is said to throw upon a disputed problem of biblical criticism. According to its discoverer it represents the oldest account of the Babylonian Deluge story extant; and he considers it of fundamental importance for determining the age of Israel’s earliest traditions, since he would regard it as having been written “before Abraham had left his Babylonian home in Ur of the Chaldees.”
Beyond the fact that it was found at Nippur during the fourth of the American expeditions, there does not appear to be any exact record of its provenance; and, in order to determine its date, it is necessary to rely on the external and internal evidence furnished by the tablet itself. A number of hymns and prayers addressed to the chief Babylonian gods, and written throughout in the Sumerian language, have been found at Nippur, and these may be dated in the era of the kings of Ur and Isin, since some of them are mentioned by name in the petitions. To the latter part of this period Professor Hilprecht would assign the new Deluge fragment. It is natural that under the Sumerian revival, which characterized the united kingdom of Sumer and Akkad, the ancient ritual should have been revived and the Sumerian service-books adapted for the use of the reigning monarch. Sumerian, in fact, predominated, not only on the historical monuments, but also throughout the religious literature, a fact which militates against assigning the newly discovered Semitic legend to the period of these early Sumerian texts. It has already been noted that the earliest deluge-fragment previously recovered dates from the latter half of the First Dynasty of Babylon, when the Western Semites had succeeded in establishing their authority throughout the greater part of the country. But, to judge from the photographic reproduction of the Nippur tablet, the characters upon it do not appear to resemble those in use at the time of the First Dynasty, nor those of the period of the Dynasties of Ur and Isin. On purely epigraphic grounds the suggestion has indeed been made that it should be assigned to the Kassite period (not earlier than 1700 B.C.), during which a very large number of the tablets found at Nippur were inscribed.[1]
But, even so, the fragment is one of the most interesting that has been recovered on the site of Nippur. For it strikingly illustrates the fact that the temple of En-lil, like that of the Sun-god at Sippar and the other great temples in Babylonia, possessed a body of mythological and religious texts, which formed subjects for study and comment among the priestly scribes. It was by the collection and reproduction of such documents, preserved in the ancient religious centres, that Assurbani-pal was enabled to form his unique library of tablets at Nineveh. The temple of E-kur thus formed no exception to the rule that the great temples of Babylonia were centres of literary, as well as of religious, activity.
The text of this Deluge fragment also furnishes one more proof of the existence of parallel versions of the same legend. In some instances, as in the great Creation Series of Babylon, the later scribes subjected the different versions to processes of editing, with the result that the earlier forms gave place to the redactions of a militant priesthood. But where no theological nor local prejudices were involved, the tendency to a faithful reproduction of the earlier texts prevailed. Thus the resemblances which have been claimed between the Nippur Deluge fragment and the version of the “Priestly Code” in Genesis, in themselves furnish no significant evidence as to the latter’s date. The possibility that Hebrew traditions were subject to Babylonian influence from the period of the Canaanite conquest has long been recognized, and to the Exilic and post-Exilic Jew the mythology of Babylon may well have presented many familiar features. (L. W. K.)
NĪRĪZ, or Nairzīz, a district and town in the province of Fars, Persia. The district has 24 villages and extends from near Istahbamat, south of the Bakhtegan lake, to about 50 m. E. Water is scarce and the plain is not much cultivated in consequence. The produce consists of some grain, cotton, tobacco, &c., but fruit is more abundant. Here, as in the neighbouring Darab district, villages situated in the hills are called madan (mine), and some travellers have in their itineraries indicated a mine in localities where there is none.
The town of Nīrīz is situated in a plain 7 m. from the south-eastern point of the lake, and about 130 m. from Shiraz, and has a population of about 9000. The people of Nīrīz were stanch followers of the Báb (see Bābism), and rose against the government in 1850 and in 1852, with disastrous results. Niriz was formerly known for its manufacture of steel from iron ore brought from Parpa, 40 m. E.
NIRVANA, the term in Buddhist theology, meaning literally “blowing out” or “dying out,” Skt. nirvā, “to blow,” for a calm or sinless state or condition of the mind reached by a dying out or extinction of sin (see Buddhism).
NISARD, JEAN MARIE NAPOLEON DÉSIRÉ (1806–1888), French author and critic, was born at Châtillon-sur-Seine on the 20th of March 1806. In 1826 he joined the staff of the Journal des Débats, but subsequently transferred his pen to the National. Under the empire he was inspector-general of education (1852) and director of the École normale (1857–1867). His literary reputation was effectually established by his Histoire de la littérature française (1844–1861), which secured his election to the Academy (1850). His other works include Études d’histoire el de littérature (1859–1864), and Les Quatres grands historiens latins (1875). In all his books he vigorously supported the claims of classicism against romanticism. He died at San Remo on the 27th of March 1888.
NISBETT, LOUISA CRANSTOUN (1812–1858), English actress, was the daughter of Frederick Hayes Macnamara, an actor, whose stage name was Mordaunt. As Miss Mordaunt she had considerable experience, especially in Shakesperean leading parts, before her first London appearance in 1829 at Drury Lane as Widow Cheerly in Andrew Cherry’s (1762–1812) Soldier’s Daughter. Her beauty and high spirits made her at once a popular favourite in a large number of comedy parts, until in 1831 she was married to Captain John Alexander Nisbett and retired. Her husband, however, was killed the same year by a. fall from his horse, and she was compelled to reappear on. the stage in 1832. She was the original Lady Gay Spanker of London Assurance (1841). In 1844 she withdrew again from the stage to marry Sir William Boothby, Bart., but on his death (1846), returned to play Lady Teazle, Portia, Constantine in the Love Chase, Helen and Julia in the Hunchback. It was in the first of these parts that she made her final appearance in 1851. She died on the 15th of January 1858.
NISH (also written Nisch and Niš, the capital of the Nish department of Servia, lying in a plain among the southern mountains, on the left shore of the Nishava, a tributary of the Morava. Pop. (1900) 24,451. Among Servian cities, Nish is only surpassed by Belgrade in commercial and strategic importance; for it lies at the point where several of the chief Balkan highroads converge, and where the branch railway to Salonica leaves the main line between Belgrade and Constantinople. The administration of the Servian railways has its factory for repairing engines and principal store of materials in the city, which also possesses an iron foundry. The king and the government reside for at least three months in the year in Nish, where also the national assembly, before the constitution of 1901, was regularly held. It is the see of a bishop, the seat of the district prefecture and a tribunal, and the headquarters of the territorial militia corps, having besides a large number of regular troops in garrison. There is a small obsolete fortress on the right bank of the Nishava, believed to have been erected on the site of the Roman Naissus. The surrounding hills (Vinik, Goritsa, Kamenitsa) were, after 1886, fortified by modern earthworks.
After the Turks were driven from the city in 1878, it was in many respects modernized; but something of its former character is preserved in the ancient Turkish palace, mosque and fountain, the maze of winding alleys and picturesque houses in the older quarters, and, on market days, by the medley of peasant costumes—Bulgarian, Albanian and Rumanian, as well as Servian.
The ancient Roman city Naissus was mentioned as an important place by Ptolemy of Alexandria. Under its walls was fought in A.D. 269 the great battle in which Emperor Claudius destroyed the army of the Goths. It was at Naissus that
- ↑ It has also been pointed out that the employment of the sign PI for wa and the use of z for s, cited in support of the earlier date, survived in the Kassite period.
