Suspended to the backs of the chariots, and also carried by warriors,

are frequently seen shields in the shape of a crescent, narrow and

curved outwards at the extremities. The face is ornamented by a row

of angular bosses, or teeth, in the centre of which is the head of a

lion. In the sculptures of Khorsabad the round shield is often highly

ornamented. It resembles, both in shape and in the devices upon it, the

bucklers now carried by the Kurds and Arabs, which are made of the hide

of the hippopotamus. In the bas-reliefs of Kuyunjik some warriors bear

oval shields, very convex, and sufficiently large to cover the greater

part of the body. The centre and outer rim are decorated with bosses.

The shield used during a siege concealed the whole person of the

warrior, and completely defended him from the arrows of the enemy. It

was made either of wickerwork or of hides, and was furnished at the

top with a curved point, or with a square projection, like a roof, at

right angles to the body of the shield, which may have served to defend

the heads of the combatants against missiles discharged from the walls

and towers. Such were probably the shields used by the Persian archers

at the battle of Platæa. The archers, whether fighting on foot or in

chariots, were accompanied by shield bearers, whose office it was to

protect them from the shafts of the enemy. Sometimes one shield covered

two archers. The shield bearer was usually provided with a sword, which

he held ready drawn for defence. The king was always attended in his

wars by this officer, and even in peace one of his eunuchs usually

carried a circular shield for his use. This shield bearer was probably

a person of rank, as in Egypt. On some monuments of the later Assyrian

period he is represented carrying two shields, one in each hand.

A great part of the strength of the Assyrian armies consisted in

chariots and horsemen, to which we have frequent allusion in the

inspired writings. The chariots appear to have been used by the king

and the highest officers of state, who are never seen in battle on

horseback nor, except in sieges, on foot. They contained either two or

three persons. The king was always accompanied by two attendants--the

warrior protecting him with a shield (who was replaced during peace

by the eunuch bearing the parasol), and the charioteer. The principal

warriors were also frequently attended by their shield bearers, though

more generally by the driver alone.

The chariot was used during a siege, as well as in open battle. The

king and his warriors are frequently represented as fighting in

chariots with the enemy beneath the walls of a castle, or as having

dismounted from their cars, to discharge their arrows against the

besieged. In the latter case, grooms on foot hold the horses. When the

king in his chariot formed part of a triumphal procession, armed men

led the horses. The chariot was also preceded and followed by men on

foot.

The horsemen formed a no less important part of the Assyrian army than

the charioteers.--“Assyrians clothed in blue, captains and rulers, all

of them desirable young men, horsemen riding upon horses” (Ezekiel

xxiii. 6). Horsemen are seen in the most ancient sculptures of Nimrud.

It is singular, as observes Sir Gardner Wilkinson (_Ancient Egyptians_,

Vol. I, p. 288), that horsemen are nowhere represented on the monuments

of Egypt, although there can be no doubt, from numerous passages in the

sacred writings, that cavalry formed an important part of the Egyptian

armies. I have already mentioned that disciplined bodies of cavalry

were represented in the bas-reliefs of Kuyunjik. We learn from the Book

of Judith that Holofernes had twelve thousand archers on horseback

(Judith ii. 15). Solomon had twelve thousand horsemen (1 Kings x. 26).

The king himself is never represented on horseback, although a horse

richly caparisoned, apparently for his use,--perhaps to enable him to

fly, should his chariot horses be killed,--is frequently seen led by a

warrior, and following his chariot.

In the earliest sculptures the horses, except such as are led behind

the king’s chariot, are unprovided with cloths or saddles. The rider

is seated on the naked back of the animal. At a later period, however,

a kind of pad appears to have been introduced; and in a sculpture at

Kuyunjik was represented a high saddle not unlike that now in use in

the East.[b]

THE ARTS OF PEACE IN BABYLONIA-ASSYRIA

Nothing else, perhaps, is so vitally important in the life-history of a

nation as its contact with other nations. Such contact alone, it would

seem, can enable a nation in some measure to ward off the lethargy of

age, or to overcome the incubus of custom and superstition.

The isolated nation does not get beyond a certain stage of evolution.

It learns a few secrets, and seems powerless to learn others of itself.

Only through contact with another community can it improve its customs,

get new ideas, acquire better habits of thought and action. We have

already pointed out how Egypt profited in this regard through the

foreign associations that came with the inroad of conquering tribes

from the south and east.

Babylon, however, occupied a far more favourable position than Egypt

for contact with other nations, not alone through such warlike

channels, but also through the yet more beneficent channels of peaceful

commerce. A glance at the map shows that Mesopotamia occupies the

very centre of the world of ancient civilisation. By reaching out its

hand, so to speak, this way or that, it came in contact with every

civilised nation of the period except China. It was the connecting

link between Persia and India on the one hand, and Lydia, Syria, and

Egypt on the other. Even Chinese ideas were to some extent accessible

through the mediation of India. No other great nation of antiquity

compares with Babylonia in this regard; and perhaps this was the most

important reason why this little strip of fertile land between the two

great rivers supported a continuous civilisation, on the whole ever

advancing, millennium after millennium.

If one would correctly understand the development of that Mesopotamian

civilisation, of which our own culture is the direct outgrowth, one

must give heed to the commercial relations which were so important a

factor of national growth, without which, indeed, no such civilisation

as that of Babylon and Nineveh could have come into existence.

But, of course, commerce builds up local industries. A nation must

be a producer of useful commodities before it can hope to secure,

by peaceful means, the commodities produced by other nations. In

connection with the commercial relations of a nation we must study also

its home industries, that is to say, broadly speaking, its agricultural

and manufacturing conditions. We must see something also of the social

customs that grow out of, and rest upon these industrial conditions;

and of the laws that are the official expression of the communal

intelligence--the index of the communal conscience of the epoch.[a]

And first we have the privilege of quoting from one who himself saw

Babylon, that is, of course, Herodotus.

BABYLON AND ITS CUSTOMS DESCRIBED BY AN EYE-WITNESS

The Assyrians are masters of many capital towns; but their place of

greatest strength and fame is Babylon, which, after the destruction of

Nineveh, was the royal residence. It is situated on a large plain, and

is a perfect square; each side, by every approach, is 120 furlongs in

length; the space, therefore, occupied by the whole is 480 furlongs.

[The different reports of the extent of the walls of Babylon are

given as follows: By Herodotus at 120 stadia each side, or 480 in

circumference. By Pliny and Solinus at 60 Roman miles, which, at eight

stadia to a mile, agrees with Herodotus. By Strabo at 385 stadia. By

Diodorus, from Ctesias, 360; but from Clitarchus, who accompanied

Alexander, 365; and, lastly, by Curtius, 368. It appears highly

probable that 360 or 365 was the true statement of the circumference.]

So extensive is the ground which Babylon occupies, its internal beauty

and magnificence exceeds whatever has come within my knowledge. It is

surrounded by a trench, very wide, deep, and full of water; the wall

beyond this is two hundred royal cubits high, and fifty wide; the royal

exceeds the common cubit by three digits. [These measures, being taken

from the proportions of the human body, are more permanent than any

other. The foot of a moderate-sized man and the cubit, that is the

space from the end of the fingers to the elbow, have always been near

twelve and eighteen inches respectively.--BELOE.]

I here think it right to describe the use to which the earth dug out

of the trench was converted, as well as the particular manner in which

they constructed the wall. The earth of the trench was first of all

laid in heaps, and, when a sufficient quantity was obtained, made into

square bricks and baked in a furnace. They used as cement a composition

of heated bitumen, which, mixed with tops of reeds, was placed betwixt

every thirtieth course of bricks. Having thus lined the sides of

the trench, they proceeded to build the wall in the same manner, on

the summit of which, and fronting each other, they erected small

watch-towers of one story, leaving a space betwixt them, through which

a chariot and four horses might pass and turn. In the circumference

of the wall, at different distances, were an hundred massy gates of

brass, whose hinges and frames were of the same metal. Within an eight

days’ journey from Babylon is a city called Is [Hit], near which flows

a river of the same name, which empties itself into the Euphrates.

With the current of this river, particles of bitumen descend towards

Babylon, by the means of which its walls were constructed. The great

river Euphrates, which, with its deep and rapid streams, rises in the

Armenian Mountains, and pours itself into the Red Sea, divides Babylon

into two parts. The walls meet and form an angle with the river at each

extremity of the town, where a breastwork of burnt bricks begins, and

is continued along each bank. The city, which abounds in houses from

three to four stories in height, is regularly divided into streets.

Through these, which are parallel, there are transverse avenues to the

river, opened through the wall and breastwork, and secured by an equal

number of little gates of brass.

The first wall is regularly fortified; the interior one, though less in

substance, is of almost equal strength. Besides these, in the centre

of each division of the city, there is a circular space surrounded by

a wall. In one of these stands the royal palace, which fills a large

and strongly defended space. The temple of Jupiter Belus occupies the

other, whose huge gates of brass may still be seen. It is a square

building, each side of which is of the length of two furlongs. In the

midst a tower rises, of the solid depth and height of one furlong, upon

which, resting as a base, seven other turrets are built in regular

succession. The ascent is on the outside, which, winding from the

ground, is continued to the highest tower; and in the middle of the

whole structure there is a convenient resting-place. In the last tower

is a large chapel, in which is placed a couch magnificently adorned,

and near it a table of solid gold; but there is no statue in the place.

No man is suffered to sleep here; but the apartment is occupied by a

female, who, as the Chaldean priests affirm, is selected by their deity

from the whole nation as the object of his pleasures.

They themselves have a tradition, which cannot easily obtain credit,

that their deity enters this temple and reposes by night on this couch.

A similar assertion is also made by the Egyptians of Thebes; for, in

the interior part of the temple of the Theban Jupiter, a woman in like

manner sleeps. Of these two women, it is presumed that neither of them

has any communication with the other sex. In which predicament the

priestess of the temple of Pataræ in Lycia is also placed. Here is no

regular oracle; but whenever a divine communication is expected, the

priestess is obliged to pass the preceding night in the temple.

In this temple there is also a small chapel, lower in the building,

which contains a figure of Jupiter in a sitting posture, with a large

table before him; these, with the base of the table and the seat of the

throne, are all of the purest gold, and are estimated by the Chaldeans

to be worth eight hundred talents. On the outside of this chapel there

are two altars: one is of gold, the other is of immense size, and

appropriated to the sacrifice of full-grown animals; those only which

have not left their dams may be offered on the altar of gold. Upon

the larger altar, at the time of the anniversary festival in honour

of their god, the Chaldeans regularly consume incense, to the amount

of a thousand talents. There was formerly in this temple a statue of

gold, twelve cubits high; this, however, I mention from the information

of the Chaldeans, and not from my own knowledge. Darius, the son of

Hystaspes, endeavoured by sinister means to get possession of this,

not daring openly to take it; but his son Xerxes afterwards seized it,

putting the priest to death who endeavoured to prevent its removal. The

temple, besides those ornaments which I have described, contains many

offerings of individuals.

Among the various sovereigns of Babylon, who contributed to the

strength of its walls, and the decoration of its temples, and of whom

I shall make mention when I treat of the Assyrians, there were two

females; the former of these was named Semiramis, who preceded the

other by an interval of five generations. This queen raised certain

mounds, which are indeed admirable works. Till then the whole plain

was subject to violent inundations from the river. The other queen

was called Nitocris. She being a woman of superior understanding, not

only left many permanent works, which I shall hereafter describe, but

also having observed the increasing power and restless spirit of the

Medes, and that Nineveh, with other cities, had fallen a prey to their

ambition, put her dominions in the strongest posture of defence. To

effect this she sunk a number of canals above Babylon, which by their

disposition rendered the Euphrates, which before flowed to the sea

in an almost even line, so complicated by its windings that in its

passage to Babylon it arrives three times at Ardericca, an Assyrian

village; and to this hour they who wish to go from the sea up the

Euphrates to Babylon are compelled to touch at Ardericca three times

on three different days. The banks also, which she raised to restrain

the river on each side, are really wonderful from their enormous height

and substance. At a considerable distance above Babylon, turning

aside a little from the stream, she ordered an immense lake to be

dug, sinking it till they came to the water. Its circumference was

no less than four hundred and twenty furlongs. The earth of this was

applied to the embankments of the river, and the sides of the trench

or lake were strengthened and lined with stones brought thither for

that purpose. She had in view by these works, first of all to break the

violence of the current by the number of circumflexions and also to

render the navigation to Babylon as difficult and tedious as possible.

These things were done in that part of her dominions which was most

accessible to the Medes, and with the further view of keeping them in

ignorance of her affairs by giving them no commercial encouragement.

Having rendered both of these works strong and secure, she proceeded to

execute the following project. The city being divided by the river into

two distinct parts, whoever wanted to go from one side to the other was

obliged in the time of the former kings to pass the water in a boat.

For this, which was a matter of general inconvenience, she provided

this remedy, and the immense lake which she had before sunk became the

further means of extending her fame. Having procured a number of large

stones, she changed the course of the river, directing it into the

canal prepared for its reception. When this was full the natural bed

of the river became dry, and the embankments on each side, near those

smaller gates which led to the water, were lined with bricks hardened

by fire, similar to those which had been used in the construction of

the wall. She afterwards, nearly in the centre of the city, with the

stones above-mentioned, strongly compacted with iron and with lead,

erected a bridge. Over this the inhabitants passed in the daytime by a

square platform, which was removed in the evening to prevent acts of

mutual depredation. When the above canal was thoroughly filled with

water, and the bridge completely finished and adorned, the Euphrates

was suffered to return to its original bed; thus both the canal and

the bridge were confessedly of the greatest utility to the public. The

above queen was also celebrated for another instance of ingenuity. She

caused her tomb to be erected over one of the principal gates of the

city, and so situated as to be obvious to universal inspection. It

was thus inscribed: “If any of the sovereigns, my successors, shall

be in extreme want of money let him open my tomb and take what money

he may think proper; if his necessity be not great, let him forbear;

the experiment will perhaps be dangerous.” The tomb remained without

injury till the time and reign of Darius. He was equally offended at

the gate’s being rendered useless, and that the invitation thus held

out to become affluent should have been so long neglected. The gate,

it is to be observed, was of no use, from the general aversion to pass

through a place over which a dead body was laid. Darius opened the

tomb; but instead of finding riches, he saw only a dead body, with a

label of this import: “If your avarice had not been equally base and

insatiable, you would not have disturbed the repose of the dead.” Such

are the traditions concerning this queen.

The following exists amongst many other proofs which I shall hereafter

produce of the power and greatness of Babylon. Independent of those

subsidies which are paid monthly to the Persian monarch, the whole of

his dominions are obliged throughout the year to provide subsistence

for him and for his army. Babylon alone raises a supply for four

months, eight being proportioned to all the rest of Asia, so that

the resources of this region are considered as adequate to a third

part of Asia. The government also of this country, which the Persians

call a satrapy, is deemed by much the noblest in the empire. When

Tritantæchmes, son of Artabazus, was appointed to this principality

by the king, he received every day an artaby of silver. The artaby

is a Persian measure which exceeds the Attic medimnus by about three

chænices. Besides his horses for military service this province

maintained for the sovereign’s use a stud of eight hundred stallions

and sixteen thousand mares, one horse being allotted to twenty mares.

He had, moreover, so immense a number of Indian dogs that four great

towns in the vicinity of Babylon were exempted from every other tax but

that of maintaining them.

The Assyrians have but little rain; the lands, however, are fertilised

and the fruits of the earth nourished by means of the river. This does

not, like the Egyptian Nile, enrich the country by overflowing its

banks, but is dispersed by manual labour or by hydraulic engines. The

Babylonian district, like Egypt, is intersected by a number of canals,

the largest of which, continued with a southeast course from the

Euphrates to that part of the Tigris where Nineveh stands, is capable

of receiving vessels of burden. Of all countries which have come within

my observation this is far the most fruitful in corn. Fruit trees,

such as the vine, the olive, and the fig, they do not even attempt

to cultivate; but the soil is so particularly well adapted for corn,

that it never produces less than two hundredfold. In seasons which

are remarkably favourable it will sometimes rise to three hundred.

The ear of their wheat as well as barley is four digits in size. The

immense height to which millet and sesamum will grow, although I have

witnessed it myself, I know not how to mention. I am well aware that

they who have not visited this country will deem whatever I may say

on this subject a violation of probability. They have no oil but what

they extract from the sesamum. The palm is a very common plant in this

country and generally fruitful. This they cultivate like fig trees,

and it produces them bread, wine, and honey. The process observed is

this: they fasten the fruit of that which the Greeks term the male tree

to the one which produces the date; by this means the worm which is

contained in the former entering the fruit ripens and prevents it from

dropping immaturely. The male palms bear insects in their fruit in the

same manner as the wild fig trees. Of all that I saw in this country,

next to Babylon itself, what to me appeared the greatest curiosity were

the boats. These which are used by those who come to the city are of a

circular form and made of skins. They are constructed in Armenia, in

the parts above Assyria, where the sides of the vessels being formed

of willow are covered externally with skins, and having no distinction

of head or stern, are modelled in the shape of a shield. Lining the

bottom of the boats with reeds, they take on board their merchandise,

and thus commit themselves to the stream. The principal article of

their commerce is palm wine, which they carry in casks. The boats have

two oars, one man to each; one pulls to him, the other pushes from

him. These boats are of very different dimensions; some of them are

so large as to bear freights to the value of five thousand talents;

the smaller of them has one ass on board, the larger several. On their

arrival at Babylon they dispose of all their cargo, selling the ribs

of their boats, the matting, and everything but the skins which cover

them; these they lay upon their asses and with them return to Armenia.

The rapidity of the stream is too great to render their return by water

practicable. This is perhaps the reason which induces them to make

their boats of skin rather than of wood. On their return with their

asses to Armenia they make other vessels in the manner we have before

described.

Their clothing is of this kind: they have two vests, one of linen

which falls to the feet, another over this which is made of wool, a

white sash connects the whole. The fashion of their shoes is peculiar

to themselves, though somewhat resembling those worn by the Thebans.

They wear their hair long, and covered with a turban, and are lavish

in their use of perfumes. Each person has a seal ring, and a cane, or

walking-stick, upon the top of which is carved an apple, a rose, a

lily, an eagle, or some figure or other, for to have a stick without a

device is unlawful.

In my description of their laws I have to mention one, the wisdom of

which I must admire, and which, if I am not misinformed, the Eneti, who

are of Illyrian origin, use also. In each of their several districts

this custom was every year observed: such of their virgins as were

marriageable were, at an appointed time and place, assembled together.

Here the men also came, and some public officer sold by auction the

young women one by one, beginning with the most beautiful. When she

was disposed of, and, as may be supposed, for a considerable sum, he

proceeded to sell the one who was next in beauty, taking it for granted

that each man married the maid he purchased. [Herodotus here omits

one circumstance of consequence, in my opinion, to prove that this

ceremony was conducted with decency. It passed under the inspection of

the magistrates, and the tribunal superintended the marriage of the

young women. Three men, respectable for their virtue, and who were

at the head of their several tribes, conducted the young women that

were marriageable to the place of assembly, and there sold them by the

voice of the public crier.--LARCHER. If the custom of disposing of

the young women to the best bidder was peculiar to the Babylonians,

that of purchasing the person intended for a wife, and of giving the

father a sum to obtain her, was much more general. It was practised

amongst the Greeks, the Trojans and their allies, and even amongst the

deities.--BELLANGER.]

The more affluent of the Babylonian youths contended with much ardour

and emulation to obtain the most beautiful; those of the common people

who were desirous of marrying, as if they had but little occasion for

personal accomplishments, were content to receive the more homely

maidens, with a portion annexed to them. For the crier, when he

had sold the fairest, selected next the most ugly, or one that was

deformed; she also was put up to sale, and assigned to whoever would

take her with the least money. This money was what the sale of the

beautiful maidens produced, who were thus obliged to portion out those

who were deformed, or less lovely than themselves. No man was permitted

to provide a match for his daughter, nor could any one take away the

woman whom he purchased without first giving security to make her his

wife. To this, if he did not assent, his money was returned to him.

There were no restrictions with respect to residence; those of another

village might also become purchasers. This, although the most wise of

all their institutions, has not been preserved to our time. One of

their later ordinances was made to punish violence offered to women,

and to prevent their being carried away to other parts; for after the

city had been taken, and the inhabitants plundered, the lower people

were reduced to such extremities that they prostituted their daughters

for hire.

They have also another institution, the good tendency of which claims

applause. Such as are diseased among them they carry into some public

square; they have no professors of medicine, but the passengers in

general interrogate the sick person concerning his malady, that if any

person has either been afflicted with a similar disease himself, or

seen its operation on another, he may communicate the process by which

his own recovery was effected, or by which, in any other instance, he

knew the disease to be removed. No one may pass by the afflicted person

in silence, or without inquiry into the nature of his complaint.

Previous to their interment, their dead are anointed with honey, and,

like the Egyptians, they are fond of funeral lamentations. Whenever a

man has had communication with his wife, he sits over a consecrated

vessel, containing burning perfumes; the woman does the same. In the

morning both of them go into the bath; till they have done this they

will neither of them touch any domestic utensil. This custom is also

observed in Arabia.

The Babylonians have one custom in the highest degree abominable. Every

woman who is a native of the country is obliged once in her life to

attend at the temple of Venus, and prostitute herself to a stranger.

Such women as are of superior rank do not omit even this opportunity

of separating themselves from their inferiors; these go to the temple

in splendid chariots, accompanied by a numerous train of domestics,

and place themselves near the entrance. This is the practice with

many, whilst the greater part, crowned with garlands, seat themselves

in the vestibule, and there are always numbers coming and going. The

seats have all of them a rope or string annexed to them, by which the

stranger may determine his choice. A woman, having once taken this

situation, is not allowed to return home till some stranger throws

her a piece of money, and leading her to a distance from the temple,

enjoys her person. It is usual for the man, when he gives the money,

to say, “May the goddess Mylitta be auspicious to thee!” Mylitta being

the Assyrian name of Venus. The money given is applied to sacred uses,

and must not be refused, however small it may be. The woman is not

suffered to make any distinction, but is obliged to accompany whoever

offers her money. She afterwards makes some conciliatory oblation to

the goddess, and returns to her house, never afterwards to be obtained

on similar or on any terms. Such as are eminent for their elegance

and beauty do not continue long, but those who are of less engaging

appearance have sometimes been known to remain from three to four years

unable to accomplish the terms of the law. It is to be remarked that

the inhabitants of Cyprus have a similar observance.

In addition to the foregoing account of Babylonian manners, we may

observe that there are three tribes of this people whose only food is

fish. They prepare it thus: having dried it in the sun, they beat it

very small in a mortar, and afterwards sift it through a piece of fine

cloth; they then form it into cakes, or bake it as bread.[c]

The foregoing description by Herodotus refers to the condition of

Babylon in the early part of the fifth century B.C., something like

fifty years after the overthrow of the new Babylonian empire by Cyrus.

The city still remained under Persian influence, Babylon being one of

the capitals of the “Great King.” The account given has a peculiar

value because it is the only description given by an eye-witness from

the Western world that has come down to us from so early a period.

Herodotus saw with the eyes of a Greek of the age of Pericles, and it

is now admitted that when he describes his personal experiences, he is

altogether dependable. His account, therefore, still has full value

as supplementing the records of the monuments. It is greatly to be

regretted that the Greek historian remained ignorant of the monumental

records themselves, though it would have been strange had he been able

to decipher them, since the Greeks were notoriously unfamiliar with any

language but their own.

The account of Babylon given by the great geographer, Strabo, which

will be presented in the next chapter, relates to a period not far

from the beginning of the Christian era, and hence carries us ahead

of the political story as told in the preceding books. At this time

Babylon had ceased to be the capital city, though still important.

Since Herodotus wrote, some five hundred years have passed. Alexander

has overthrown the Persians, and Alexander’s empire in turn has been

overthrown. Yet we may suppose that the old city of Babylon--the most

ancient city retaining influence at that day--has not very greatly

changed, except that its ancient monuments are falling into ruins.

A peculiar interest attaches to this description of the last stages

in the life-history of a city that has seen so many rotations of

fortune, and has lived on through so many shiftings of the political

kaleidoscope.

It is probable that Strabo, like Herodotus, writes as an eye-witness.

In any event his account has full authority, coming from one of the

greatest and most scientific of ancient geographers, who in addition to

his geographical learning had a keen historical sense.[a]

A LATER CLASSICAL ACCOUNT OF BABYLON

Babylon is situated in a plain. The wall is 385 stadia in circumference

and 32 feet in thickness. The height of the space between the towers

is 50, and of the towers, 60 cubits. The roadway upon the walls will

allow chariots with four horses when they meet to pass each other with

ease. Whence, among the seven wonders of the world, are reckoned this

wall and the hanging garden; the shape of the garden is a square, and

each side of it measures four plethra. It consists of vaulted terraces,

raised one above another, and resting upon cube-shaped pillars. These

are hollow and filled with earth, to allow trees of the largest size to

be planted. The pillars, the vaults, and the terraces are constructed

of baked bricks and asphalt.

The ascent to the highest story is by stairs, and at their side are

water-engines, by means of which persons, appointed expressly for the

purpose, are continually employed in raising water from the Euphrates

into the garden; for the river, which is a stadium in breadth, flows

through the middle of the city, and the garden is on the side of the

river. The tomb, also, of Belus is there. At present it is in ruins,

having been demolished, it is said, by Xerxes. It was a quadrangular

pyramid of baked brick, a stadium in height, and each of the sides a

stadium in length. Alexander intended to repair it. It was a great

undertaking, and required a long time for its completion (for ten

thousand men were occupied two months in clearing away the mound of

earth), so that he was not able to execute what he had attempted

before disease hurried him rapidly to his end. None of the persons

who succeeded him attended to this undertaking; other works also were

neglected, and the city was dilapidated, partly by the Persians, partly

by time, and through the indifference of the Macedonians to things of

this kind, particularly after Seleucus Nicator had fortified Seleucia,

on the Tigris, near Babylon, at the distance of about three hundred

stadia.

Both this prince and all his successors directed their care to that

city, and transferred to it the seat of empire. At present it is larger

than Babylon; the other is in great part deserted, so that no one

would hesitate to apply to it what one of the comic writers said of

Megalopolitæ in Arcadia:

“The great city is a great desert.”

On account of the scarcity of timber, the beams and pillars of the

houses were made of palm wood. They wind ropes of twisted reed round

the pillars, paint them over with colours, and draw designs upon

them; they cover the doors with a coat of asphaltus. These are lofty,

and all the houses are vaulted on account of the want of timber.

For the country is bare, a great part of it is covered with shrubs,

and produces nothing but the palm. This tree grows in the greatest

abundance in Babylonia. It is found in Susiana; also, in great

quantity, on the Persian coast, and in Carmania.

They do not use tiles for their houses, because there are no great

rains. The case is the same in Susiana and in Sitacene. In Babylon a

residence was set apart for the native philosophers called Chaldeans,

who are chiefly devoted to the study of astronomy. Some, who are not

approved of by the rest, profess to understand genethlialogy, or the

casting of nativities. There is also a tribe of Chaldeans who inhabit a

district of Babylonia in the neighbourhood of the Arabians and of the

sea called the Persian Sea. There are several classes of the Chaldean

astronomers. Some have the name of Orcheni, some Borsippeni, and many

others, as if divided into sects, who disseminate different tenets on

the same subjects. The mathematicians make mention of some individuals

among them, as Cidenas, Naburianus, and Sudinus. Seleucus, also, of

Seleucia, is a Chaldean, and many other remarkable men. Borsippa is a

city sacred to Diana and Apollo. Here is a large linen manufactory.

Bats of much larger size than those in other parts abound in it. They

are caught and salted for food.

The country of the Babylonians is surrounded on the east by the Susans,

Elymæi, and Parætaceni; on the south by the Persian Gulf, and the

Chaldeans as far as the Arabian Messeni; on the west by the Arabian

Scenitæ as far as Adiabene and Gordyæa; on the north by the Armenians

and Medes as far as the Zagros, and the nations about that river.

The country is intersected by many rivers, the largest of which are

the Euphrates and the Tigris; next to the Indian rivers, the rivers

in the southern parts of Asia are said to hold the second place. The

Tigris is navigable upward from its mouth to Opis and to the present

Seleucia. Opis is a village and a mart for the surrounding places. The

Euphrates also is navigable up to Babylon, a distance of more than

three thousand stadia. The Persians, through fear of incursions from

without and for the purpose of preventing vessels from ascending

these rivers, constructed artificial cataracts. Alexander, on arriving

there, destroyed as many of them as he could, those particularly (on

the Tigris from the sea) to Opis. But he bestowed great care upon the

canals, for the Euphrates, at the commencement of summer, overflows.

It begins to fill in the spring, when the snow in Armenia melts; the

ploughed land, therefore, would be covered with water and be submerged,

unless the overflow of the superabundant water of the Nile is diverted.

Hence the origin of canals. Great labour is requisite for their

maintenance, for the soil is deep, soft, and yielding, so that it would

easily be swept away by the stream; the fields would be laid bare, the

canals filled, and the accumulation of mud would soon obstruct their

mouths. Then again, the excess of water discharging itself into the

plains near the sea forms lakes and marshes and reed grounds, supplying

the reeds with which all kinds of platted vessels are woven; some of

these vessels are capable of holding water when covered over with

asphaltus; others are used with the material in its natural state.

Sails are also made of reeds; these resemble mats or hurdles.

It is not, perhaps, possible to prevent inundations of this kind

altogether, but it is the duty of good princes to afford all possible

assistance. The assistance required is to prevent excessive overflow

by the construction of dams, and to obviate the filling of rivers

produced by the accumulation of mud, by cleansing the canals and

removing stoppages at their mouths. The cleansing of the canals is

easily performed, but the construction of dams requires the labour

of numerous workmen. For the earth being soft and yielding does not

support the superincumbent mass, which sinks, and is itself carried

away, and thus a difficulty arises in making dams at the mouth.

Expedition is necessary in closing the canals to prevent all the water

flowing out. When the canals dry up in the summer-time they cause the

river to dry up also; and if the river is low (before the canals are

closed) it cannot supply the canals in time with water, of which the

country, burnt up and scorched, requires a very large quantity, for

there is no difference, whether the crops are flooded by an excess or

perish by drought and a failure of water. The navigation up the rivers

(a source of many advantages) is continually obstructed by both the

above-mentioned causes, and it is not possible to remedy this unless

the mouths of the canals were quickly opened and quickly closed, and

the canals were made to contain and preserve a mean between excess and

deficiency of water.

Aristobulus relates that Alexander himself, when he was sailing up the

river and directing the course of the boat, inspected the canals, and

ordered them to be cleared by his multitude of followers; he likewise

stopped up some of the mouths, and opened others. He observed that

one of these canals, which took a direction more immediately to the

marshes and to the lakes in front of Arabia, had a mouth very difficult

to be dealt with, and which could not be easily closed on account of

the soft and yielding nature of the soil; he (therefore) opened a new

mouth at the distance of thirty stadia, selecting a place with a rocky

bottom, and to this the current was diverted. But in doing this he was

taking precautions that Arabia should not become entirely inaccessible

in consequence of the lakes and marshes, as it was already almost

an island from the quantity of water (which surrounded it). For he

contemplated making himself master of this country, and he had already

provided a fleet and places of rendezvous, and had built vessels in

Phœnicia and at Cyprus, some of which were in separate pieces, others

were in parts, fastened together by bolts. These, after being conveyed

to Thapsacus in seven distances of a day’s march, were then to be

transported down the river to Babylon. He constructed other boats in

Babylonia, from cypress trees in the groves and parks, for there is a

scarcity of timber in Babylonia. Among the Cossæi [Kossæans] and some

other tribes the supply of timber is not great.

The pretext for the war, says Aristobulus, was that the Arabians were

the only people who did not send their ambassadors to Alexander; but

the true reason was his ambition to be lord of all.

When he was informed that they worshipped two deities only, Jupiter

and Bacchus, who supply what is most requisite for the subsistence of

mankind, he supposed that, after his conquests, they would worship

him as a third, if he permitted them to enjoy their former national

independence. Thus was Alexander employed in clearing the canals, and

in examining minutely the sepulchres of the kings, most of which are

situated among the lakes.

Eratosthenes, when he is speaking of the lakes near Arabia, says, that

the water, when it cannot find an outlet, opens passages underground,

and is conveyed through these as far as the Cœle-Syrians, it is also

compressed and forced into the parts near Rhinocolura and Mount Casius,

and there forms lakes and deep pits. But I know not whether this is

probable. For the overflowings of the water of the Euphrates, which

form the lakes and marshes near Arabia, are near the Persian Sea. But

the isthmus which separates them is neither large nor rocky, so that it

was more probable that the water forced its way in this direction into

the sea, either under the ground, or across the surface, than that it

traversed so dry and parched a soil for more than six thousand stadia:

particularly, when we observe, situated midway in this course, Libanus,

Antilibanus, and Mount Casius.

Such, then, are the accounts of Eratosthenes and Aristobulus.

But Polycleitus says, that the Euphrates does not overflow its banks,

because its course is through large plains; that of the mountains (from

which it is supplied) some are distant two thousand, and the Kossæan

Mountains scarcely one thousand stadia, that they are not very high,

nor covered with snow to a great depth, and therefore do not occasion

the snow to melt in great masses, for the most elevated mountains

are in the northern parts above Ecbatana; towards the south they are

divided, spread out, and are much lower; the Tigris also receives

the greater part of the water (which comes down from them) and thus

overflows its banks.

The last assertion is evidently absurd, because the Tigris descends

into the same plains (as the Euphrates); and the above-mentioned

mountains are not of the same height, the northern being more elevated,

the southern extending in breadth, but are of a lower altitude. The

quantity of snow is not, however, to be estimated by altitude only,

but by aspect. The same mountain has more snow on the northern than on

the southern side, and the snow continues longer on the former than on

the latter. As the Tigris therefore receives from the most southern

parts of Armenia, which are near Babylon, the water of the melted snow,

of which there is no great quantity, since it comes from the southern

side, it should overflow in a less degree than the Euphrates, which

receives the water from both parts (northern and southern), and not

from a single mountain only, but from many, as I have mentioned in the

description of Armenia. To this we must add the length of the river,

the large tract of country which it traverses in the Greater and in the

Lesser Armenia, the large space it takes in its course in passing out

of the Lesser Armenia and Cappadocia, after issuing out of the Taurus

in its way to Thapsacus (forming the boundary between Syria below and

Mesopotamia), and the large remaining portion of country as far as

Babylon and to its mouth, a course in all of thirty-six thousand stadia.

This, then, on the subject of the canals (of Babylonia).

Babylonia produces barley in larger quantity than any other country,

for a produce of three hundredfold is spoken of. The palm tree

furnishes everything else--bread, wine, vinegar, and meal; all kinds of

woven articles are also procured from it. Braziers use the stones of

the fruit instead of charcoal. When softened by being soaked in water,

they are food for fattening oxen and sheep.

It is said that there is a Persian song in which are reckoned up three

hundred and sixty useful properties of the palm.

They employ for the most part the oil of sesamum, a plant which is rare

in other places.

Asphaltus is found in great abundance in Babylonia. Eratosthenes

describes it as follows:

The liquid asphaltus, which is called naphtha, is found in Susiana;

the dry kind, which can be made solid, in Babylonia. There is a spring

of it near the Euphrates. When this river overflows at the time of

the melting of the snow, the spring also of asphaltus is filled and

overflows into the river, where large clods are consolidated, fit for

buildings constructed of baked bricks. Others say that the liquid kind

also is found in Babylonia. With respect to the solid kind, I have

described its great utility in the construction of buildings. They say

that boats (of reeds) are woven, which, when besmeared with asphaltus,

are firmly compacted. The liquid kind, called naphtha, is of a singular

nature. When it is brought near the fire, the fire catches it; and if

a body smeared over with it is brought near the fire, it burns with

a flame, which it is impossible to extinguish, except with a large

quantity of water; with a small quantity it burns more violently,

but it may be smothered and extinguished by mud, vinegar, alum, and

glue. It is said that Alexander, as an experiment, ordered naphtha

to be poured over a boy in a bath, and a lamp to be brought near his

body. The boy became enveloped in flames, and would have perished if

the bystanders had not mastered the fire by pouring upon him a great

quantity of water, and thus saved his life.

Poseidonius says that there are springs of naphtha in Babylonia, some

of which produce white, others black, naphtha; the first of these, I

mean the white naphtha, which attracts flame, is liquid sulphur; the

second, or black naphtha, is liquid asphaltus, and is burnt in lamps

instead of oil.

In former times the capital of Assyria was Babylon; it is now called

Seleucia upon the Tigris. Near it is a large village called Ctesiphon.

This the Parthian kings usually made their winter residence, with a

view to spare the Seleucians the burden of furnishing quarters for the

Scythian soldiery. In consequence of the power of Parthia, Ctesiphon

may be considered as a city rather than a village; from its size it is

capable of lodging a great multitude of people; it has been adorned

with public buildings by the Parthians, and has furnished merchandise,

and given rise to arts profitable to its masters.

The kings usually passed the winter there, on account of the salubrity

of the air, and the summer at Ecbatana and in Hyrcania, induced by the

ancient renown of these places.

As we call the country Babylonia, so we call the people Babylonians,

not from the name of the city, but of the country; the case is not

precisely the same, however, as regards even natives of Seleucia, as,

for instance, Diogenes, the stoic philosopher [who had the appellation

of the Babylonian, and not the Seleucian].[d]

We turn now from the classical accounts having to do with the manners

and customs of the Mesopotamians to more modern interpretations. The

account of the commercial relations of the Babylonians given in the

succeeding section still has full authority, notwithstanding it was

written before modern excavations had created the new science of

Assyriology. No later writer has so profoundly studied the conditions

of commerce and trade in antiquity as Heeren, and his accounts are

still the most illuminative accessible. The monumental pictures and

inscriptions, much as they have told us of the political history,

and of the art, literature, and science of the Mesopotamians, have

added singularly little to our knowledge of the peaceful relations of

oriental nations as evidenced by their commercial dealings. The chance

references of classical writers still furnish us the foundation of

our knowledge of this subject, and the Assyrian monuments, where they

have thrown any light on the subject at all, have chiefly served to

substantiate our previous inferences. Thus, to cite a single example,

the pictures on the black obelisk of Shalmaneser II show us such beasts

as apes and elephants being brought as tribute to the conqueror,

confirming in the most unequivocal way the belief, based on Ctesias and

Strabo, that the Assyrians held commercial relations with India.

The narrative of Heeren will be supplemented, however, by accounts of

the manners and customs of the people in question based upon a more

recent study of the monuments, both pictorial and documentary. We have

already noted that the sculptures rather than the written documents

furnish us a view of the everyday life of the people. Certain matters,

however, such as those pertaining to legal transactions, could not

possibly be known to us except through the medium of inscriptions.[a]

THE COMMERCE OF THE BABYLONIANS

As the European steps into a new world as soon as he has crossed

the Alps, says Heeren, so is the contrast equally striking to the

Asiatic traveller upon descending from the mountainous country of

Persia and Media, or Irak Ajemi, into the plain of ancient Babylon and

modern Baghdad, the capital of Irak Arabi. The connection, frequently

so mysterious and inexplicable, which exists between climates and

countries, and even between climates and inhabitants, is here most

remarkably exemplified. The manners of the people, their habitations,

their dress, are all different. While in Persia and Media the garments,

though long, were closely fitted to the person, they are here, on the

contrary, loose and flowing. The black sheepskin cap which covered the

head gives way to the lofty and proud folds of the turban, and the

girdle, with its single knife, is replaced with the costly shawl and

rich poniard. “On my entrance into the city of the Caliphs,” says a

modern traveller (Porter, ii, 243, _et seq._), “I found the streets

crowded with men in every variety of dress, and of every shade of

complexion. Instead of the low dwellings peculiar to Persia, the houses

were several stories high, with lattice windows closely shut. The great

Bazaar was full of people, and I saw on all sides innumerable shops and

coffee-houses. The sound of voices and the rustling of silks reminded

one of the buzzing of a swarm of bees. For even now, though but the

shadow of its former splendour, Baghdad is still the grand caravanserai

of Asia.” But what a change has taken place in manners and modes of

life! The rigid etiquette of the Persian court has disappeared; the

tone of society, the relation of the sexes, is under less constraint,

and everything betokens pleasure and voluptuousness. Though in the hot

season the glowing sky forces the inhabitants during the day into their

underground vaults, yet they enjoy the balmy coolness of night in the

open air on their house tops. The delightful temperature of the winter

months, from the middle of November to that of February, compensates

for the inconveniences of summer, though at the same time it offers

irresistible incentives to all manner of sensual enjoyments.

It must surely have been the same in former times. Can it be supposed

that those who came down the Euphrates from the royal cities of Persia

and Media to the great city of traffic had not the same spectacle

before their eyes? But what is modern Baghdad compared with the ancient

capital of the East? What crowds must have once thronged the streets

and squares of that city when the caravans of the East and West, with

the crews of ships trading to the south, were there collected together;

when the Chaldean and Persian sovereigns, with their numberless

attendants, made it their residence; when it was the emporium of the

world, and the great centre of attraction to all nations! How bustling

and animated must not these desolate places have been formerly, where

all now is still, save the call of the Bedouin or the roaring of the

lion!

The accounts of ancient Babylon given by Jewish and Grecian writers set

before us a picture of wealth, magnificence, and pomp, though at the

same time a less pleasing representation of luxury and licentiousness.

Their banquets were carried to a disgusting excess, and the pleasures

of the table degenerated into debauchery; nay, at the very time

when the victorious Persians rushed into the city, the princes of

Babylon were engaged in festivities; and Belshazzar was given up to

intoxication in company with thousands of his lords when the hand which

wrote on the wall of the royal banqueting house, and predicted his

approaching fate, aroused him to the dreadful reality of his condition.

But this total degeneracy of manners was above all conspicuous in the

other sex, amongst whom were no traces of that reserve which usually

prevails in an eastern harem. The prophet, therefore, when he denounces

the fall of Babylon, describes it under the image of a luxurious and

lascivious woman, who is cast headlong into slavery from the seat

where she sits so effeminately. Moreover, at these orgies the women

appeared, where they proceeded so far as to lay aside their garments,

and with them every feeling of shame; nay, there was even a religious

enactment, as we are informed by Herodotus, according to which every

woman was obliged to prostitute herself to strangers in the temple of

Mylitta once in her life, and was not allowed to reject any person who

presented himself.

The principal cause of this profligacy of manners was the riches and

luxury consequent upon extended commerce, which Babylon owed to its

geographical position. Climate and religion effected the rest.

I have already had occasion to notice this advantageous situation of

Babylonia, in which respect it was probably superior to every other

country in Asia. While this afforded admirable facilities for traffic

by land, it was equally convenient for maritime and river navigation.

The two large rivers which flowed on each side of it seemed the natural

channels of commercial intercourse with the interior of Asia, and the

Persian Gulf by no means presented the same difficulties and dangers to

the navigator as that of Arabia.

If we add to this the accounts which ancient authors have given us

of the industry, manners, and civil institutions of Babylon, it will

be evident that it owed its splendour and wealth to the same causes

which in latter times have been the occasion of an extensive commerce

to the cities of Baghdad and Bassorah. They unanimously describe the

Babylonians as a people fond of magnificence, and accustomed to a

multitude of artificial wants, which they could not have supplied

except by commercial relations with many countries, some of them very

remote. In their private life, especially in their dress, costliness

appears to have been more their object than either convenience or

utility. Their public festivals and sacrifices were attended with

immense expense, particularly in precious perfumes, with which they

could not have been provided but from foreign countries. The raw

materials, too, required for their celebrated manufactures--flax,

cotton, and wool, and perhaps silk--were either not the produce of

their soil, or certainly not in sufficient quantities for their

consumption. Lastly, many of their civil institutions were of such

a nature as only to be calculated for a city into which there was

a continual influx of strangers. On this principle alone can be

explained, not only their custom of exposing sick persons in the

market-place, that they might meet with some one competent to prescribe

for them, but also, and more particularly, the above-mentioned law,

which obliged their women to prostitute themselves in the temple of

Mylitta, and the public auction of marriageable virgins. It has been

already observed that the relations of the sexes are formed in a

peculiar manner in large commercial cities, and this will serve to

explain many remarkable institutions of several nations in Asia.

However certain may be the evidence drawn from these principles, and

the accounts of antiquity in general, viz., that Babylon was the great

centre where all nations assembled, and whence they departed to their

several destinations, yet it is difficult to enter in detail on the

commerce of the Babylonians, and to settle with any degree of accuracy

its nature and its course. The obscure traces of it which yet remain

must be laboriously sought for in the works of Greek and Hebrew writers

alone; the labour, however, will not be without its recompense, and the

general result of this investigation will be a picture, which, though

not complete in its subordinate details, will yet present a generally

faithful outline.

As a preliminary step, however, let us take a glance at the products

of Babylonian skill and industry, amongst which weaving of various

kinds deserves our first notice. The peculiar dress of the Babylonians

consisted partly of woollen, and partly of linen, or probably cotton

stuffs. “They wear,” says Herodotus, “a gown of linen (or cotton)

flowing down to the feet, over this, an upper woollen garment, and

a white (woollen) tunic covering the whole.” This garb, which must

have been too much for so warm a climate, seems to have been assumed

rather for ostentation, than to meet their actual wants, and probably

some alteration was made in it as the weather became warmer. Their

woven stuffs, however, were not confined to domestic use, but were

exported into foreign countries. Carpets, one of the principal objects

of luxury in the East, the floors of the rich being generally covered

with them, were nowhere so finely woven, and in such splendid colours,

as at Babylon. Particular representations were seen on them, of those

wonderful Indian animals, the griffin and others, with which we have

become acquainted by the ruins of Persepolis, whence the knowledge

of them was brought to the West. Foreign nations made use of these

carpets in the decoration of their harems and royal saloons; indeed,

this species of luxury appears nowhere to have been carried farther

than among the Persians. With them, not only the floors, but even beds

and sofas in the houses of the nobles were covered with two or three

of these carpets; nay, the oldest of their sacred edifices, the tomb

of Cyrus at Pasargada, was ornamented with a purple one of Babylonian

workmanship.

Babylonian garments were not less esteemed; those in particular called

sindones were in very high repute. It appears that they were usually of

cotton, and the most costly were so highly valued for their brilliancy

of colour and fineness of texture, as to be compared to those of

Media, and set apart for royal use; they were even to be found at the

tomb of Cyrus, which was profusely decorated with every description

of furniture in use amongst the Persian kings during their lives. The

superiority of Babylonian robes and carpets will not be a matter of

surprise, when we consider how near Babylon was to Carmania on the one

side, and to Arabia and Syria on the other, and that in these countries

the finest cotton was produced.

Large weaving establishments were not confined to the capital, but

existed likewise in other cities and inferior towns of Babylonia, which

Semiramis is said to have built on the banks of the Euphrates and

Tigris, and which she appointed as marts for those who imported Median

and Persian goods. These manufacturing towns also were, as will soon

be shown in respect to Opis, staples for land traffic. The most famous

of them was Borsippa, situated on the Euphrates, fifteen miles below

Babylon, and mentioned in history before the time of Cyrus. These were

the principal linen and cotton manufactories, and they still existed in

the age of Strabo.

Besides these, the Babylonians appear to have made all kinds of

apparel, and every article of luxury: such as sweet waters, which were

in common use, and probably necessary, from the heat of the climate;

walking-sticks delicately chased with figures of animals and other

objects, and also elegantly engraved stones, were in general use

amongst the Babylonians.

These stones begin to form a particular class, since the curiosities

called Babylonian cylinders have become less rare. Many of them have

undoubtedly served for seal rings; for in the East the seal supplies

the place of a signature, or at any rate makes it valid, as we still

see on specimens of Babylonian documents. The same may be said of the

cylinders. We have a striking illustration of the perfection to which

the Babylonians had brought the art of cutting precious stones in

the collection of M. Dorow, which contains a cylinder, formed from a

jasper, bearing a cuneiform inscription, and an image of a winged Ized,

or Genius, in a flowing Babylonian dress, represented in the act of

crushing with each hand an ostrich, the bird of Ahriman. These various

manufactures and works of art presuppose an extensive commerce, because

the necessary materials must have been imported from foreign countries.

From what has been already adduced, no doubt can be entertained that

Babylon enjoyed a lively commerce with the principal countries of the

Persian Empire. Not only did the Persian and Median lords decorate

their houses with the productions of Babylonian skill, but the kings

of Persia spent a great part of the year in that city with all their

numerous attendants, added to which the satraps exhibited in the same

capital a pomp but little inferior to royal magnificence. Owing to

this intimate connection between the chief provinces of Persia and

Babylonia, the country lying between this and Susa became the most

populous and cultivated in Asia; and a highway was made from Babylon to

Susa, which was twenty days’ journey distant, sufficiently commodious

for the baggage of an army to be conveyed on it without difficulty.

The investigation, however, is involved in greater difficulties as we

proceed towards the east beyond Persia, though a principal country

to which they traded, that is to say, Persian India, or the present

Belur-land, and with the parts adjacent, whence the Babylonians

imported many of their most highly prized commodities, afford a clear

proof of the direction and extent of this commerce.

The first article which we may confidently assert the Babylonians to

have obtained, at least in part, from these countries, were precious

stones, the use of which for seal rings was very general amongst them.

Ctesias says expressly, that these stones came from India; and that

onyxes, sardines, and the other stones used for seals were obtained in

the mountains bordering on the sandy desert. The testimonies of modern

travellers have proved that the account of this author is entitled to

full credit; and that even at the present time the lapis-lazuli is

found there in its greatest perfection; and if it be added to this that

what Ctesias relates of India undoubtedly refers for the most part to

these northern countries, we must consider it probable that the stones

in question were found in the mountains of which we are speaking;

while with regard to the sapphire of the ancients, that is to say, our

lapis-lazuli, I have no doubt that it is a native of this country. A

decisive proof is furnished by Theophrastus, a more recent author, but

worthy of credit. “Emeralds and jaspers,” says he, “which are used as

objects of decoration, come from the desert of Bactria (of Cobi). They

are sought for by persons who go thither on horseback at the time of

the north wind, which blows away the sand, and so discovers them.” “The

largest of the emeralds called Bactrian,” says he, in another place,

“is at Tyre, in the temple of Hercules. It forms a tolerably large

pillar.” The passage, however, of Ctesias, to which we have referred,

as a modern author has justly remarked, contains some indications,

which, relatively to onyxes, appear to refer to the Ghat Mountains;

since he speaks of a hot country not far from the sea.

The circumstance of large quantities of onyxes coming out of these

mountains at the present day, viz., the mountains near Cambaya and

Beroach, the ancient Barygaza, must render this opinion so much the

more probable, as it was this very part of the Indian coast with which

the ancients were most acquainted; and their navigation from the

Persian Gulf to these regions, as will be shown hereafter, admits of

no doubt. This opinion, however, must not lead us to conclude, that

the commerce of Babylon was confined to those countries; for that they

were acquainted with the above-mentioned northern districts is equally

certain.

Hence also the Babylonians imported Indian dogs. This breed is asserted

to be the largest and strongest that exist, and on that account the

best suited for hunting wild beasts, even lions, which they will

very readily attack. The great fondness felt by the Persians for

the pleasures of the chase, by whom it was regarded as a chivalrous

exercise, must have increased the value and use of these animals, which

soon became even an object of luxury. The Persian nobles were obliged

to keep a great number of them, as they formed a necessary part of

their domestic economy, and their train; and they were also accustomed

to take them with them on their journeys and military expeditions. Thus

Xerxes, as we are assured by Herodotus, was followed by an innumerable

quantity of dogs, when he marched against Greece; and an example taken

from the same writer shows to what a pitch the Persian lords and

satraps had carried their luxury in this particular. Tritantæchmes,

satrap of Babylon, devoted to the maintenance of these Indian dogs

no less than four towns of his government, which were exempted from

all other taxes. It is easy to settle the extent of this branch of

commerce, admitting, as is reasonable, that they were propagated in the

country.

The native country of these animals, according to Ctesias, was that

whence precious stones were obtained. And this account of the ancient

author has been confirmed by a modern traveller; for Marco Polo, in

his account of these regions, has not forgotten to mention large dogs,

which were even able to overcome lions.

A third, and no less certain class of productions, which the Persians

and Babylonians obtained from this part of the world, were dyes, and

amongst them the cochineal, or rather Indian lacca. The most ancient,

though not quite accurate description of this insect, and of the tree

upon which it settles, is also found in Ctesias. According to him, it

is a native of the country near the sources of the Indus, and produces

a red, resembling cinnabar. The Indians themselves use it for the

purpose of dyeing their garments, to which it gives a colour even

surpassing in beauty the dyes of the Persians.

Strabo has preserved to us from Eratosthenes a knowledge of the roads

by which the commodities of the Indian districts, bordering on the

Persian Empire, were conveyed to its principal cities, and especially

to Babylon. The usual high-road, through populous and cultivated

regions, first ran in a northerly direction, in order to avoid the

predatory tribes which infested the desert between Persia and Media.

It continued along the southern part of this desert, as far as one of

the most celebrated defiles in Asia, called the Caspian gates, through

which it proceeded to Hyrcania and Aria. In this latter country, taking

its course along the foot of the high and woody Hyrcanian and Parthian

Mountains, the road thence turned northward towards Bactra. This is the

same which Alexander followed in his expedition against the Bactrians;

and though he left it occasionally to attack the inhabitants of the

neighbouring mountains, he always returned to it. In Arrian it bears

the name of the great military road.

The great commercial route to India was the same as this as far as

Aria. Here, however, it took a different, that is to say, an easterly

direction, while the other proceeded northward towards Bactra. Thence

it ran to Prophthasia, Arachotus, and Ortospana, where it divided

itself into three branches. One of these went due east to the borders

of India; perhaps the second had a similar direction, with a little

inclination to the south; and the third turned northward towards

Bactria and formed the great road through which India had communication

with this country and its capital, Bactra. The city must then be

regarded as the commercial staple of eastern Asia. Its name belongs to

a people who never cease to afford matter for historical details from

the time they are first mentioned.

We cannot entertain any doubt as to the persons through whose hands

the commodities of India came to Bactra. It is evident, from what has

been said before, that the natives of the countries bordering on Little

Thibet and others, or the northern Indians of Herodotus and Ctesias,

formed the caravans which travelled into the gold desert, and that it

was the same people from whom western Asia obtained ingredients for

dyeing, and also the finest wool.

“The country where gold is found, and which the griffins infest,” says

Ctesias, “is exceedingly desolate. The Bactrians, who dwell in the

neighbourhood of the Indians, assert that the griffins watch over the

gold, though the Indians themselves deny that they do anything of the

kind, as they have no need of the metal; but (say they) the griffins

are only apprehensive on account of their young, and these are the

objects of their protection. The Indians go armed into the desert, in

troops of a thousand or two thousand men. But we are assured that they

do not return from these expeditions till the third or fourth year.”

It is clear, from the foregoing statement, that the Indians here

mentioned were no other than the natives of northern India; and by the

desert where they found gold, must be understood the sandy desert of

Cobi, bounding Tangut on the west and China on the north. With regard,

however, to the account of Ctesias, that caravans of a thousand or two

thousand men travelled into this desert, and returned after three or

four years laden with gold--what other direction could this journey

have had than to the rich countries in the most remote and eastern part

of Asia? I willingly leave it to the reader to judge what degree of

probability there is to support this conjecture. This distant obscurity

indeed prevents our having a clear view, yet this very obscurity

possesses a certain charm.

We are indebted to Strabo for an account of the road by which the wares

of Babylon were conveyed to the shores of the Mediterranean. It ran in

a due northern direction through the midst of Mesopotamia, and reached

the Euphrates near Anthemusia, five and twenty days’ journey distant,

where it turned off towards the west to the Mediterranean. This could

have been only a caravan road, because a numerous company of merchants

would be necessary for mutual defence against the predatory nomad

tribes, the Scenites, who infested the desert; or indeed for procuring

a safe passage by the payment of a ransom. I cannot advance it as

certain that this road was generally used under the Persian dynasty;

yet it appears in the highest degree probable from the circumstance

that roads were seldom or never altered by the ancients.

Another great military road, described by Herodotus, from station to

station, and leading to Sardis and other Greek commercial towns in

Asia Minor, was made by the Persian kings at a vast expense. It is

not, indeed, to be doubted that political reasons were a principal

inducement to the formation of this road, because the Persians, when

they were engaged in war with the Greeks, scarcely set so high a value

upon any of their provinces as they did upon Asia Minor, with which

they were very desirous to further and maintain an uninterrupted

communication. But we moreover learn from the description of Herodotus,

that it was a commercial road, upon which caravans travelled from the

chief cities of Persia into Asia Minor. According to him the road began

from Susa, and not from Babylon; yet the vicinity of these two cities

and their intimate connection, which has been remarked above, renders

this a circumstance of no importance.

This principal road of Asia, once so famous, having undergone no

other alteration than that occasioned by its different limits, is now

commonly used by caravans from Ispahan to Smyrna; Tavernier has given

us a full description of it. Its present course is from Smyrna to

Tokat, and thence to Erivan. Only the last half has varied; for, in

order to be in the direction of Ispahan, the traveller now proceeds

northeast, beyond the lake of Urumiyeh; whereas the ancients, on the

contrary, without going so far east, inclined more to the south, and

followed the course of the Tigris.

On the whole, however, the ancient and modern roads agree in one

particular, the reason of which we are told by Herodotus; that is to

say, they chose the longer in preference to the shorter way, that

they might travel through inhabited countries, and in security. The

direct road would have led them through the midst of the steppes of

Mesopotamia, where security would have been quite out of the question,

on account of the roving predatory hordes. Therefore in ancient times,

as well as the present, they chose the northern route along the foot

of the Armenian Mountains, where the traveller enjoyed security from

molestation.

As to the rest, the division into stations was evidently adopted for

the advantage of the caravans. According to Herodotus, the distance

between each station was five parasangs, a journey of seven or eight

hours; and this we learn from Tavernier is exactly the space which

caravans consisting of loaded camels are accustomed to traverse in

the course of a day; but those of horses travel much faster. As this

road, however, was perfectly safe, there can be no doubt that single

merchants and travellers performed the journey alone.

A third branch of Babylonian commerce in the interior of Asia had a

northern direction, particularly to Armenia. The Armenians had the

advantage of the Euphrates to convey their wares to Babylon, and

amongst these wine, which the soil of Babylonia did not produce, was

the principal. Herodotus has described this navigation; and we learn

from him that the ships or floats of the Armenians were constructed

similarly to those which are at present seen on the Tigris, under

the appellation of kilets. The skeleton only was of wood; this had a

covering of skins overlaid with reeds; and an oval form was given to

the whole, so that there was no difference between the stern and prow.

They were filled with goods, especially large casks of wine, and then

guided down the stream by two oars. The size of these barks varied

considerably; Herodotus observed some which were rated at more than

five thousand talents’ burthen [_i.e._ about 12,000 tons by the least

estimate]. On their arrival at Babylon, the conductors sold not only

the cargo, but also the skeleton; the skins, however, were carried

back by land on asses, which they brought with them for the purpose;

since, as the historian has remarked, the force of the stream rendered

it impossible for them to return up the river: thus, in Germany, the

market boats which go down the Danube to Vienna never return, but are

sold with the commodities which they convey.

We shall be led to conclude, that the navigation of the Euphrates

must have been very important, if we recollect the great works which

were performed in order to secure it. Herodotus speaks of it as

extraordinary; and, truly, if we believe, as there is great probability

for doing, that this trade was confined to the consumption of Babylon,

it must necessarily have been very considerable, from the immense

population of the city, and from the peculiarity of its soil, which,

as it yielded a superfluity of some things, was necessarily quite

deficient in others. Hence the Babylonians were obliged to import from

the northern regions those necessaries of life which their own soil

failed to produce; and we shall have more distinct notions respecting

this trade if we recollect that Herodotus includes under the name of

Armenia, in addition to the mountainous district which may be termed

Armenia proper, also the whole of that rich and fruitful country,

northern Mesopotamia.[e]

SHIPS AMONG THE ASSYRIANS

One does not think of the Assyrians as a naval people, yet that

they also went down to the sea in ships, we may learn from Layard’s

researches.

Although the Assyrians were properly an inland people, yet their

conquests and expeditions, particularly at a later period, brought

them into contact with maritime nations. We consequently find, on the

monuments of Khorsabad and Kuyunjik, frequent representations of naval

engagements and operations on the seacoast. In the most ancient palace

of Nimrud only bas-reliefs with a river have been discovered; they

furnish us, however, with the forms of vessels, evidently of Assyrian

construction--all those in the sculptures of Khorsabad and Kuyunjik

belonging probably to allies or to the enemy. It may be presumed that

the rivers navigated by the early Assyrians, and represented in their

bas-reliefs, were the Tigris, Euphrates, and Khabur.

[Illustration: BAS-RELIEF OF AN ASSYRIAN GALLEY]

Herodotus thus describes the Babylonian vessels of a later period: “The

boats used by those who come to the city (Babylon) are of a circular

form, and made of skins. They are constructed in Armenia, in the parts

above Assyria. The ribs of the vessels are formed of willow boughs

and branches, and covered externally with skins. They are round like

a shield, there being no distinction between the head and stern. They

line the bottoms of their boats with reeds (or straw), and, taking

on board merchandise, principally palm wine, float down the stream.

The boats have two oars, one man to each; one pulls to him, the other

pushes from him. These vessels are of different dimensions; some of

them are so large that they bear freight to the value of five thousand

talents [£1,000,000 or $5,000,000]. The smaller have one ass on board,

the larger several. On their arrival at Babylon the boatmen dispose of

their goods, and also offer for sale the ribs and the reeds (or straw).

They then load their asses with the skins, and return with them to

Armenia, where they construct new vessels.”

I was, at one time, inclined to believe that the description of

Herodotus applied to the rafts still constructed on the rivers of

Mesopotamia, and used, it will be remembered, for the conveyance of the

sculptures from Nimrud to Bassorah. The materials of which they are

made are precisely those mentioned by the Greek historian, and they

are still disposed of at Baghdad in the same way as they were in his

day at Babylon. But the boats which excited the wonder of Herodotus

seem to have been more solidly built, and were capable of bearing

animals, to which purpose the modern raft could not be applied. They

were probably more like the circular vessels now used at Baghdad, built

of boughs, and sometimes covered with skins, over which bitumen is

smeared, to render the whole waterproof. The boats commonly employed

for the conveyance of goods and animals, on the lower part of the

Tigris and Euphrates, and for ferries on all parts of those rivers, are

constructed of planks of poplar wood, rudely joined together by iron

nails or wooden pins, and coated with bitumen.

In a bas-relief, from the most ancient palace of Nimrud, two kinds

of boats are introduced. The larger vessel contains the king in his

chariot, with his attendants and eunuchs. It is both impelled by oars

and towed by men. The smaller resembles that described by Herodotus.

The head does not differ in form from the stern, and two men sit face

to face at the oars.

In this bas-relief are also represented men supporting themselves upon

inflated skins--a manner of crossing rivers still generally practised

in Mesopotamia.

The larger boats were steered by a long oar, to the end of which was

attached a square or oval board. This oar was held in its place by a

rope fastened to a wooden pin at the stern. By this contrivance the

steersman had considerable control over the vessel, and could impel

it or turn the head at pleasure. This mode of steering and propelling

boats still prevails on the Mesopotamian rivers.

The vessels of the Khorsabad sculptures show a considerable advance

in the knowledge of ship-building. That they did not belong to the

Assyrians, but to some allied nation, appears to be indicated by the

peculiar costume of the figures in them.[30] The form of the vessel

is not inelegant; it is that of a sea monster, the prow being in the

shape of the head of a horse, and the stern in that of the tail of a

fish. Several men stand at the oars. The mast, supported by two ropes,

appears to be surmounted by a box, or what is technically called a

crow’s nest, which, in the galleys of the Egyptians, frequently held an

archer.

But it was in the sculptures of Kuyunjik that vessels were found

represented in the greatest perfection. From their position in the

bas-reliefs, with reference to the besieging army, it would seem that

they did not belong to the Assyrians themselves, but to a people with

whom they were at war, and whom they appear to have conquered. The sea

was also here indicated by the nature of the fish and marine animals;

such as the star or jelly fish and a kind of shark. A castle stood

on the shore; and the inhabitants, attacked on the land side, were

deserting the city and taking refuge in their vessels.

The larger galleys of these bas-reliefs were of peculiar form, and

may, I think, be identified with the vessels used to a comparatively

late period by the inhabitants of the great maritime cities of the

Syrian coast--by the people of Tyre and Sidon. Their height out of the

water, when compared with the depth of keel, was very considerable. The

fore part rose perpendicularly from a low sharp prow, which resembled

a ploughshare, and was probably of iron or some other metal, being

intended, like that of the Roman galley, to sink or disable the enemy’s

ships. The stern was curved from the keel, and ended in a point high

above the upper deck. There were two tiers of rowers; but whether they

were divided by a deck or merely sat upon benches placed at different

elevations in the hold, does not appear from the sculptures. Above the

rowers was a deck, on which stood the armed men. These vessels had

only one mast, to the top of which was attached a very long yard, held

by ropes. In the sculptures the sails were represented as furled. The

number of rowers in the bas-reliefs was generally eight on a side.

Only the heads of the upper tier of men were visible; the lower tier

was completely concealed, the oars passing through small apertures, or

portholes, in the sides of the vessel.

Besides the vessel I have described, a smaller is represented in the

same bas-reliefs. It has also a double tier of rowers; but the head and

stern are differently constructed from those of the larger galley, and

both being of the same shape, are not to be distinguished one from the

other except by the position of the rowers. They rise high above the

water, and are flat at the top, with a beak projecting outward. This

vessel had no mast, and was impelled entirely by oars. On the upper

deck are seen warriors armed with spears, and women.

It is impossible to determine from the sculptures the size of the

vessels, as the relative proportions between them and the figures they

contain are not preserved. It is most probable that the four rowers in

each tier are merely a conventional number, and we cannot, therefore,

conjecture the length of the ship from them. No representations of

naval engagements, as on the monuments of Egypt, have yet been found in

the Assyrian edifices. It is most probable that, not being a maritime

people, the Assyrians--as the Persians did afterwards--made use of the

fleets of their allies in their expeditions by sea, furnishing warriors

to man the ships.[b]

LAWS OF THE BABYLONIANS AND ASSYRIANS

The sense of justice and its administration play a large part in the

history of any nation; and we are so fortunate as to possess certain

light on the courts and customs of Assyria.

Asshurbanapal opened his library, not only to the documents emanating

from the kings, but also as a depository for collections on law,

juridicial decisions, and contracts between private individuals.

The Assyrio-Chaldean legislation rested on laws and customs which were

already in force under the Sumerian civilisation. A great number of

tablets written in both languages give us the primitive text of the

law and the corresponding Assyrian translation. Others, written in

Assyrian, are full of citations from Sumerian texts.

First of all, there is a long fragment of laws relating to the family,

written in Assyrian and Sumerian. They read as follows:

“It has thus been decided by the sentence of the judge: ‘If a son (is

authorised) to say to his father: “Thou art not my father,” he (the

son) can sell him, treat him as a forfeit, and give him in payment like

money.

“‘If a son (is authorised) to say to his mother: “Thou art not my

mother,” he will cut her hair off, assemble the people, and make her go

out of his house.

“‘If a father (is authorised) to say to his son: “Thou art not my son,”

he (the father) can shut him up in his dwelling and in the cellar.

“‘If a mother (is authorised) to say to her son: “Thou art not my son,”

she can shut him up in her dwelling and in the upper chambers.

“‘If a wife (is authorised) to repudiate her husband, and to say to

him: “Thou art not my husband,” she can have him thrown into the river.

“‘If a man (is authorised) to say to his wife: “Thou art not my wife,”

he can have half a mina of silver paid to him.

“‘If the intendant lets a slave escape, if he dies (the slave), if he

becomes infirm, if in consequence of bad treatment he becomes ill, he

(the intendant) shall pay half a hin of corn a day (to the master of

the slave).’”

In these ancient records we likewise find laws concerning property.

One tablet seems to pertain to the observations made by a Sumerian

agriculturist, which were proposed to the Assyrian agriculturists of

the seventh century B.C. First of all are indicated the best conditions

of crop-growing, the time for sowing, the calculating of the income,

the tillage, irrigation, and the injurious animals which must be

destroyed.

It is evident that, in spite of the difference in property or wealth,

the interest is always the same, the calculation of interest on

different sums in contracts showing that the figures bear a relation to

one another.

Loans could be made with or without interest; they could be made with

or without security, and these securities were of different natures:

“For the interest of one’s money.… He has given as security.… A house,

a field, an orchard, a female slave, a male slave.”

Exchanges were frequent, and from the data on the tablets, the

principal things exchanged are known:

“They exchanged a house for money. They exchanged a field for money.

They exchanged an orchard for money. They exchanged a female slave for

money. They exchanged a male slave for money.”

Trials are inherent to human nature and to all epochs. Pleading took

place in Nineveh, Assyria, and Chaldea. On this subject the following

axiom used by the judges and the pleaders, holds perfectly to-day:

“He who listeneth not to his conscience, the judge will not listen to

his right.”

There must have been a fairly complicated code of procedure, for traces

are found of an appellative jurisdiction in which the sovereign was the

final judge.

The Sumerian laws likewise fixed the form of individual contracts. The

signature, “qatatu,” was the essential feature of the contract.

Signature took place by affixing the seal. One fragment of these

tablets bears witness to this custom so perpetuated in the East from

remotest times to the present. Herodotus mentions the existence of

seals as a peculiarity of the Babylonians.

“Every Babylonian,” said he, “had his seal for his personal use.” The

Assyrian “kunuk” answers, like our word “seal,” both to the instrument

and the mark it left on the plastic earth.

A large number of contracts of private business concerning all the

ordinary transactions of life, between individuals, on which figures

the mark of a seal, has been found: contracts of sale or exchange;

contracts of loan or hire; acknowledgments of debts, carrying the

guaranty of a mortgage or of chattels. They read like the records of

a notary’s office. These contracts, like all the documents of the

palace library, are written on the traditional bricks. These are easily

distinguished from other documents by their outer appearance. After a

few lines given up to the names of the contracting parties, we see the

imprints of their seals, or sometimes the imprint of three finger nails.

The general drift of their contracts is easy to understand; the

clauses are worded in formal language which proceeds from the nature

of the relations of the two parties according to the object of their

agreement. As a usual thing, these contracts are very simply drawn.

They begin by stating the names and qualifications of the parties who

are going to enter into agreement by the affixment of their seal or by

the nail mark, its substitute.

All contracting parties are not called upon to fulfil this formality;

it is only those who have the title of “dominus negotii” the vendor,

the lessor, the lender, those who “hold the pen” as the modern

expression is.

A place reserved in the text for the fixing of seal or imprint reveals

to us that their seals had different shapes. As many of these jewels

have descended to us, and as there are a great number in our public and

private collections, it is not without interest to describe them in

more detail.

Generally they are hard stones, cut and polished in different ways.

Some are conical or like a truncated pyramid, on the base of which the

design is sunk. Sometimes the seal is in the shape of a spheroid or

an ellipsoid. Many are cylindrical, the design being engraved on the

surface of the cylinder, and the imprint is obtained by rolling it on

plastic earth. Every variety of precious stones has been cut for this

purpose; the study of these jewels and their designs is of the greatest

interest to the student of art.

After the imprint of the seals, the object of the contract is stated,

then its nature and its amount, which is sometimes paid down, sometimes

at quarter-day; in certain cases a security is stipulated.

As to money loans, the interest is generally fixed upon by the

contracting parties. Where the contract is silent on this subject it

seems as if a general law were referred to, probably that which is

mentioned above.

Measurements, capacities, estimates, and prices are expressed with

great precision, and thus one may determine the importance of the

matter discussed in the contract. The form of drawing up, indicates

that the agreement passed before a magistrate who gave, if I may thus

express myself, authenticity to the stipulations agreed on between the

parties, from which they could not release themselves without penalty

of a fine or damages. Generally the fine was paid into the treasury

of Ishtar either at Arbela or Nineveh; then the judge decreed the

restitution of the sum paid over, with a certain sum for damages. The

contract often contained a more or less extended prayer formula and

thus placed the execution of the agreement under the protection of the

gods. The contract ends with the names of witnesses and their status,

and is dated on the day, month, and year of its drawing up.

The contract thus perfected was delivered to a special functionary, who

registered it in the public depository, the superintendence of which

was confided to him.

Here are some contracts which help us to understand the methods

of drawing up, and inform us as to the nature of the most usual

transactions of that epoch. We give first a contract relating to the

sale of a slave; it is thus worded:

_Sale of a Slave_

Seal of Nabu-rikhtav-usur, son of Akhardisu, man of Hasaï, workman of

Zikkar Ishtar, of the city of …

Seal of Tebetai, his son, seal of Silim Bin his son, owners of the

slave sold.

The girl Tavat-khasina, slave of Nabu-rikhtav-usur.… And Nitocris

obtained her for the price of sixteen drachmas of silver … for

Takhu her son, on account of his marriage. She will be slave to

Takhu. The price has been definitely fixed. Whoever in days to come

and at no matter what epoch shall contest this before me, be it

Nabu-rikhtav-usur, his sons, his sons’ sons, his brother, his brother’s

sons, or any other, or his attorney, should wish to annul the bargain

between Nitocris, her sons, or her sons’ sons, shall pay ten minas

of silver for the revocation of this contract, it shall not be sold.

Shapimayu, shepherd, Bel-shum-usur, son of Yudanani Rimbel, son of Atu,

are the three men, heirs of the woman because of the binding of her

hands (her first marriage) and of the interest on the wage of Karmeon

who was to inherit (if he lived).

Witnesses: Akhardisu, Zikkar-nipika, Mutumhisu, Khasba.

In the month of Ulul (August) the last day of the year of

Asshur-sadu-sakil.

As before Yum-shamash, Putainpaïte, Atu, Nabu-iddin-akhe, presiding.

This document is one of the most curious that we have. First of all,

it contains the name of an Egyptian woman, Nitocris (Nitit-eqar), then

that of Takhu her son, who bears equally an Egyptian name.

The vendor is the daughter of Nabu-rikhtav-usur; his sons intervene in

their quality of kinsmen for the sale of their slave, that is to say,

the servant of their house. The money is not to be paid to Nitocris or

direct descendants, but to third persons who are also designated; there

are the three heirs of one named Karmeon, who would be the heir if he

lived.

Here is another of the same kind:

_Sale of a Slave_

Seal of Khataï owner of the slave. Lu-akhi is the slave offered up.

And Dannaï obtained him from Khataï for the price of twenty drachmas

of silver. The price has been definitely fixed, the slave has been

paid for and delivered; no annulment of the bargain can now take

place. Whosoever in the future shall claim before me (the nullity of

the agreement, shall pay the fine). Witnesses: Shamash, Khimar, Zabda,

Kharaman, Mannuakhi, Zikkar, Shamash.

In the month of Ulul (August) the fifth day in the year of

Nabu-bel-iddin. In the presence of Zikkar Shamash, the officer.

Contracts of this nature are numerous, and they raise a question on a

point of the history of ancient slavery, which it would be interesting

to have cleared up. What was the origin of these slaves who were at

that time trafficked in, and who do not seem to have had to undergo

the law of the vanquished, and who were so easily carried off after

the seizure of a town? We have no information on this subject, and

we must limit ourselves to register that which is given us in the

above-mentioned texts.

The proprietor of the slave, Khataï, is a Syrian, whilst the slave,

Lu-akhe, is an Assyrian sold to another Assyrian, Dannaï, for a sum of

money equal to £3 [$15].

Sometimes the contract is not so simple. Complications may arise as to

titles of the property or in its manner of transmission. It is also

interesting to study the status of the contracting parties. One fact

seems to be universal, it is that the stranger--Phœnician, Jew, or

Egyptian--had the same civil rights of contracting, selling, or buying

as Assyrian subjects.

Here is a contract of another kind. It concerns the sale of a house.

Instead of their seal the parties affixed marks by pressing their

thumb-nails into the clay.

_Sale of a House_

Nail of Sharludari, nail of Ahasshuru, nail of the woman Amat-Sula,

wife of Belduru head of three legions, proprietors of the house to

be sold. A house in course of construction with its beams, columns,

materials, situate in the city of Nineveh, bounded by the house

of Mannuki-akhe, bounded by the house of Ankia, bounded by the

market-place. And Sil-asshur, the Egyptian officer, has acquired it by

means of a mina of the king’s money, from Sharladuri, Ahasshuru, and

the woman Amat-sula, wife of her husband. The price has been definitely

fixed, the house paid for and bought, the annulment of the contract

cannot be allowed.

No matter who, whoever he may be, in days to come, and no matter at

what epoch, even among these persons, contests the right and contract

of Sil-asshur shall pay ten minas of silver. Witnesses: Shushankhu,

officer of the king, Kharmaza, head of three legions, Razu, captain

of a vessel, Nabu-dur, officer, Kharmaza, captain of a vessel,

Sin-shar-usur, Zidka.

The sixteenth day of the month Sivan (May) of the year of Zaza, prefect

of the town of Arpad (1692 B.C.).

Before Shamash-ukin-akhe, Litturu, Nabu-shum-iddin.

This act is, above all, remarkable for the names of the contracting

parties, from which we can now recognise that people of different

nationalities were allowed to make contracts in Nineveh with the same

rights as the Assyrians. Thus the names of the witnesses Shushankhu

and Kharmaza are Egyptian, and their original form could easily be

restituted. The name of the woman Amat-Sula is Phœnician and reveals

the name of an unknown divinity; literally it means servant of Sula.[f]

THE CODE OF KHAMMURABI

We have purposely approached the subject of Mesopotamian law from the

Assyrian side, because the Assyrian laws represent the later forms of

elaboration of the old Babylonian codes on which they are based. In

conclusion, however, we shall present in its entirety the oldest known,

and at present the most famous, of these ancient codes, that of king

Khammurabi, that the reader may judge for himself as to the character

of the judicial and feudal system that was in vogue in Babylonia in

the third millennium before our era. This extraordinary document will

repay the closest study on the part of anyone who takes the slightest

interest in the evolution of human society. Until a comparatively

recent date the name of Khammurabi, the ruler who first united the

states of the Euphrates valley under one rule, and thus founded the

Babylonian empire, was scarcely known, whereas now we have a large mass

of material dating from his reign--his inscriptions, his letters, and

lastly, most important of all, his code of laws. It is difficult to

obtain more than a vague idea of a country merely from its name, or

from the lists of its kings and their military exploits, which is all

that we possess of most Assyrian and Babylonian kings. The real life of

the people wholly escapes us. This reason alone would make this code

inexpressibly valuable, because, by giving the laws which controlled

the social and commercial life of the people, even to minute details,

it gives a picture of the actual condition of the country.

Aside from its bearing on Babylonian civilisation, however, this code

is one of the most important monuments in the history of the human

race. It is the oldest known legal code in existence, antedating the

Mosaic code by at least a thousand years, and older than the laws of

Manu. It formed the basis of Babylonian legislation until the fall of

the empire, and was compiled by a king living about 2300 B.C., whose

rule extended from the Tigris to the Mediterranean. Khammurabi is

generally identified with Amraphel, the contemporary of Abraham; and it

cannot be questioned that these laws formed a part of the traditions

which the Hebrews brought with them to their new home.

_The Discovery of the Code_

The monument containing these laws was not found at Babylon, as might

have been expected, but at Susa (Shushan) in the so-called Acropolis.

The discovery is due to the French excavating expedition under M. de

Morgan, and was made in December and January of 1901-1902. The monument

is a block of black diorite nearly eight feet high. It has been

photographed and published with transcription and translation by Father

V. Scheil,[g] the Assyriologist of the expedition, in the _Mémoires de

la Délégation en Perse_, tome IV, _Textes Élamites Sémitiques_. The

whole inscription has since been translated by Dr. H. Winckler[h] in

_Der Alte Orient_, 4 Jahrgang, Heft 4, 1902, and the code alone by Rev.

C. H. W. Johns,[i] _The Oldest Code of Laws in the World_, Edinburgh,

1903.

The obverse of the stone contains a representation in bas-relief of

Khammurabi receiving the laws inscribed beneath, from Shamash, the

sun-god and god of right, who is pictured seated on a throne. The king

stands in a respectful attitude before him. The inscription several

times mentions the fact that the laws were given by Shamash; so the

very interesting theory in _The Times_, London, of April 14th, 1903,

that the god in the picture is Bel has not much foundation. This theory

would connect the code more closely with the Biblical narrative. To

quote from _The Times_,[j] “The old Bel was the god who dwelt on the

mountain of the world and gave laws to men and wore on his breast the

tablets of destiny. So here we have a curious proof of the existence

of the tradition of the mountain-given law long before the Mosaic

reception on Sinai.”

Below the bas-relief on the obverse are sixteen columns of writing with

1,114 lines, and on the reverse there are twenty-eight columns with

2,510 lines. Five columns of the obverse have been erased and the stone

repolished, probably to make room for an inscription of the conquering

Elamite king who carried the stone away from Babylon to Susa. Possibly

one of the dire calamities which Khammurabi, in the inscription,

invokes the gods to send on anyone who should deface his monument,

befell the unfortunate Elamite.

The writing is in a beautifully clear archaic script often used for

royal inscriptions, even after the cursive writing came into use. There

are a great many tablets dating from the same period written in the

cursive, some of them bearing the impression of seals in the archaic.

Some seven hundred lines of the inscription are devoted to proclaiming

the titles of the king, his care for his subjects, his reason for

erecting the monument, his maledictions on anyone who shall interfere

with it. Some passages in it remind one of the majesty of portions of

the Psalms. It begins:

“When Anu the supreme, king of the Anunnaki, and Bel, lord of heaven

and earth, who determines the fate of the universe, to Marduk the

eldest son of Ea, god of right, earthly power had assigned, among the

Igigi had made him great, Babylon with his august name had named,

in all the world had exalted him, in the heart (of that city) an

eternal kingdom, whose foundations are firm as heaven and earth, had

established,--then did Anu and Bel call me by name, Khammurabi, the

great prince, who fears god, to establish justice in the land, to

destroy the wicked and base, so that the strong oppress not the weak,

to go forth like Shamash (the sun) over the black heads (_i.e._, men)

to give light to the world, to promote the prosperity of the people.…”

Immediately following the code Khammurabi resumes: “The just decrees

which Khammurabi, the wise king, has established; for the land a sure

law and a happy reign he has procured. Khammurabi, the protecting

king, I am. From the black heads, which Bel gave me, to be a shepherd

over whom Marduk appointed me, I have not held aloof, have not rested;

places of peace I have provided for them; I opened up a way through

steep passes and sent them aid. With the powerful arms which Zamama and

Ishtar endowed me, with the clear glance that Ea granted me, with the

bravery which Marduk gave me, the enemy above and below I have rooted

out, the deeps I have conquered, established the prosperity of the

country, the dwellers in houses have I made to live in safety; a cause

for fear I have not suffered to exist. The great gods have chosen

me. I am the peace-bringing shepherd whose staff is straight (_i.e._,

sceptre is just), the good shadow which is spread over my city; to my

heart the people of Sumer and Accad I have taken, under my protection

have I caused them to live in peace, sheltered them in my wisdom, so

that the strong may not oppress the weak; to counsel the orphan and

the widow, their head have I raised in Babylon, the city of Anu and

Bel; in E-sagila, the temple whose foundations are firm as heaven and

earth, to speak justice to the land, to decide disputed questions, to

remedy evil, have I written my precious words on my monument; before my

picture, as of a king of justice I have placed them.… At the command of

Shamash, the great judge of heaven and earth, shall justice reign in

the land; by the order of Marduk my lord no destruction shall touch my

statue. In E-sagila, that I love, shall my name be remembered forever;

the oppressed man who has a cause for complaint shall come before my

picture of the king of justice, shall read the inscription, shall

apprehend my precious words, the writing shall explain to him his case,

he shall see his right, his heart shall become glad, (and he shall

say) ‘Khammurabi is a lord who is like a father to his subjects, he

has made the word of Marduk to be feared.’ … Khammurabi, the king of

righteousness, to whom Shamash gave the law, I am.”

The inscription contains also many references to public works and

historical events which make it one of the most important historical

records ever discovered. One reference to Asshur (Assyria) is

particularly important. It occurs in the introduction to the code and

records the restoration of “its protecting god to the city of Asshur.”

The name Asshur occurs again in a letter written by Khammurabi to

Sin-idinnam, and also in a private letter of the period, the former

published by Mr. L. W. King[k] in 1901.

We now turn to the code proper, and the following points are especially

noticeable throughout. The idea of responsibility is very clearly

fixed,--a man who hired an animal was responsible for that animal,--if

a boat he was responsible for the boat,--if he stored anything for

another, or carried anything to another, he was responsible so long as

the object was in his hands. Also of builders,--if a man built a house

he was responsible for its solidity; a physician was held responsible

for the life of his patient.

Secondly, we notice the importance of putting everything in writing--a

marriage without a written contract was invalid; a man who took

goods on deposit, an agent who obtained goods from a merchant, if he

had no document to show for it, could claim no legal aid in case of

disagreement. We have countless contract tablets from this period,

containing the seals and names of witnesses to just such transactions

as are provided for in the code, which show how well this principle was

observed.

The law of retaliation or _jus talionis_ is another important feature,

as it is prominent also in the Mosaic code. This is expressed by the

familiar phrase “an eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth.” The

attempt to make the punishment balance the crime exactly is carried to

such an extent that if a house fell and killed the owner, the builder

was to be put to death, if the owner’s son died, the builder’s son was

killed. In several of the laws we notice peculiarly humane provisions,

showing that the king really had the interests of his subjects at

heart, and that his words on the inscription and his desire to be

a father to his people were not a vain boast. This is especially

noticeable in a regulation concerning debtors (clause 45), in the

provisions for inheritance, and particularly in the clause concerning

the sick wife (148).

It is not to be supposed that all of the laws found in Khammurabi’s

code date from his reign. Some of them were much older, as is shown

by a difference in the grades of culture represented. Some even

assign different penalties for the same crime (see clauses 6 and 8).

As Prof. Jastrow[l] has pointed out, the ordeal by water cannot have

been invented in the same period as the minute provisions for the

inheritance of property.

The so-called Sumerian domestic laws which are very similar to those

before us were known prior to the discovery of Khammurabi’s code, and

are known to have been already in use at that time. The code contains

something like 280 clauses, and is arranged in comparatively systematic

order. Space has not permitted the giving of all the provisions in

detail. The plan has been to deal with each class of laws as a whole,

in some cases giving merely the synopsis of a class.[31]

_Miscellaneous Regulations_

1. If a man weaves a spell about another man (_i.e._, accuses him),

and throws a curse on him, and cannot prove it, the one who wove

the spell shall be put to death.

2. If a man weaves a spell about another man, and has not proved

it, he on whom suspicion was thrown shall go to the river, shall

plunge into the river. If the river seizes hold of him, he who

wove the spell shall take his house. If the river shows him to be

innocent, and he is uninjured, he who threw suspicion on him shall

be put to death. He who plunged into the river shall take the house

of him who wove the spell on him.

3. If a man has accused the witnesses in a lawsuit of malice and

has not proved what he said; if the suit was one of life (and

death), that man shall be put to death.

4. If he has sent corn and silver to the witnesses, he shall bear

the penalty of the suit.

5. If a judge has delivered a sentence, has made a decision

and fixed it in writing, and if afterwards he has annulled his

sentence, that judge for having altered his decision shall be

brought to judgment; for the penalty inflicted in his decision,

twelve-fold shall he pay it, and publicly shall they remove him

from his judgment seat. He shall not come back and shall not sit in

judgment with the other judges.

6. If a man has stolen property from the god or palace, that man

shall be put to death; and he who received the stolen goods from

his hands shall be put to death.

7. If a man has bought or received in deposit, silver, gold, a man

or woman slave, an ox, a sheep, an ass, or whatever it may be,

from the hands of a son of another or a slave of another, without

witness or contract, that man shall be put to death as a thief.

8. If anyone has stolen an ox, a sheep, an ass, a pig, or a boat,

if it belongs to the god or to the palace, he shall return it

thirty-fold; if it belongs to a noble he shall return it ten-fold;

if the thief has nothing with which to repay, he shall be put to

death.

9. If anyone who has lost something, finds his something that was

lost in the hand (possession) of another; if the man in whose hand

the lost object was found says: “A trader sold it to me, before

witnesses I paid for it,” and if the owner of the lost object says:

“Witnesses who know my lost object I will bring,” then shall the

purchaser bring the seller who sold it to him, and the witnesses

before whom he bought it, and the owner of the lost object shall

bring witnesses who know his lost goods: the judge shall consider

their words, and the witnesses before whom the purchase was made,

and the witnesses who know the object shall bear testimony before

God. The seller is a thief and shall be put to death. The owner of

the lost object shall receive the object; the buyer shall get back

the money he paid from the house of the seller.

10. If the buyer does not bring the seller who sold it to him and

the witnesses before whom he bought it; if the owner of the lost

object brings the witnesses who know his object, the buyer is a

thief and shall be killed; the owner shall get his lost object.

11. If the owner of the lost object does not bring his expert

witnesses, then he is a miscreant; he has accused falsely, he shall

die.

12. If the seller has gone to his fate, the buyer shall receive

from the house of the seller five times the costs of the suit.

13. If that man has not his witnesses at hand, the judge shall give

him a respite of six months. If in six months his witnesses do not

come, that man is a miscreant and shall bear the costs of the suit.

14. If anyone steals the minor son of a man, he shall be put to

death.

_Regulations concerning Slaves_

15. If anyone has caused a male slave of the palace or a female

slave of the palace, the male slave of a noble or the female slave

of a noble, to go out of the gate, he shall be put to death.

16. If anyone harbours in his house a runaway male or female slave

from the palace or the house of a noble, and does not bring them

out at the command of the _majordomo_, the master of the house

shall be put to death.

17. If anyone has caught a runaway male or female slave in the

field, and brings him back to his master, the master of the slave

shall give him two shekels of silver.

18. If that slave will not name his owner, to the palace he shall

bring him; his case shall be investigated; to his owner one shall

bring him.

19. If he retains that slave in his house, and if, later, the slave

is found in his hands, that man shall be put to death.

20. If the slave escapes from the house of the one who caught him,

that man shall swear to the owner of the slave in the name of God

and he shall be quit.

_Provisions concerning Robbery_

21. If anyone has broken a hole in a house, in front of that hole

one shall kill him and bury him.

22. If anyone has committed a robbery and is caught, he shall be

killed.

23. If the robber is not caught, the man who has been robbed shall

make claim before God to everything stolen from him, and the town

and its governor within the territory and limits of which the

robbery took place shall give back to him everything he has lost.

24. If it was a life, the city and governor shall pay one mina of

silver to his people.

25. If a fire breaks out in the house of a man, and some one who

has gone thither to put it out raise his eyes to the goods of the

master of the house, and take the goods of the master of the house,

that man shall be thrown into that fire.

_Concerning Leases and Tillage_

Special rules governed the estates of officers or constables in the

king’s employ. They seem to have had land given them by the state,

which was inalienable; they might not sell it, deed it to wife or

daughter, or give it in return for a debt. In the absence of the

proprietor he might give the land into the keeping of another to

manage it for him. This was usually done by a son or wife. Three

years’ absence or neglect forfeited his claim to the land. No man

could send a substitute in his place on pain of death for both

himself and the substitute. The king’s officers could buy land in

their own right which they were free to dispose of at pleasure, and

they could also sell the land which was theirs by official right to

another officer.

42. If anyone has taken a field to cultivate, and has not made

grain to grow in the field, he shall be charged with not having

done his duty in the field; he shall give grain equal to that

yielded by the neighbouring field to the owner of the field.

43. If he has not tilled the field, has let it lie, he shall

give to the owner of the field grain equal to the yield of the

neighbouring field; and the field which he left untilled, he shall

harrow, sow, and return it to its owner.

44. If anyone has hired an unreclaimed field for three years, to

open (cultivate) it, but has neglected it, has not opened the

field, in the fourth year he shall harrow the field, hoe it, and

plant it and return it to the owner of the field, and 10 GUR of

grain for every 10 GAN he shall measure out.

45. If a man has rented his field to a cultivator for the produce

and he has received his produce, and then a storm has come and

destroyed the harvest, the loss is the cultivator’s.

46. If he has not received the produce from his field, but has

given his field on a half or a third share, the grain which is in

the field shall the owner and cultivator share according to their

contract.

47. If the cultivator, because in the first year he did not obtain

his living (?), had the field cultivated by another, the owner

of the field shall not blame this cultivator, his field has been

cultivated; at the time of harvest he shall receive grain according

to his contract.

48. If a man has a debt and a storm has devastated his field and

carried off the harvest, or if the grain has not grown on account

of a lack of water, in that year he shall give no grain to the

creditor; he shall soak his tablet (in water, _i.e._, alter it),

and shall pay no interest for that year.

49. If anyone has borrowed money from a merchant and given a

ploughed field sown with grain or sesame to the merchant and said

to him: “Cultivate the field, harvest and take the grain or sesame

which is thereon;” when the cultivator has raised grain or sesame

in the field, at the time of harvest the owner of the field shall

take the grain or sesame which is in the field, and shall give to

the merchant grain in return for the money with its interest, which

he took from the merchant, and for the support of the cultivator.

50. If he has given him an (already) cultivated field (of grain) or

a field of sesame, the grain or sesame which is in the field shall

the owner of the field receive; money and interest to the merchant

he shall give.

51. If he has no money with which to pay him, he shall give to the

merchant sesame equal to the value of the money which he received

from the merchant, with interest according to the king’s tariff.

52. If the cultivator has not raised grain or sesame in the field,

his contract is not altered.

_Concerning Canals_