Babylonian and Assyrian Laws, Contracts and Letters Part 30

There is nothing to show for whom or why the list was drawn up, but if the total is correct, we learn that a royal mina was worth one mina forty-six shekels of the ordinary standard. The lists of horses are now very numerous, some dozen varieties being distinguished. Many of these lists give the numbers of horses of different kinds which entered a certain city on a certain day.(781) The horses are often distinguished as coming from certain countries, being called Kusai, or Mesai, horses. The camels are frequently mentioned, and we learn that one was worth a mina and a third.(782) Dromedaries are also named(783) and seem to have been worth three minas apiece.

(M722) Wool accounts play an important part in doc.u.ments of the early times. They may be regarded as of two kinds. The first are shearers'

accounts returned by the shepherd of a flock; the second are concerned with the amounts of wool given out to weavers.

(M723) Shearers' accounts enumerate four sorts or qualities of wool. The best was called royal wool, that which was of the highest quality. The others were second, third, and fourth quality. Poor wool and black wool are also named. Sometimes we are told from what part of the sheep's body it was taken. Other terms applied are less easy to recognize. This wool was received by weight.

(M724) The weavers' accounts give a list of quant.i.ties of wool, with the same distinctions as to quality, and the price at which it was a.s.sessed.

This was doubtless the sum to be paid by the weaver, if the wool was not returned made up. The values attached show very clearly the difference in quality. Thus, while two looms of royal wool were worth thirty minas, seven looms of second quality went for the same value, eleven looms of third quality for a talent, and thirty-two looms of fourth quality for one talent, one loom of another sort for one talent, and the same amount of black wool for the same value.(784) It is evident that the black wool was highly valued. The loom, literally, "beam," of wool, was some measure, perhaps what would occupy one weaver. The price was probably fixed in silver. The price of the same quality varied from time to time.

(M725) In the letters of ?ammurabi and his successors there are frequent references to the shearing, and orders for the inspection of flocks and herds.(785) The Code does not refer to sheep-shearing, though it mentions wool. The shearing was concluded by the New Year feast in Nisan. In the contemporary contracts there are several wool accounts. As a rule, one talent, or sixty minas' weight, of wool was served out to several men who were to pay for it, to the palace, at the rate of one shekel of silver _per mina_.

(M726) In a.s.syrian times we have great wool and weaving accounts. Some deal with the huge amounts of wool received as tribute from the great cities of the empire and then served out to bodies of weavers in various palaces with specifications of the species of cloth or sorts of garments which were to be returned. In the later Babylonian times we have a large number of wool accounts recording the amounts given out from the temple to various persons to weave or make up into garments.(786)

(M727) Skins are also named in the accounts. They are distinguished as the skins of certain kinds of animals. Various amounts are credited to different persons, but whether as giving or receiving, and in what capacity, is not clear. Sheep and goat skins are most common, but ox and cow hides are named.

(M728) The Code does not refer to these, nor the letters of ?ammurabi and his successors, but we have lists of skins and carca.s.ses of animals.(787) The purpose of the lists is not clear. In a.s.syrian times there are frequent references to hides. There was a distinct grade of official called a _?arip ta?e_, "dyer of skins." Large quant.i.ties were bought in the markets of Kala? and ?arran. The price was about two shekels of silver for a skin.(788) The articles made of leather are very numerous; shoes, harness, pouches, even garments, are named. It was used for buckets, baskets, bottles, shields, and many other things not clearly recognized.

(M729) Fairly frequent also are accounts of the quant.i.ties of corn expended for the keep of flocks and herds. The amounts allowed _per diem_ are the chief items of interest. Sheep were allowed from one to one and a half _?A_ a day, lambs half a _?A_, oxen six to eight _?A_.(789) In the Code we find allowances for the keep of animals. There are very frequent lists in a.s.syrian times of amounts of corn given to various animals. These also occur at later times. The amounts allowed per day are various and by no means uniform. A very good example gives as the allowance of corn for a full-grown sheep two _?A per diem_, for a young sheep, one _?A_, for a lamb one-half _?A_.(790)

(M730) Acknowledgments of advances, or loans, occur in the first epoch. As a rule, we are not told what was the ground of the loan. The fact that these loans were to be repaid is not stated, and we may take the tablets to be merely receipts for things given out to officials who had a right to them. The substances were corn of different kinds, wine, beer, sesame-wine, b.u.t.ter, flour and other food-stuffs, wool, and other supplies. We sometimes learn prices from these tablets. Thus a _GUR_ of corn cost one shekel.(791)

(M731) Long lists of accounts are very common at all epochs. They relate what sums or amounts were paid out to various officials for certain goods or for wages, keep, and the like. In fact, they are stewards' accounts.

Unfortunately, the way in which most collections have been formed, and even more the way in which they have since been preserved, renders it impossible for us to make the use of them which has often been made of mediaeval accounts. Otherwise we could obtain from them many interesting items. They are, however, most valuable for prices and names.

(M732) Thus, in such lists we find mention of articles which would otherwise remain unsuspected. The first reference to iron is in the ?ammurabi period,(792) whence we learn that a shekel of silver would buy eight times its weight of iron. Sometimes we get an important contribution to chronology. It is well known that there is no certainty as to the order of the Eponyms after B.C. 648, but we know their names for at least forty years later. Any contribution to the order of these names would be welcomed with avidity. Thus, one scribe writes: "Income from the Eponymy of Sagab to the Eponymy of Nabu-shar-a?eshu, for six years, which was paid in as maintenance, eleven talents ... besides twenty-seven plates of silver." We cannot say whose income it was, but the previous section dealt with the income of the crown prince, and this may be only a _resume_ of the last. But we now know that from Sagab to Nabu-shar-a?eshu was six years in all.

Thus, from the most varied and often most unpromising sources are derived those important details which make it possible to attain an exact and realistic conception of Babylonian and a.s.syrian history and life.

BABYLONIAN AND a.s.sYRIAN LETTERS

I. Letters And Letter-Writing Among The Babylonians And a.s.syrians

(M733) (M734) The ancient Babylonians early discovered the convenience of written communication between friends at a distance. The origin of letter-writing is not yet clear; for, when we first meet with letters, they are fully developed. A piece of clay, usually shaped like a miniature pillow, was inscribed and then enclosed in an envelope made of a thin sheet of clay. On the envelope was written the address. As a rule, the letter was baked hard before being put into its envelope. Powdered clay was inserted to prevent sticking. The envelope, after being inscribed, was also baked hard. Of course, the letter could not be read without breaking the envelope, which was therefore a great protection to the interior letter. The envelope was naturally thrown away after being broken. Hence, extremely few envelopes have been preserved.

(M735) The practice of dating letters does not seem to have been common.

We have dated letters at all epochs, but they are few. In some cases the date may have been on the envelope. It is more common for the writer to give the day of the month, sometimes also the month. But the date of a letter was probably not then of any great importance.

(M736) Some letters seem to have been covered with coa.r.s.e cloth, on which was impressed a lump of clay, to act as a seal and bind down the edges.

The lumps were then sealed with a signet-ring, or cylinder-seal. The clay envelopes were also sealed, before baking, with the sender's seal. So usual was this habit, that the word for seal, _un?u_, is often used to denote a sealed letter. Thus when an official acknowledges the receipt of the king's "seal," it means a sealed order or rescript.

(M737) The early Babylonian letters usually open with the formula, "To A say: Thus saith B." The formula probably goes back to the times when the message was verbally delivered. These would be the words used to a messenger who had to remember the message. The verb "saith" is not expressed exactly. The word used is _umma_, which is often rendered "saying"; it introduces a direct quotation. We might render, "In the name of B." But the written letter replaced the spoken message. Some think the letter was read by a professional reader. Such readers are common still, where education is not widely diffused. It is very clear that the letter was generally written by a scribe. Thus, all ?ammurabi's letters show the same hand, while those of Abeshu or Ammi-ditana are quite different. In the case of private letters we have less proof. But it is possible that the king sometimes wrote with his own hand. Some terms of expression render that very likely. It is, however, quite impossible to be certain on such points.

(M738) The same opening formula also appears in the Tell el Amarna letters. It is not known in a.s.syrian letters, but survived in Babylonia to a late period. In a.s.syria the formula is nearly the same; with the omission of the _?ibi_, or "say," it reads "To A thus B." In addresses to superiors, B usually adds "thy servant." Polite letters generally add good wishes for the recipient. These are exceedingly varied. The word _ulmu_ plays a great part in them. Literally it denotes "peace." "Peace be to thee" is very common. But it soon came to mean the "greeting of peace."

Thus "I have sent _ana ulmika_" means "I have sent to wish thee peace,"

"to greet thee." But it also takes the more general meaning of well-being.

Thus _ulmu iai_ means "I am well," "it is peace with me"; not only absence from war, but health and all prosperity was included. Hence Joram's inquiry of Jehu, "Is it peace, Jehu?" means "Is everything all right?" "Be thou at peace" may be rendered loosely, "I hope you are well,"

in the fullest sense that "all is well with you." No consistent rendering can be given for such phrases as these.

(M739) Very often letters quote the previous message of the present recipient, _a tapuranni_, "what thou didst send me." But the quotation is often omitted and then this becomes an awkward rendering. We have to fill up some general sentence such as, "as to what you sent about." A very difficult sort of construction arises when the writer sets down a list of questions, which he has been asked, and the answer to each. As there are no capitals, periods, or question-marks, there is often some difficulty in separating a question from its answer. This may be done differently by different translators, with startlingly different results.

(M740) Very many sentences are elliptical. Thus, it was common to add at the end of the letter something like, "I leave it to you to decide." This might be put, "As the king, my lord, sees fit, let him do." But a scribe would often merely say, "As the king sees fit." Such elliptical sentences are often very difficult to complete. They were obviously clear to the recipient. To us they leave a wide margin for conjecture.

(M741) Very early indeed in the history of Babylonia a sort of postal system had been developed. At any rate, in the time of Sargon I., B.C.

3800, an active exchange of commodities existed between Agade and Shirpurla. Packages or vessels of produce or goods were forwarded and with them small blocks of clay, impressed with seals and inscribed with the address of the recipient. These were probably used to prevent the fastenings of the packages from being untied, and on their backs may be seen the impressions of the strings which fastened the packages.(793) As it happens, no letters have yet been published from the era preceding the First Dynasty of Babylon; but we can hardly doubt that such exist.

(M742) In the time of the First Dynasty of Babylon letters appear frequently in the collections of tablets brought to our museums. The volumes of _Cuneiform Texts from Babylonian Tablets, etc., in the British Museum, published by order of the Trustees_,(794) contain a large number of letters from copies made by Mr. T. G. Pinches. These have been made the subject of a study by Dr. Mary Williams Montgomery.(795) Mr. L. W. King, in his work, _The Letters and Inscriptions of ?ammurabi_, published fifty-five letters of ?ammurabi to his subordinate officer, Sin-idinnam, six letters of Samsuiluna, thirteen of Abeshu', two of Ammiditana, five of Ammizaduga, and two private letters. These were all transcribed, translated, annotated, and, with a number of other contemporary inscriptions, issued with admirable introductions, glossary, and index.(796) Nowhere can a more vivid picture be obtained of the great empire and the manifold duties of a Babylonian king. A number of the texts published in the first volume were translated and commented upon by Dr. G.

Nagel under the t.i.tle, _Die Briefe ?ammurabi's an Sin-idinnam_.(797) Professor Delitzsch added some valuable notes. Dr. B. Meissner had already published the text of four letters as _Altbabylonische Briefe_.(798) Professor V. Scheil gave the text of two letters of this period, found by him at Sippara, in the _Recueil de Travaux_(799) and noticed others, and some more in his _Une Saison de fouilles a Sippar_.(800) These are preserved at Constantinople, but the text has not yet been published. They are chiefly private letters and of a business nature. There are a great many other letters in American and European museums, the publication of which should not be longer delayed.

(M743) For the long period before the Tell el Amarna times, _circa_ B.C.

1500, nothing of any extent seems to have been published, though letters are also known to exist of this period. A late copy of one such letter, addressed by Adadi-Shumna?ir, King of Babylon, to Ashur-narara and Nabu-dani, kings of a.s.syria, about B.C. 1250, is partly preserved in the British Museum.(801)

(M744) The Tell el Amarna tablets, some three hundred in number, were discovered in 1887-88, at the ruins of the palace of Amenophis IV., in Egypt. They will form the subject of a separate volume of this series.

They consist of the letters or despatches sent to kings of Egypt by the kings of Babylon, a.s.syria, Mitanni, and the subject-rulers of many Syrian and Palestinian cities and states. From these can be obtained a very clear view of the state of Syria and Palestine just before the exodus of the Israelites from Egypt. Naturally, these letters have formed the subject of a very large literature. The most complete edition of the texts is by Winckler, _Der Thontafelfund von el Amarna_.(802) With these should be compared Dr. J. A. Knudtzon's _Ergebnisse einer Collation der El Amarna Tafeln_ and _Weitere Studien zu den El Amarna Tafeln_.(803) A full transcription with translation and glossary to these texts has been given by Winckler, as _Die Thontafeln von Tell el Amarna_.(804) An excellent English translation by J. P. Metcalf is to be had. There are a few of these tablets, which found their way into private hands, or to other museums than London, Berlin, and Gizeh, whence Winckler's copies were obtained. It is a duty to science that these should now be published. In the _Bulletin de l'Inst.i.tut Francais d'Archeologie orientale_, t. II., published at Cairo, Professor Scheil gives the text of two more of these important letters. The explorer, Dr. F. Bliss, found another in the ruins of Lachish. It is included in Winckler's work above. Professor Sellin has lately found several tablets, which by their script and personal references are shown to belong to this period. They were found at Ta'annek, and are published by Dr. Hronzy in the _Anzeige der philos.

hist. Kla.s.se der Wiener Akademie_.(805) The interest of these additions lies in the fact that they were found in Palestine itself.

(M745) The numerous Cappadocian tablets are now generally recognized by their language and script to belong to this period. They also show considerable affinity with the doc.u.ments of the First Dynasty of Babylon, and the Tell el Amarna letters preserve many characteristic expressions.

(M746) The subsequent periods in Babylonia are represented by few letters.

It is not until we come down to the end of the eighth century and the Sargonide times that we meet with many letters. The archives of Nineveh contained immense numbers. A great many of these are now in the Kouyunjik Collections of the British Museum. There they early attracted attention.

Being written by the imperial officials to the kings of a.s.syria, they contain most valuable material (M747) for history. George Smith in 1871 gave extracts from several of them in his _History of Ashurbanipal_. A number were published in Rawlinson's _Cuneiform Inscriptions of Western Asia_. Mr. S. A. Smith, in the _Proceedings of the Society of Biblical Archaeology_, 1887-89,(806) and in the second and third volumes of his _Keilschrifttexte Asurbanipals_ gave some seventy more. Professor Delitzsch also published a number in his _Zur a.s.syrisch-babylonischen Briefliteratur_,(807) and in his translations and comments laid the real foundation for their interpretation. In 1892 Professor R. F. Harper began the colossal task of publishing the text of all the letters from Nineveh, in his _a.s.syrian and Babylonian Letters belonging to the K Collections of the British Museum_, of which eight volumes are already published.(808)

(M748) A considerable number of scholars have busied themselves with the translation and elucidation of these texts. Professor C. Johnston in his work, _The Epistolary Literature of the a.s.syrians and Babylonians_;(809) C. van Gelderen, _Ausgewahlte babylonisch-a.s.syrische Briefe_;(810) A. J.

Delattre, _Quelques Lettres a.s.syriennes_;(811) G. R. Berry, _The Letters of the Rm. 2 Collection_, in _American Journal of Semitic Literature_, xi., pp. 174-202; F. Martin, _Lettres a.s.syriennes et babyloniennes_-besides the many articles by other scholars on particular words or subjects-have contributed to the understanding of these difficult texts. Professor R. F. Harper has published a few preliminary studies on these texts.(812) Dr. H. Winckler not only gave several important texts in his _Texte verschiedenen Inhalts_,(813) but translations and comments on them in his _Altorientalische Forschungen_.(814)

(M749) The letter-texts of the latter Babylonian period at present published are extremely few. Some may be found in Stra.s.smaier's great collection of _Babylonische Texte_, among the contracts. A list of those for the reigns of Nabonidus and Nebuchadrezzar is given in Dr. K. L.

Tallqvist's _Die Sprache der Contracte Nabu-na'ids_, p. xviii.

(M750) One of the uses to which the letters may be put is to ill.u.s.trate the history of the time. From the letters of ?ammurabi we can gather a great deal of information as to the civil policy of the reign. From the Tell el Amarna tablets we may reconstruct almost a complete survey of the condition of politics in Palestine. From the a.s.syrian letters we can rewrite the history of affairs in Armenia at the end of Sargon's reign, or the wars with Elam in Ashurbanipal's time.

(M751) The letters are also a rich mine of information on all sorts of topics, and those very often on which almost all other literatures are silent. We gain here a closer and more intimate acquaintance with humanity than at any other period of ancient history. We must not expect finality in our translations for a long while to come. Fresh doc.u.ments will continually be found or published that will help us to revise our views.

But that is the perennial interest of the letters. We may read and reread them, always finding something fresh to combine with every new piece of information.

(M752) Several different methods of cla.s.sifying the letters suggest themselves. One plan would be to group those letters which ill.u.s.trate some phase of civil life. Thus we may collect the references to medical cases, or the ill.u.s.trations of religious life, or the contributions to astronomy and astrology. But none of these methods will be exhaustive or generally applicable. A letter rarely deals with only one subject. The only scientific cla.s.sification seems to be that adopted by Professor Harper in his edition of the Nineveh letters, or Mr. King in his letters of ?ammurabi. This is to place together all the letters written by one scribe. Here we have two difficulties. There may be more than one scribe of the same name. Thus it is practically certain that in Professor Harper's groups of letters apparently a.s.signed to one man, more than one person is often really involved. Again, a very large number of letters no longer preserve the name of their scribe. Only a prolonged study can reduce these difficulties; it is not likely that we shall ever quite eliminate error.

(M753) There is one large group that has a claim to separate consideration. Many letters are written by, or to, a king. They are on various subjects. A subdivision might be made of reports sent by officials concerning public affairs. But even these often contain side-references; and at the last we have really to consider each letter as a separate doc.u.ment.