Page:Biblical Libraries (Richardson).djvu/36

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BIBLICAL LIBRARIES

The very best contribution to the clear understanding of just where the early collections of cuneiform tablets were and what they consisted of, is an article by Professor Morris Jastrow, Jr. The article is controversial in purpose and in the pursuit of this purpose the terms in question are used freely according to the usage of the Assyriologists and definitions made. Since neither the argument nor the constructive conclusions of the article are affected by the question of terms and even the conclusion as to terms is put in an alternative form one horn of which may be cordially accepted by most, it will hot be invidious to take largely the phrases of this article as a text for this discussion of terms.

The author himself says that "the main issue is not (even) the existence or non-existence of a temple library at Nippur, but the method pursued—in the endeavor to establish the existence of such

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