forty-three and seven-fifteenths _GUR_ of corn, at the rate of one
shekel of silver a _GUR_ of corn; price in silver, four minas,
three shekels, and one “little mina,” the price of the field, and
half a mina, six shekels and a fraction of silver, as a present to
close the bargain; one garment for A, son of B, in presence of C,
priest of Zamama (god of Kish); one garment for D, son of E.
Total, two garments present for the field. Total, two men serfs of
the field and food and money for the sons of C, priest of Zamama.
(M573) Here are many noteworthy pieces of information. The price of corn
is fixed with relation to silver. It remained the same down to late
Babylonian times. A present was given in addition to the price, as in many
sales even to the latest times. The serfs go with the land. Certain food
and money allowances are reserved to the priest C and his descendants.
This was probably a territorial charge. Many other points of interest are
furnished by the other sections. Thus, among the presents given are
numerous vessels of gold, silver, and copper. The garments are of various
kinds. The men who receive presents do not appear to be merely the
sellers, but also elders of the city or district. This indicates a tribal
or district right of control over the alienation of land. The boundaries
of the estates are often given and are of great interest for topography. A
number of persons are named as witnesses to the separate sales. In one way
or another some five hundred persons and about forty places are named.
Over forty titles or names of professions are given. Among them we note
many familiar in later times, the _abrakku_, _nagiru_, _patêsi_,
_Šakkanak_, as well as a king. We see already judges, merchants, scribes,
irrigators, boatmen, carpenters, singers, shepherds, seers, branders, as
well as slaves. We read of sheep, asses, goats, oxen. And all this from
one inscription. It is a fine example of the kind of information this
class of documents may afford. Not least in importance is the fact that
many Semitic, as well as Sumerian, names and words occur.
(M574) In the case of landed property the deeds of sale usually specify
its position. In the case of fields and gardens four neighbors are often
specified. Their plots of land then completely enclosed the plot
concerned. What rights of access to such a plot existed does not appear,
but where the boundaries were low mounds or ridges, it may be assumed that
the tops of these were common to all for access and carriage. In towns,
more usually three neighbors are named, the fourth side is often said to
be on the street. Sometimes four neighbors are given for a house, but then
an exit, _mûṣû_, is specified, which doubtless means a right of way
through, or past, another house to the street. When more than four
neighbors are named, it is probably the case that on one side the plot was
conterminous, at least partly, with two of them. Very commonly only two
neighbors are given, one each side. We may then presume that there were
streets or lanes both front and back. If we could press the term _bîtu_ to
mean “house,” we might conclude from many cases that the old Babylonian
cities contained streets of houses, which were one conterminous block of
buildings. But they seem in very many cases to have had some open ground,
and often gardens were attached.
(M575) These boundaries are of great interest both from the point of view
of population and geography. Were we able to consult all the documents
which were once stored in the archives of one great temple, we might map
out a city and assign each plot to its owner; and then extend our map and
the names of owners to the fields and plantations which lay around the
city. For outside the city walls the _ugaru_ or town-land extended to a
considerable distance from the city walls. We may even soon be able to
determine what was the approximate extent of this margin about the city, a
belt of land often called a _ḳablu_ or “girdle.”
(M576) Usually the plots are said to be in a city whose name is given.
Thus we conclude the close proximity of Laḫî, Ishkun-Ishtar, Malgia,
Ḥalḫalla, to Sippara. Indeed, they were probably conterminous with it.
Often the plot is stated to be in some quarter, or ward of the city. For
the most part the names of these wards, as for example Gagim, Karim, are
difficult to understand. Why or how they obtained these names we cannot
tell. It is noteworthy that one ward was called Amurru, “the Amorite
land.” Much has been made of this by Professors Hommel and Sayce, but we
are still far from clear ideas on the point. With respect to other
indications of locality, it must be noted that they are usually at the end
of the first line at the right-hand top corner of the tablet, and have
suffered defacement more often than any other detail, so that they are
often illegible.
(M577) From many considerations it appears that most of these plots were
rectangular, but it is curious to note that many plans of houses and
fields exist which show that this was not always the case. Perhaps it was
the irregularity of the outline which made plans necessary and they may be
an indirect witness to the rarity of such a feature.
(M578) As a rule the private houses seem to have been small and to have
had a few small rooms. The palaces, or mansions of the great, had much
more extensive conveniences. One reads of several specially defined rooms,
but their names do not as a rule tell us much of their use. Wash-houses,
shops, stables, granaries, and vacant plots, as well as gardens and
orchards, are often attached. Apparently one had to leave the house to
enter these. The houses were built of brick and their roofs were supported
by strong beams. In many plans, while the doorways for internal
communication are carefully marked, there seems to be no access from the
street. Perhaps this is a peculiarity of the architect’s ideas of a plan,
the door to the street being understood. At any rate, doors, bolts, posts,
and a lintel are frequently named. These were often put in by the tenant
and, like the beams, taken away by him. A door might be pledged alone. But
it is possible that some houses had no door proper, being entered by steps
leading to the roof. This may be the explanation of the oft-mentioned
_mûṣû_ or right of way out, either between, through, or over, other house
property. When a house had other houses touching it on each of four sides,
something of the kind was necessary.
Probably the house did not usually have an upper story; but, perhaps, as a
remarkable exception, an “upper house” is occasionally mentioned. There is
reason to think that some were in the form of a quadrangle, around an
inner court; as there are wells, or fountains, mentioned as being “within
the house.” In some parts of the city, at any rate, the block of buildings
was continuous. But there were many streets, and canals also, in the
cities. The streets, _suḳê_, were as a rule only narrow lanes or passages.
As shown by the excavations at Nippur, houses stood for a long time. When
first used, the floors were above the street level, but after the
footpaths had been some time in use, they rose to the level of, and
finally above, the floor, so that there were steps leading down into the
house.(602)
It seems evident that great efforts were made to provide drains for the
foundations; and perhaps other sanitary appliances were found in the
better class of houses. But we must await more extensive exploration, not
necessarily in the more important mounds, before we are able to give a
clear account of an ancient Babylonian house.
(M579) In the sale of a house it was often stated that the house was in
good condition.(603) In this respect many particulars might be recited, or
the whole summed up in one concise phrase. In the early Babylonian
documents no good example is yet published in which all the points are
mentioned. We must refer to an example of Assyrian times,(604) where all
the chief points occur together. Early Babylonian tablets mention nearly
all of these items, but only one or two at a time. Thus we have a note
that the beams and doors are sound. Wood was scarce, and a tenant usually
stipulated to take away the beams and doors, if he put them in. The fact
that a man might pledge a door(605) suggests that the modern theory of
interchangeable parts was anticipated in Babylonia, so that a door would
as a rule fit any house. What the beams were for is far from clear. To
carry screens or curtains of skins over a central court seems most likely.
Actual roof-beams were probably included in the “roof” itself, which is
mentioned separately from the beams. The threshold, or perhaps, rather,
the lintel of the doorway, may be meant; and, with the door-posts, be
included under beams. The bolt or crossbar of the door is often associated
with these beams.
(M580) Streets are more frequently named as boundaries of a house than in
any other connection. The “great street,” or “wide street,” occurs
continually. Whether this was the main street of Sippara, or only one
principal thoroughfare, is not always clear. Streets are often named after
a god; thus the street of Lugal-amgaba, of Ishtar, of Bunene, of
Bêlit-nuḫshi occur. They were named after people; Immerum the king, or
Kât-Ninsaḫ, whose house adjoined the street named after him. The gate of
Sin and his garden are named. Canals, especially the _Nâr tupsarrûti_, the
_Nâr Bilîa_, are named. Roads, as that to Ishkun-Ishtar, are sometimes
given.
(M581) The following is a good example of a deed of sale at the time of
the First Dynasty of Babylon,(606) translated literally and illustrating
the usual order of words:
One and two-thirds _SAR_ of land built on,
next to the house of Nabi-ilishu,
and next to the house of Ilushu-ellatzu;
upper end, the house of Ḥaiabni-ilu,
its exit to that of Immarum,
_šar irbitim_
which is his own also;
from Nabi-ilishu,
Lamazi, the votary of Shamash,
daughter of Kasha-Upi,
by her written order
has bought,
its full price
in cash has paid.
In future, party with party,
they shall not dispute.
By the name of Shamash, of Marduk,
and of Apil-Sin they have sworn.
Then follow the names of five witnesses, but there is no date given.
(M582) The house was in Sippara, since it is known that Nabi-ilishu
resided there.(607) The “exit,” that is to say, the front door, opened on
the road to the house of Immarum. The scribe means to say that
Ḥaiabni-ilu, who was a neighbor, owned the house of Immarum. It appears
that Immarum was _šar irbitim_, “king of the four quarters,” a title often
borne by Babylonian kings. There is a great probability then that Immarum
was no other than the Immerum, once King of Sippara, in the reign of
Sumu-lâ-ilu. It is not necessary to suppose him still alive. This deed was
executed in the reign of Apil-Sin, whose father, Ṣâbum, had reigned
fourteen years after the death of Sumu-lâ-ilu. Further, one of the
witnesses, Sin-ublam, is said to be a son of Immerum.
Thus we may conclude that Immarum, or Immerum—the difference in spelling
is slight for these times—King of Sippar, bore the title of “king of the
four quarters,” and as such was still remembered in Sippara. The exact
meaning of the term has been disputed, but Sippara was a fourfold city:
Sippar the great, Sippar Amnânu of the goddess Anunitum, Sippar Edinna,
and Sippar Iḫrurum are named in the tablets of this dynasty. Perhaps the
four quarters of Sippara are meant.
Lamazi, the buyer, daughter of Kasha-Upi, votary of Shamash, bought
another house in the nineteenth year of Sinmubaliṭ,(608) borrowed a
quantity of lead in the first year of Ḥammurabi,(609) and bought a female
slave in a year of Ḥammurabi’s reign, the date of which is not yet
fixed.(610) The name Lamazi is common and was borne by several votaries of
Shamash whom we know to be daughters of other men than Kasha-Upi. But she
may well be the same as the lady who figures without such marks of
identity in several other documents. For example, she is named as being a
neighbor of Ilushu-ellatzu.(611)
(M583) The phrase _ina šapiriša_, “by her order,” occurs often. It implies
that Lamazi acted through an agent, when she borrowed the lead, she acted
through a _mâr šipri_, a messenger and agent. She bought her other house
in the same way. This does not imply any disability on the part of women
to enter into business, for they were as free and competent to act as men.
Nor does it arise from her being a votary of Shamash, for these ladies are
concerned in by far the larger part of the transactions recorded at
Sippara. It is merely the fact that on these occasions, as was frequently
done, Lamazi employed a business agent, who is not named. Her father,
Kasha-Upi, is referred to again as buying a house from the sons of
Nabi-ilushu,(612) where we learn that the latter was a son of
Shamash-ina-mâtim and brother of Kasha-Upi. Lamazi was therefore a niece
of Nabi-ilushu.
(M584) It will be noted that the price paid for the house is not given.
This is often the case. But more commonly the price is named. As Dr.
Meissner has already pointed out, prices varied greatly. Houses in a small
provincial town like Tell Sifr naturally did not bring the same price as
those in Sippara. But variation was probably even more due to situation
and size. The lowest price per _SAR_ was four shekels, the highest thirty
shekels. This gives a wide margin.
(M585) While there are many examples of the sale of houses in Assyrian
times, they do not as a rule exhibit any important peculiarities. The best
example comes from Erech(613) and may be taken as a representative
specimen:
The house of Ina-êshi-eṭir, son of Nabû-eṭir, a well-built house,
furnished with door-frames, a roofed house, the door and crossbar
of which are firm, in the quarter of Bît Kuzub-shamê-erṣiti, which
is in Erech; upper side next Sulâ, Nabû-nâṣir and Bêl-aḫê-erba,
sons of Eṭeru; lower side next Ereshu, son of Shama; upper end
next Ṣillâ, son of Nabû-aḫiddin; lower end next Ereshu, son of
Nabû-bêlâni; on each side the house of Ina-êshi-eṭir, son of
Nabû-eṭir, more or less, so much as there is, for one mina fifteen
shekels of silver, as price, he has intrusted to Ereshu. It is
given, received, paid for, freed. An exception to the sale cannot
be taken, there is no going back, neither shall implead the other.
Hereafter, in future, in days to come, neither brothers, sons,
family, relations on either side of the house of Ina-êshi-eṭir
shall arise and lay claim or cause claim to be laid on this house,
shall alter or complain saying [the usual pleas are understood
here but omitted]. If so, he shall pay twelvefold. At the sealing
of this tablet were present [then follow the names of five
witnesses]. Dated in the twentieth year of Ashurbânipal.
Ina-êshi-eṭir has impressed his nail-mark in lieu of a seal.
(M586) This example contains a full description of a house. The
specification is rarely so full. But doors are always named, as many as
six, in one case. Most of the Assyrian deeds of sale mention various
adjuncts of the house. Thus the _tar-baṣu_ or “court” is named. This was
perhaps an attached walled enclosure.
It is the name given in the Code to the fold where sheep and oxen are
kept.(614) Vines might grow in it,(615) and butter was kept there. A _bît
kutalli_, or out-house, is named. Often _bît rimki_, or “wash-house,” is
also mentioned. This was a chamber within the house, and may be rather
meant for lustration, than for ordinary washing. One house had three of
these rooms.(616) Sometimes there was a _bûru_, a “well,” or cistern,
within the house.(617) A “shop,” or _bît ḳâtâti_, was often attached.(618)
Stables, _bît abusate_, are named.(619) What is meant by _bît irši_ is
difficult to determine, perhaps some chamber fitted with beds and
couches.(620) The _bît akulli_ had a well in it, but what it was is not
clear.(621) The _bîtu elîtu_(622) may be an “upper story.” If so, most
houses were one-storied only.
(M587) Another interior apartment is called a _kimaḫḫu_. This has usually
been taken to be a “tomb.” We know that the old Babylonian kings were
buried in the palace of Sargon. But this was when the palace was no longer
the abode of the living. Ashurbânipal’s charter to his faithful general
and tutor-in-arms, Nabû-shar-uṣur,(623) seems to contemplate that
general’s being buried in the palace, though this is not certain. However,
the explorations of Nippur demonstrate the existence of vaults for burial,
built over with brickwork. It may be that such vaults did exist within the
house, and were sold with it.
A “portico,” _bît mutirrêti_, is named once.(624) Beside the “great
house,” _bîtu dannu_, or _bitannu_, a “second house,” _bît šanû_, is
mentioned. The exit from the house, _mûṣû_, a way to the street, was often
named, being very important where the house was bounded on four sides by
others.
(M588) Most of the houses, of which we have deeds of sale, were situated
in Nineveh itself. Occasionally, the house is shut in by more than three
others, most often only by three. Then the fourth side is said or implied
to be on the street. Hence, we may be sure that in parts of Nineveh, there
were continuous blocks of houses, on each side of a street. Sometimes,
however, we have a garden, or orchard, as one boundary.
(M589) Contrary to the practice in Babylonia, the size of the house is
rarely given. We have the size of the _bîtu akulli_ given, in one
case,(625) as forty-three cubits long and twenty cubits broad. What seem
to be the dimensions of an ordinary house were twenty-two by fourteen
cubits.(626)
(M590) Houses in Assyria sold for from half a mina up to twelve minas; but
as long as we are so ignorant of the form, nature, and dimensions of the
house and its adjuncts, the information is of very little interest.
(M591) A number of other buildings or parcels of land were sold with
houses or separately. Thus, we read of a _papaḫu_, or chamber, which was
beneath an adjoining beer-shop.(627) The beer-shop is often mentioned, and
was a state-regulated institution.
(M592) A term which was long somewhat of a puzzle, the _ki-gallu_, usually
written _Ê-KI-GÀL_, or _Ê-KI-DAN_, is shown definitely by the Code(628) to
be a plot of uncultivated land. This might be rented for cultivation and
was not necessarily poor land, for it was expected to yield ten _GUR_ per
_GAN_. But it might also lie in a city bounded on four sides by
houses,(629) or, as often, by three houses and the street. It was then, of
course, a building site. Its price was usually about two shekels per
_SAR_, but might be as high as eight shekels per _SAR_.(630)
(M593) Another common object of sale was a building called _Ê KISLAḤ_,
shown by the Code(631) to be really a “granary,” or barn, read _maškanu_.
These are usually in the city, and the prices paid for them varied from
one-third of a shekel(632) to fifteen shekels(633) per _SAR_. They might
be surrounded by houses on all four sides, or by a canal, road, and
street.(634)
(M594) These examples serve to show that _bîtu_ as often denoted a “plot”
of land as a “house.”(635) In Assyrian times we find the same usage. A
fairly common object of sale is what I take to be a “fuller’s field,” or a
“bleaching ground,” _bîtu ḳaḳḳiri pûṣê_. It was usually in the city, of
small size, given in cubits each way, or a trifle over a homer in area. It
was near a stream. It sold for a very high price. Once we find half of it
used as a garden. It seemed to have been fenced in. Unfortunately, no one
example is perfectly preserved; and the deeds are of no special interest
beyond the peculiar nature of the plot.(636)
(M595) The gardens in the time of the First Dynasty of Babylon are
generally said to be planted with dates, and sold for “full” price. Once
two shekels are given for a garden of fifteen _SAR_.
(M596) There are not many examples of these sales in Assyrian times, but
they give some welcome information. There is nothing peculiar about the
sale formula. The only interest is in the specifications. The garden is
usually said to be planted with the _iṣu tillit_, almost certainly “the
vine.” Hence, we may regard them as “vineyards.” The number of plants in
them is often given, being as high as two thousand four hundred.(637) Of
other plants grown in a Babylonian garden we can recognize with more or
less certainty in The Garden Tablet,(638) garlic, onion, leek, kinds of
lettuce, dill, cardamom, saffron, coriander, hyssop, mangold, turnip,
radish, cabbage, lucerne, assafœtida, colocynth.
Other gardens are said to be _kirû urḳîtu_, “vegetable gardens.” In later
times the date-plantations are continually in evidence. Beyond the
specification, “planted with dates,” and certain obscure references to the
condition of the crop at the time of sale, there is nothing to be noted.
(M597) The sales of fields are very numerous. They were usually situated
outside the city walls, in the _ugaru_, or townland. They were not,
however, reckoned outside the “town.” For the town extended beyond its
walls, like a parish in England; and was bounded, as a rule, by adjoining
towns. In the case of Sippara, many of these _ugarê_ are named; but as a
rule, the names do not explain themselves. Thus, Azarim, Ḥiganim, and
Shikat Malkat may be named after persons or temples. Other names, like
Shutpalu, Nagû, Iblê, Tapirtum, may well be significant. Certainly,
Ebirtim appears to mean “across” the Euphrates. Once the field is said to
be in Sippara,(639) once in Ḥalḫalla,(640) but we cannot press these
statements to mean “within the walls” of those cities. Usually, the
boundaries of a field are four other fields, with now and then a road, or
canal. The price per _SAR_ varied from one-thirtieth of a shekel(641) to
more than a mina. Very frequently, indeed, the price is simply said to be
“full.”
(M598) The fields in Assyrian times are often mentioned. Nearly always
when a field, _eḳlu_, is sold, it is somewhere else referred to as _bîtu_,
or plot, usually of so many homers in size. There is nothing distinctive
about the sale formula. The specifications give most interesting and
valuable data as to the topography of the land around Nineveh.(642) The
accessories of a field may be named. Sometimes it was corn-land, _šê zêr_,
part was _tabrû_, “open land,” part _adru_, enclosed by a wall or fence.
Pits or wells, canals or ditches, courts or folds, occur frequently as
adjuncts of a field.
(M599) Larger estates are built up of the simple elements which we have
noted. Sometimes the estate was so large as to be styled a “city,” _alu
šê_. These “cities” are generally called after the name of some one,
probably a former owner. But the number of people sold in them does not
justify the use of any larger designation than “hamlet.” A large estate,
with a few people on it, obviously its bailiffs and the serfs of its
landlord, constituted the _alu_. Hence, this term, like _bîtu_, must have
a wider signification than that usually given it. Such hamlets were,
doubtless, the germs of future cities, but the term evidently denotes
simply a settled abode of a group of people.
(M600) From very early times the Babylonians drew plans of estates, which
are in many ways very instructive. The seated statue of Gudea, found by De
Sarzec at Telloh, has a plan of his city upon a tablet on his lap,
accompanied by a scale of dimensions or a standard of length.(643)
Professor Oppert, Dr. Eisenlohr, M. Thureau-Dangin, and others have
discussed at length the plan of a field,(644) which has the sides of
several plots given in linear measure and the areas in square measure.
From this was obtained a great variety of results regarding the relations
between the measures.(645)
XXIII. Loans And Deposits
(M601) In the first epoch there are many examples of loans. The
characteristic word _ŠU-BA-TI_, or _ŠU-BA-AN-TI_, which means “he has
borrowed,” has been used as a title and they are often called _ŠUBATI_
tablets. They are the receipts given for the loans by the borrowers. Here
is an example:
“Sixty _GUR_ of corn, royal quality, from L have been received by
B.” Date. Seal of borrower.
In place of corn we may have money, dates, wool, or almost anything.
Sometimes a date for repayment is given. In the examples there are usually
no references to the interest to be paid for the loan. They may be
regarded as advances made to temple tenants, or serfs, to be repaid at
harvest from crops.