Light from the East: An Introduction to Biblical Archaeology by C.J. Ball

Today’s free book is C.J. Ball‘s Light from the East, or the Witness of the Monuments. An Introduction to the Study of Biblical Archaeology.

As you would expect, some of the author’s conclusions, such as his identification of Amraphel, King of Shinar of Genesis 14:1 with Hammurabi the sixth Amorite king of the Old Babylonian Empire, have not stood the test of time. However, the book’s enduring value is in its wonderful collection of drawings and photographs of archaeological finds.

This public domain work was digitised using a copy of the book from the library of Terence C. Mitchell.

Charles James Ball [1851-1924], Light from the East, or the Witness of the Monuments. An Introduction to the Study of Biblical Archaeology. London: Eyre and Spottiswoode, 1899. Hbk. pp.256. [Click here to visit the download page for this title]

Table of Contents

• Preface
• Contents
• List of Illustrations
• Index of Subjects
• Index of Passages of Scripture Referred to
  
  Mesopotamian Document Which Illustrate Genesis
  • Babylonian Epic of Creation
  • Another Babylonian Account of the Creation
  • Ancient Babylonian Map of the World
  • Babylonian and Assyrian Seals
  • Assyrian Sacred Trees with Cherubic Figures
  • Assyrian Cherubic Figures
  • The Chaldean Story of the Flood and the Chaldean Noah
  • An Archaic Babylonian Seal, Representing the Chaldean Noah
  • Fragment of Another Babylonian Account of the Flood
  • The Babylonian Legend of Gilgamesh-Nimrod
  • An Inscribed Limestone Tablet From Sippara (Abu Habbah)
  • Head of a Mace or Sceptre Inscribed with the Name of Sargon I.
  • Seal Of Ilu-Ishtar (?)
  • Inscribed Statue of Gudea, King of Chaldea
  • The Old Sumerian Inscription Known as Gudea B
  • Bronze Statuette of a God Or Pontiff-King
  • Fragments of Assyrian Clay Tablets, Inscribed with Early Hieroglyphics Forms of Cuneiform Characters
  • Ur of the Chaldees, and Inscribed Bricks From its Site
  • Portrait of Hammurabi, or Amraphel, King of Shinar
  • Inscribed Cylinder of Arioch (?), King of Ellasar
  • Sumerian and Semitic-Babylonian Inscription
  • Obverse of an Unbaked Clay Fragment in the British Museum
  • Inscription of Ku-du-ur-Ma-bu-ug (Kudur-Mabug), on Bricks from the Foundations of the Buildings of the South of the Great Mound of Muqayyar
  • Inscription of Ha-am-mu-ra-bi (Hammurabi), on a Slab of Limestone in the British Museum
  • Tablet of Assur-Nasir-pal I., King of Assyria
• Asiatics in Egypt
  • A Family of the Aamu of N. Arabia Going Down into Egypt, Depicted in the Tombs at Beni-Hassan in Upper Egypt, About Midway Between Memphis and Thebes
  • Funerary Stele of Aunef The Hyksos or Shepherd Kings
  • Monumental Names and Titles of the Pharaohs of Scripture
• Egypt and Syria
  • Chu-En-Aten, or Akhu-en-Aten (Amenophis IV., King of Egypt, 18th Dynasty), the Heretical or Reforming Pharaoh
  • The Tell El-Amarna Correspondence
• The Pharoahs in Syria
  • The Hittites
  • A Hittite Portrait
  • Amun of Thebes
  • Ruins of Thebes
  • Great Hall of Temple of Amun, at Karnak
  • Seti I. Fighting Against the Asiatics
  • Colossus of Rameses II.
  • Great Hittite Campaign of Rameses II. (The Battle of Kadesh.)
  • A Letter in the Ancient Egyptian Hieratic Writing
  • Rameses II., The Pharaoh of the Oppression
• Israel in Egypt—Scenes from Egyptian Life
  • Pithom, The Store-City: Egyptian Granaries
  • Brick-Making in Egypt by Foreign Captives Under Taskmasters
  • Brick of Rameses II. and Egyptian Statuaries
  • Captives Dragging a Colossus in Egypt
  • Transport of an Assyrian Colossus
  • Egyptian Musicians and Dancers
  • Funeral Processions of the Egyptians
  • Richly Decorated Mummy-Case
  • Anubis, The Egyptian Hermes, Tending a Mummy on its Bier
  • The Soul Reanimating the Bodv in the Tomb
  • “After Death The Judgment”
  • The Goddess of the Sacred Fig-Sycamore Tree Presenting Fruit and Drink to a Deceased Pair
• The Exodus
  • Portrait Statue of Meneptah II., The Pharaoh of the Exodus
  • Syenite Stele of Amenophis III., With Added Inscription of Meneptah II., Mentioning the Israelites
  • Shishak or Shashank L., The Invader of Judah in the Time of Rehoboam
  • Sword of Kammanu-Nirari I., King of Assyria
• Old Testament Ethnography
  • Ancient Chaldeans or Accadians (Better Sumerians)
  • Typical Heads of The Nations of Canaan and the Adjacent Countries
• The So-Called Monuments of the Hittites
  • Rock Sculpture of A Local Baal, A God of Cord and Wine, With Supposed Hittite Inscriptions
  • The Bilingual (“Hittite” and Assyrian) Boss of Tarkondemos
  • Terra-Cotta Seals and Seal-Impressions
  • Stone Lion from Marash With “Hittite” Inscription
  • Babylonian Boundary Stones or Landmarks
  • The Religion of Babylon and Assyria, as Illustrated by the Seal-Engravings A Stone Tablet Pourtraying the Worship of the Sun-God, and Bearing an Inscription of Nabu-apla-Iddina, King of Babylon
  • Seal of Arad-Nabium
• Assyrian Warfare and Military Engines
  • Assur-Nasir-Pal II. Besieging A “Fenced City,” and, for Comparison, Rameses and His Three Sons Besieging a City
  • Limestone Monolith of Assur-Nasir-Pal II., King of Assyria
  • Royal Hunting Scenes
  • The Black Obelisk of Shalmaneser II., King of Assyria
  • Scenes From the Black Obelisk
  • Inscribed Statue of Nebo, The Babylonian God of Letters
  • Tiglath-Pileser II. (III.)
  • Official Records of Tiglath-Pileser II.
  • Old Babylonian Seal of Sin-Iqisha, Who Was Probably a Priest or Scribe
  • The Old Aramean Inscription of Panammu
  • Broken Cylinder of Sargon II., King of Assyria
• Sennacherib
  • Record of the Invasion of Judah and the Siege of Jerusalem
  • The Storming of Lachish in Judah, With Sennacherib Receiving the Spoils and Captives
  • Mound of Tell El-Hesy, The Site of the Ancient Lachish
  • Phoenician Ships in the Service of Sennacherib
  • Monolith with Sculptured Portrait of Esarhaddon, King of Assyria
  • Assur-Bani-Pal, King of Assyria
  • Assur-Bani-Pal and His Queen Banqueting in the Garden
• Ancient Monuments of the Period of the Captivity of Judah
  • India House Inscription of Nebuchadnezzar II. (The Great), King of Babylon
  • Cylinder With Inscription of Nebuchadnezzar II. (The Great)
  • Cameo Portrait of Nebuchadnezzar II.
  • Inscription from the Four Clay Cylinders of Nabium-Na-id or Nabonidus, Mentioning the King’s Son Belu-Sharra-usur, or Belshazzar
  • Inscription on a Clay Cylinder of Nabonidus Note on the Date of Hammurabi, The Amraphel of Gen. 14
  • Inscription of Nabonidus
  • Head of a Sceptre from Babylon
  • Annals of Nabonidus
  • Birs Nimrud. The Ruins of E-Zidda, The Great Temple of Nebo at Barsib or Borsippa
  • Sculptured Stele, with Portrait of Cyrus
  • Inscription of the Broken Cylinder of Cyrus
  • The Tomb of Cyrus at Meshed-Murghab
  • Darius, King of Persia
  • A Babylonian Deed of Sale, Dated in the Third Year of Darius
  • Monumental Names of Babylonian, Assyrian, and Persian Kings Mentioned in the Old Testament
  • The Phoenicio-Hebrew Alphabet, Showing its Origin from the Old Linear and Primarily Pictorial Script of Shumir or Shinar, Rather than from the Egyptian Hieratic Character
  • The Baal Lebanon Inscription
  • The Moabite Stone
  • The Siloam Inscription
• Phoenician Monuments
  • Limestone Stele of Jahaumelech, King of Gebal. (Byblus)
  • Inscription on The Sarcophagus of Eshmunazar II., King of the Zidonians
  • Bilingual Inscription, Phoenician and Cypriote
  • The Sacrificial Tablet of Marseilles
  • The Rosetta Stone
  • The Bilingual Inscription of Canopus
• A list of Proper Names in the Old and New Testaments

Main image: Pictures representing the judgement after death in Amenti, the Egyptian hades, from the papyrus of Ani, in the British Museum. From the frontispiece.