the roof, while the waters are flowing through the arched cottage in an uninterrupted stream.

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ANCIENT CITY-PRESENT APPEARANCE OF BABYLON RUINS-THE PALACE-MUJELIBE - BIRS NIMROD TOWER OF BABEL OR BELUS -HILLAH AND THE EUPHRATES-BABYLONIAN

ANCIENT RUINS AT AL-HHEIMAR.

ANTIQUITIES

SCRIPTURE NOTICES.

"AND the whole earth was of one language, and of one speech. And it came to pass, as they journeyed from the east, that they found a plain in the land of Shinar; and they dwelt there. And they said one to another, Go to, let us make brick, and burn them throughly. And they had brick for stone, and slime had they for morter. And they said, Go to, let us build us a city and a tower, whose top may reach unto

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