Babylonian and Assyrian Literature Part 58

....[3]

10 Like an oven (which is) old against thy foes be hard.

15 Thou wentest, thou spoiledst the land of the foe; (for) he went, he spoiled thy land, (even) the foe.

18 Kingship in its going forth (is) like a _royal robe_(?) 19 Into the river thou plungest, and thy water (is) swollen at the time:[5]

into the orchard thou plungest, and thy fruit (is) bitter.

34 The corn (is) high, it is flourishing; how is it known?

The corn (is) bearded, it is flourishing; how is it known?

42 The fruit of death may the man eat, (and yet) the fruit of life may he achieve.

[Footnote 1: Lacuna.]

[Footnote 2: I have translated this line from the Accadian, the a.s.syrian text being wanting, and the words "a recent lacuna" being written instead.

This makes it clear that the scribe who copied the tablet for a.s.sur-bani-pal's library did not understand Accadian and could not therefore supply the translation.]

[Footnote 3: Lacunae.]

[Footnote 4: This seems to be quoted from a hymn describing the return of Oannes to the Persian Gulf.]

[Footnote 5: See "Cuneiform Inscriptions of Western Asia," vol. i. 25, 10.]

BABYLONIAN PUBLIC DOc.u.mENTS CONCERNING PRIVATE PERSONS

EDITED BY MM. OPPERT AND MENANT

These translations are taken from a French work published by Dr. Oppert and M. Menant; [Footnote: The t.i.tle of the work is "Doc.u.ments juridiques de l'a.s.syrie et de la Chaldee," par J. Oppert et J. Menant, Paris, 1877.]

the versions have been revised, in some essential points, for the "Records of the Past," by Dr. Oppert, who holds himself personally responsible for the exact representation of the sense of these doc.u.ments; but on account of the unusual difficulty of these texts, the reader may easily be convinced that for a long time yet, and particularly in details of minor importance, there will remain room enough for a conscientious improvement of all previous translations.

BABYLONIAN PRIVATE CONTRACTS

THE STONE OF ZA'ALEH

This doc.u.ment, engraved on a small broken slab of basalt, is dated from the first year of the reign of Marduk-idin-akhe. It was discovered long ago in the small mound of Za'aleh, on the left bank of the Euphrates, a few miles northwest of Babylon. The text forms two columns of cursive Babylonian characters; the first column is extremely damaged. Though defaced, this contract offers some interest by its differing from other doc.u.ments of the aforesaid reign. It has been published in the first volume of the collection of the British Museum ("W.A.I.," pl. 66), and translated for the first time by Dr. Oppert, "_Expedition en Mesopotamie_"

t. i, p. 253.

COLUMN I

Covenant which in the town of Babylon, in the month Sebat, in the first year of Marduk-idin-akhe, the mighty King, the men of M ..., have agreed:

The waters of the river ...,[1] and the waters of the ca.n.a.ls did not go through....[2]

[Footnote 1: Lacuna.]

[Footnote 2: Lacuna of several lines.]

COLUMN II

....[1] and all the streams which exist at the mouth of the river Salmani.

Therefore, Aradsu, son of Erisnunak, has agreed to (aforesaid things) for the times to come, in giving his signature to this tablet.

Bit-Karra-basa, son of Hea-habal-idin, Governor of the town of Isin; Babilayu, son of Sin-mustesir, Chief; Malik-akh-idinna, son of Nigazi, Chief of the _ru-bar;_[2] Tab-asap-Marduk, son of Ina-e-saggatu-irbu, a Scribe; Zikar-Nana, son of ...[1] Bin, _sabil_; Nabu-mumaddid-zir, a servant, son of Zikar-Ea, a Governor; and Nabu-idin-akhe, son of Namri, have fixed it in the furnitures of the house.

In the town of Babylon, on the 30th of Sebat (January), in the first year of Marduk-idin-akhe, the mighty King.

The Masters of the Royal Seal have granted approbation.

[Footnote 1: Lacuna of several lines.]

[Footnote 2: Unknown dignity.]

THE PARIS MICHAUX STONE

This monument is so called from the name of the traveller by whom it was brought over to France in 1800. It was discovered near the Tigris, not far from the ruins of the ancient city of Ctesiphon. It is an ovoid basalt stone of seventeen inches in height, by twenty-four in circ.u.mference. The upper part is decorated with symbolical figures spread over nearly one-third of the monument; one of the sides is divided in two parts. At the top the moon crescent and the sun are represented; in a somewhat lower place there are four altars; two on the right support tiaras; the other two are adorned with two symbolical figures. In the middle a winged goat kneeling; the lower part of the animal is hidden by the image of another altar. The second part contains two altars; one of them bears a sort of arrow-head which for a long time has been taken for the symbol of the Cuneiform writing, because it resembles the element of these characters, On the other part there is a triangular symbol, then, between both altars, two kneeling monsters; only the fore part of their body is visible. On the left behind the altar there is to be seen a symbolical figure preceding a downward pointed arrow. On the back side of the monument there is a scorpion, a bird roosting. On the ground there is a bird, on the head of which is to be seen an unknown symbol composed of two other monsters, one bears a bird's head, and the other has a hideous horned face; the rest of the body is wrapped up in a sort of sheath; opposite to which a dog kneeling. The top of the stone is bordered with an immense snake; its tail extends into the very inscriptions, its head touches the head of the dog.

On each side of the monument in its lower part, there are two columns of cuneiform texts, which contain altogether ninety-five lines.

This monument is now kept since 1801 in the "_Cabinet des Medailles_" at Paris (No. 702). Since that epoch it has always attracted the attention of scholars; it was published by M. Millin in 1802, "_Monuments inedits_" t.

I, pl. viii, ix. Munter first attempted to explain the symbolical figures (_"Religion der Babylonier,"_ p. 102, pl. III). Sir Henry Rawlinson has also published the inscription again, in "W.A.I.," Vol. I, p. 70. The sense of this text has been fixed for the first time, in 1856, by M.

Oppert's translation in the "_Bulletin Archeologique de l'Atheneum Francais_" After this translation, Mr. Fox Talbot gave one in 1861, in the "Transactions of the Royal Asiatic Society," Vol. XVIII, p. 54.

COLUMN I

20 hin of corn is the quant.i.ty for seeding an _arura_.[1] The field is situated near the town of Kar-Nabu, on the bank of the river Mekaldan, depending of the property of Kilnamandu.

The field is measured as follows:[2] Three stades in length toward the East, in the direction of the town of Bagdad; three stades in length toward the West, adjoining the house of Tunamissah; 1 stade 50 fathoms[3]

in breadth toward the North, adjoining the property of Kilnamandu; 1 stade 50 fathoms up in the South, adjoining the property of Kilnamandu.

Sirusur, son of Kilnamandu, gave it for all future days to Dur-Sarginaiti, his daughter, the bride[4] of Tab-asap-Marduk, son of Ina-e-saggatu-irbu (the pretended), who wrote this; and Tab-asap-Marduk, son of Ina-e-saggatu-irbu, who wrote this in order to perpetuate without interruption the memory of this gift, and commemorated on this stone the will of the great G.o.ds and the G.o.d Serah.

[Footnote 1: Or the great U, namely, of the field in question.]

[Footnote 2: Dr. Oppert's first translation of this pa.s.sage, which is to be found in almost all doc.u.ments of this kind, has been corrected in "L'Etalon des mesures a.s.syriennes," p. 42. The field of Kilnamandu was a rectangle of 1-5/6 stades in breadth and 3 stades long, viz., 5-1/2 square stades, amounting to 19.64 hectares, or 48-1/2 English acres. The Stone of Micheux is the only one which affords a valuation of the land.