fastnesses, as their only safeguard, and that to a hardly effectual one, against the craft of the Persians and the tyranny and bigotry of the Turks. The author then proceeds to narrate the different accounts of the taking of Babylon; and, in his remarks on Cyrus, and the curious fact that though the most distinguished of the ancient Persians, we have no satisfactory account of his ultimate fate; he points out the real value of early Persian history, and how little really satisfactory historical truth can be extracted from the mass of fables and legendary tales with which its history is so full. With a short notice of Zoroaster, who has been generally supposed to have lived during the reign of Darius the son of Hystaspes, our author gives a rapid sketch of the chief characters who appear upon the field of Oriental history-Darius, Xerxes, Alexander the Great, and the Greek Empire of the Seleucidæ in Syria and Western Asia; and then, with a passing allusion to the Roman invasion of Asia, and the gallant resistance made by the Arsacidæ, he comes to the rise of the first strictly Oriental Empire, in the successes of Ardeshir, the son of Babegan, the founder of the House of Sassan. To this portion of the history, no less from its intrinsic interest and value, than from the fact, that during the maintenance of power by this family many of the finest works of art, still remaining in Persia, were executed, our author has been induced to devote a considerable portion of his limited time and space. On the decline of the Empire of the Sassanidæ, we have the rise pointed out of the Mohamedan power, and a sketch is given of the history of the principal chieftains and conquerors whose arms won for the disciples of Muhammed the empire of central Western Asiathe conquests of Mahmud of Ghazna and Timur are especially dilated on, and the latter is shown to have been much more than the mere ruthless destroyer of life and property which he has been too generally, and too hastily esteemed. From the death of Timur, the history of Persia and indeed of Western Asia, presents few features of any peculiar interest, and our author therefore passes almost immediately to the second division of his work the account of the travellers themselves who have, in modern times, made Eastern lands the subject of their investigations. "The commencement of Travels in the East was, as our author has stated "mainly due to the natural wish of Christians to visit scenes which had been consecrated by the sufferings and death of their Lord"—and hence, Pilgrimages to the Holy Sepulchre were the first instances of travels properly so called. Hence even in very early times we hear of long journeys performed for this holy purpose, and the names of Arculf, Willibald, Bernard the Wise, and Sawulf, are well known to those who have studied the History of Europe before the commencement of the middle ages. As time went on, travellers of a different description are met with; and the journeys of Benjamin of Tudela, Marco Polo, and Maundeville, bear some resemblance to the more scientific expeditions of late times. From the return of the last of these travellers there seems to have been a cessation of such journeys, till, in the reign of Queen Elizabeth, we hear of one John Eldred, an English merchant, who left England for Tripoli in 1583, and who was one of the earliest, if not the earliest modern, who mentions having himself beheld what was called the Tower of Babel. Eldred was followed by many others, travellers of more or less note, Pietro della Valle, Emanuel de St. Albert, Chardin, Lebrun, and others, till at length Niebuhr, the father of the celebrated historian, visited Babylon in 1765, and has left an excellent description of what he saw there and at Persepolis, in his account of his Voyages in Arabia. Finally, Ker Porter, Morier, and Rich, investigated Babylon and Persepolis, leaving little for subsequent travellers but to confirm their accuracy. While M. Botta, at Khorsabad, and Mr. Layard, at Nimroud, and in its neighbourhood, have succeeded in making excavations, and bringing monuments of Assyrian art and history to light, such as the earlier travellers in those countries had no idea still existed under the soil they had trodden unconsciously. Our author has drawn from these different sources a complete account of three great cities, at Babylon, Nineveh, and Persepolis; and has endeavoured to tell the story of the late discoveries in the very words and language of the discoverers themselves. He has appended a full and interesting account of the progress which has been made in the discovery of the interpretation of the Cuneiform characters, in which the national records of Western Asia were kept since the time of Darius Hystaspes, to the establishment of the Sassanian empire, in the third century of our era-together with considerable extracts from papers written by Major Rawlinson, and published in the Journals of the Royal Asiatic and Geographical Societies. He has in this way been enabled to lay before the public much of the history of these discoveries, which had not hitherto been known beyond the few readers of those journals, or the members of those societies; and has been able to show what a deep debt of gratitude the lovers of Eastern literature owe to that distinguished scholar, for the indefatigable exertions he has made in unravelling the ancient records of the Persian nation. Miscellaneous Notices. We regret to be compelled to defer to a future Journal reports of Proceedings of several kindred societies, to which we had hoped to invite attention. Several recent publications of importance are also unavoidably reserved for notice hereafter. It is gratifying to learn that the investigation at Cirencester, where such remarkable vestiges of the Roman Period were brought to light, through the active researches of Mr. Newmarch and Professor Buckman, have been resumed, with the fullest promise of success, under their direction. The funds available are inadequate to the undertaking any contributions in aid of the enterprise will be thankfully received. The object deserves the liberal co-operation of archaeologists. Amongst the sites of Roman occupation, Aldborough (Isurium Brigantum) has presented a field of singular interest, known doubtless to many readers, who may have enriched their collections with the beautiful chromo-lithographs produced through the spirited exertions of Mr. Eeroyd Smith. He has announced the publication (by subscription) of the "Reliquiæ Isurianæ," amply illustrated, and which will form a valuable monograph. Antiquaries desirous of encouraging the undertaking should address the author, at 20, Old Bond-street, London. The completion of the TRANSACTIONS of the SALISBURY MEETING has been announced by the publisher, Mr. Bell, 186, Fleet-street. Members of the Institute who desire to continue the series of annual volumes, may now obtain this, the Fifth, comprising some highly interesting Memoirs. It may be obtained through any bookseller. The Archaeological Journal. DECEMBER, 1851. ACCOUNT OF THE EXAMINATION OF TUMULI AT THE County of Lincoln presents to the antiquary a rich field of inquiry in its numerous vestiges of the early inhabitants of Britain, not less deserving of careful attention than the ancient remains in the southern counties. Whilst, however, the tumuli and earthworks of Wiltshire and other localities in the south have been examined with scientific care, and the remarkable interments of the Saxon period on the Kentish Downs are comparatively well known, through the investigations and the writings of some of our most able antiquaries, scarcely any inquiry has been directed to the numerous traces of those primeval tribes, by whom the north-eastern parts of our island were occupied, or any notice given of such peculiar features and characteristic appearances as may serve to throw light upon the most obscure period of our history. The plough has levelled many tumuli, without affording any opportunity for scientific observation, and no record of the evidence which might thence have been adduced, has been preserved. It is only by tracing the relics of primeval manufacture in clay or stone, as well as bronze, throughout the various counties of England, and by the careful comparison of the Celtic remains in Wiltshire and Dorset with those discovered in the more northern counties, that archaeologists can expect to arrive at any certain classification of the vestiges of those tribes by whom these islands were successively inhabited, or in any degree to disperse the obscurity in which their history and customs are involved. The VOL. VIII. 3 A following notes have been made, during the recent examination of an interesting group of barrows in the northern parts of the county of Lincoln, in the parish of Broughton, a place already known to the readers of the Journal by the curious. manorial service of the "gad-whip," connected with lands there situated, and first brought under the notice of the Institute through the kindness of Mr. Joseph Moore, of Lincoln.1 We are again indebted to that gentleman for directing the excavations of which the results are here recorded, with the hope that his example and lively interest in the investigation of local antiquities may encourage others to prosecute similar researches. If any peculiarities here noticed, differing from details hitherto observed in early sepulchral deposits of other localities, should be recognised as contributing any fresh evidence towards the elucidation of difficulties by which primeval British antiquity is obscured, it will be a cause of gratification to the writer of the following account, as one who regards with keen interest all that is connected with the arts and customs of early times, and more especially those relating to his own county. The group of barrows, eight in number, the general position of which is indicated in the accompanying plan, is situated on the property of Mr. Joseph Moore, of Lincoln, who caused excavations to be made, in the months of May and June, 1850, of which the results are now to be related. The spot was part of Broughton Common, enclosed about three years previously, and now under cultivation; consequently, the tumuli have been ploughed over several times. This has not, however, destroyed their form-the barrows being, in every instance, very low, as shown by the sections on the plan, and none measured more than 4 ft. in height. The soil consists of sand and peat. This ancient burialplace may be described as about 25 miles north of Lincoln, and east of the road leading from Appleby to Brigg; at no great distance, also, from the great line of Roman way, traversing the county in a straight northerly direction from Lincoln towards the Humber, part of the seventeenth Iter of Richard of Cirencester. The tumulus with which our labours commenced (No. 1 in the plan), measured 80 ft. in diameter and 4 ft. in height. 1 See the Memoir on this service, Archæol. Journ., Vol. vi. p. 239. |