Babylonian and Assyrian Laws, Contracts and Letters Part 37

(M834) We have seen that in the second epoch the king had to fix the time when intercalary months should be inserted. In this period the calendar was very carefully regulated by astronomical observations. As a new month began on the day on which the new moon was seen, it is clear that a month would often exceed twenty-nine days, but that a new moon might sometimes be seen on the twenty-ninth. Nabua, the astronomer of the city a.s.shur, sends a number of such letters as:(921)

On the twenty-ninth, we kept watch, we did not see the moon. Nabu and Marduk be gracious to the king, my lord. From Nabua of a.s.shur.

So Nabu-shum-iddin writes:(922)

To the Gardener, my lord, thy servant Nabu-shum-iddin, the _rabute_ of Nineveh. Nabu and Marduk be gracious to the Gardener, my lord. On the fourteenth we kept watch on the moon. The moon suffered an eclipse.

The gardener, or rather irrigator, may be a royal t.i.tle. At present these observations are useless to us in our attempts to fix chronology, as we do not know the month and year of many of them.

(M835) The queen-mother was always an important personage in the state and she had very great influence indeed at court. But probably few ladies ever obtained a higher degree of power than did Naki'a, or Zakutu as she was also called, the wife of Sennacherib and mother of Esarhaddon. She had a sister Abirami.(923) The queen-mother resided in La?iru, but there seem to have been more than one city of the name. Her necklace, or some part of it, is in private possession and has been described by Professor Scheil.(924) She survived her son, and, with her grandsons, Ashurbanipal, Shamash-shum-ukin, and the n.o.bles of a.s.syria, issued a proclamation to the empire, declaring Ashurbanipal the true heir to the throne.

(M836) It is, of course, uncertain whether the person addressed as mother of the king is always Zakutu, since we cannot always date the letters. But the letter of Na'id-Marduk,(925) which names Ummanigash as King of Elam, was certainly addressed to her. Na'id-Marduk was a son of Merodach Baladan, who, in the reign of Esarhaddon, when his brother Nabu-zer-kinish-lishir was killed by Umma.n.a.ldash II., threw himself on the mercy of Esarhaddon and was by him made ruler of his ancestral domain of Bit Jakin, as a va.s.sal king. He speaks for himself:

To the mother of the king, my lord, thy servant Na'id-Marduk.

Peace be to the mother of the king, my lord. May Ashur, Shamash, and Marduk give health to the king, my lord. May they decree the cheer of heart of the mother of the king, my lord. From Elam they came to me, saying, "They have seized the bridge." When they came, I sent to the mother of the king, my lord. Now let the bridge be restored and the bolts of the bridge strengthened. They say, "They have burnt it." I have not sent them, we do not know. They came, it was gone. To the mother of the king, my lord, I will send. Do thou, my lord, send troops. The son of Ningal-iddina has gone to the King of (Elam?) and taken the side of ?ubanigash. [_Several lines follow with only fragments of sentences._] "Since these are trustworthy reports, whatever the Chaldees in future send to the G.o.ds of the king, my lord. If a messenger of the King of Elam does not bring messages to me, he shall enter and I will see him, and whatever is his message, he shall explain until I understand."

They came on the second of Ab, his messenger came to me to the border; he did not pa.s.s over to hinterland, and I sent my messenger to the palace. My lord, may he decide, and what is right for the house of my lord, fulfil.

It is evident that the writer regards the queen-mother as so thoroughly identical with the king that he does not scruple to address her as "my lord." Despite several lacunae the general sense is clear. After the break the pa.s.sage in quotation marks seems to be quoted from a report made to the writer. The sons of Ningal-iddina were Sin-tabni-u?ur, Sin-bala?su-i?bi, and Sin-shar-u?ur, all of whom were in important commands in Southern Babylonia. It seems probable that the events referred to in this letter are those which led up to the Elamite invasion of Babylonia, when they came raiding as far as Sippara. Esarhaddon was away at the time in the west. There is no record of how they were driven back.

Here is a letter from the king to his mother:(926)

(M837)

Message of the king to the king's mother: I am well. Peace be to the king's mother. Concerning Amushe's servant, what thou didst send me, as the king's mother has told me, I will at once order.

What thou hast said is extremely good. Wherefore should ?amunai go?

The meaning is obscured for us by our complete lack of information as to the persons concerned. We may conjecture that ?amunai was the servant of Amushe, but we do not know. However, we see that the queen mother gave good advice.

(M838) Zakutu must often have been a prey to great anxiety, left in command as she was in a.s.syria, with her warrior son nearly always away and such awkward neighbors as the Elamites. But she was on the whole faithfully served. It seems that the proud n.o.bles of a.s.syria became restless during Esarhaddon's long absences, for we learn from the Babylonian Chronicle that, in B.C. 670, Esarhaddon put a number of them to death. Here is a letter, however, from an attached subject:(927)

To the mother of the king, my lady, thy servant Aplia. May Bel and Nabu be gracious to the mother of the king, my lady. Every day I pray Nabu and Nana for life and health and length of days, for the king of lands, my lord, and for the mother of the king, my lady.

May the mother of the king, my lady, be bright. A messenger of good news from Bel and Nabu has come from the king of lands, my lord.

There is a suggestion in the mention of Nana that Aplia wrote from Erech.

He may be the Aplia afterwards a.s.sociated with Bel-ibni and Kudur in the south. If so, we may suppose that the messenger came from Esarhaddon, from Egypt, by way of Southern Babylonia. One would suppose that a messenger from Canaan, or the west, would reach Nineveh, before Chaldea. But, of course, the queen-mother may have been at La?iru. Only it is doubtful whether she lived there, while Esarhaddon was away.

It is more likely still that the Aplia is the same as the _rab ali_ of La?iru, who in B.C. 678 was over the house of the queen-mother there.(928)

(M839) Another letter(929) conveys a.s.surance of fidelity:

To the mother of the king, my lord, thy servant Asharidu. May Nabu and Marduk be gracious to the mother of the king, my lord. Daily I pray to Nergal and Laz for the life and health of the king, and the king's mother, my lords. There is peace in the city and temples of the king and now I keep the watch for the king, my lord.

That Asharidu is the same as the writer of some thirty astrological reports who was the son of Danka, a _?atnu_, and servant of the king, may be doubted. He is more likely to be the author of several letters who seems to have been connected with Borsippa. Another letter(930) is from Nergal-sharani in response to another about some sacrifices, sent by the queen-mother. He prays for a thousand years of rule for Esarhaddon, so there can be no mistake about the period. He recounts the preparations made-an ox, two sheep, and two hundred geese. But he says that Nin?ai, the handmaid of the queen-mother, for some reason, will not perform the sacrifice. The queen-mother is asked to send authority for someone to open the treasury and perform the work. The letter is defective and obscure by reason of unknown words. Nergal-sharani may be the same Ashur-shum-u?ur who so often writes to the king about this time. Again Nabu-shum-lishir writes to the queen-mother(931) about a woman, Kallati, who was intrusted to the writer in the house of Shama', and about some sheep.

(M840) (M841) Another group includes the letters which refer to medical treatment. Here especially Dr. C. Johnston, himself a medical man, has made a most valuable start in his a.s.syrian _Epistolary Correspondence_, and we can hardly do better than to follow his guidance. As a rule, what these ancient peoples said and thought of disease is very obscure to us.

Many terms were then, as now, used in the medical vocabulary which were well known in ordinary language, but which were given a distinctly different technical meaning. Great attention was paid to surgery and medicine, as is shown by the clauses in the Code.(932) There are also a great number of tablets dealing with medicine, some of which have been published. Long ago Professor Sayce discussed one such text under the t.i.tle, "An Ancient Babylonian Work on Medicine,"(933) and from the British Museum Catalogue fully four hundred and fifty such texts are known. Dr. C.

F. H. Kuchler in his _Beitrage zur Kenntniss der a.s.syrischen Medicin_ has made great progress toward settling the reading and meaning of certain words and phrases. Dr. Baron Felix von Oefele, who has devoted much study to ancient medicine in general, has made noteworthy contributions to the study, by his articles in learned journals. Still, the (M842) great obstacle is that so much of the materia medica, which was a very full one, is unknown; and the diseases appear under names which do not a.s.sist us in determining the meaning. The medical treatises considered affections of all parts of the body, and made much of symptoms. They prescribe roots and oils and a great variety of powdered drugs. Some of the treatment is evidently based on extended trial and observation. But also much reliance was placed on charms, and diseases were a.s.sociated with demons. To drive away the demon, as well as cure the pain, was the doctor's duty. There was full recognition of the mental factor in sickness.

(M843) With considerable hesitation the following two letters from the physician Ardi-Nana to the king Esarhaddon are given, in which Dr. C.

Johnston's rendering is closely followed. In the first, Ardi-Nana reports on the state of a patient, perhaps one of the young princes, who was suffering from a disease of the eyes, or perhaps facial erysipelas. He was progressing so well that the physician piously opines that some G.o.d has taken the case under his care. The G.o.ds who were special patrons of the healing art were Ninip and Gula, whose blessing the physician accordingly invokes. We read:(934)

To the king, my lord, thy servant Ardi-Nana. May it be peace in the highest degree to the king, my lord; may Ninip and Gula give cheer of heart and health of body to the king, my lord. It is extremely well with that poor man whose eyes are diseased. I had applied a dressing to him, it covered his face. Yesterday, at evening, I undid the bandage which held it, I removed the dressing which was upon him. There was pus upon the dressing as much as the tip of the little finger. Thy G.o.ds, if any of them has put his hand to the matter, he has indeed given his order. It is extremely well. Let the heart of the king, my lord, be cheered. In seven or eight days he will be well.

There is also another letter(935) from Ardi-Nana to the king, but part of it is too defective to render. It begins in exactly the same way as before, save that greeting is also sent to the king's son.

For the cure which we wrought on ... we were given five-sixths of a shekel. The day he came, he recovered, he recovered his strength, he stayed until.... Concerning the patient who had blood run from his nose, the messenger has told me, saying, "Yesterday, at evening, much blood ran." Those dressings are not with knowledge. They have been placed upon the breathing pa.s.sages of the nose and oppress the breathing and come off, because of the bleeding. Let them be placed within the nostrils, they will preserve the breath and the blood will be held back. If it is right in the sight of the king, in the morning I will come and prescribe for him. Now let me hear his well-being.

The messenger here was a _RAB MU-GI_, in which t.i.tle it has been proposed to see the original of the Rabmag of Jeremiah x.x.xix. 3. He was a high official charged with the care of horses and chariots, and here sent to hear news of the patient. There is no evidence that he had any medical knowledge himself. In another letter,(936) Ardi-Nana writes concerning Ashur-mukin-palea, a younger son of Esarhaddon and brother of Ashurbanipal. He bids the king not to fear. The young prince seems to have been in the doctor's care. Further he writes about the health of a tooth (of the prince's?) about which the king had sent to inquire. He had greatly improved its condition (literally, uplifted its head). In another letter,(937) also partly defective, he directs the king to anoint himself as a protection against draughts (?), to drink pure water, and to wash his hands frequently in a bowl. Presently the rash (?) will disappear. In another still more defective letter(938) he mentions the plant _martakal_, to which magical efficacy was ascribed. Another long letter,(939) after the same complimentary opening as the others, goes on:

Continually has the king, my lord, said to me, thus, "The nature of my disease is this, thou hast not seen to it, its recovery thou hast not effected." Formerly I said before the king, my lord, "The ulcer is incurable (?), I cannot prescribe for it." Now, however, I have sealed a letter and sent it. In the presence of the king, let them read it, I will prescribe for the king, my lord. If it be agreeable to the king, my lord, let a magician do his work on him.

Let the king apply a lotion (?). Shortly the sore will be loosed.

This lotion of oils (?) let the king apply two or three times. The king will know if the king says ...

The rest is obscure, simply because we do not know what the disease, or remedy, was.

Shamash-mitu-uballi?, probably the youngest son of Esarhaddon, writes to the king, but whether to his father or his brother Ashurbanipal does not seem clear, about the health of a lady, in whose well-being the king seemed to take interest.(940)

To the king, my lord, thy servant Shamash-mitu-uballi?. Verily peace be to the king, my lord, may Nabu and Marduk be excessively gracious to the king, my lord. Verily the king's handmaid, Bau-gamelat is excessively ill, she can eat nothing. Forsooth let the king, my lord, send an order and let a doctor come and see her.

(M844) There is also an interesting letter concerning the appointment of a successor to a dead official,(941) sent by a writer whose name is lost:

To the king, my lord, thy servant, ... verily peace to the king, my lord. May Ashur and Beltu be gracious to the king, my lord.

Concerning the overseer of the house of the seers, who is dead, as I said in the presence of the king, my lord, to wit, his son, his brother's son, are alive. Now his son, his brother's son, and Simanai, the son of Nabu-uballi?, and the son of the father's brother, of Ashur-na'id, the deputy priest, with them, shall come into the presence of the king, my lord. Whoever shall find favor in the sight of the king, my lord, let the king, my lord, appoint.

It is clear that succession was not purely hereditary. Even when the son was alive, he might be pa.s.sed over in favor of a cousin, or for a still more distant relation. There are many other interesting cases where the king inquires for the proper persons to be placed in the offices vacated through death or deposition. For example, when Esarhaddon began to set in order the temple services, he heard the following report:(942)