Excerpt from Babel and Bible: Three Lectures on the Significance of Assyriological Research for Religion; Embodying the Most Important Criticisms and the Author's Replies HE traveler starting overland from the port of Alexandretta, In northern Syria, beholds beyond the high pass of Beilan the widely extended plain of Antioch, a View surprising in novelty and Charm. As far as the eye can reach the plain is strewn with mounds of varying height, often grass-covered, their artificial origin easily discernible. These mysterious elevations, called by the Arabs Tell, by the Turks Tepe, accompany the traveler to Aleppo and even farther to the banks of the Euphrates and Tigris, ' and they constantly increase in height, extent, and number, from Mosul down the stream and through Babylonia, crossing into the Elamite plain and to, Susa. They are the marks 'of the Civilisation Of pre-christian millenniums. The large and small cities of the oldest empires of western Asia, of the Hittite states of northern Syria, of the Assy rian, Babylonian, and Elamite empires, with their palaces and tem ples, walls and gates, terraces and towers, lie buried beneath them. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.