used as legal evidence. The stewards of the great temples, of the palaces,
and even of wealthy men in business, kept most careful accounts. These
lists have some features peculiar to themselves and are not without
considerable interest.
(M714) The tablets which have reached our museums from Telloh, Nippur, and
elsewhere, belonging to the ages before the First Dynasty of Babylon, are
for the most part temple accounts. They often concern the offerings made
by various persons, often officials of high standing, and some may well
have been the notes sent with the offerings. But many were drawn up as
records of the receipts for a certain day, month, or year. Interesting as
they are for the class of offerings, for the names of offerers, or of
priests, and for the cult of particular gods, or the localities near
Telloh and Nippur, and often containing valuable hints for the history and
chronology of those times, they do not give us the same insight into the
daily life of the people that the longer legal documents do, in later
periods.
(M715) An important class consists of receipts for loans. Those drawn up
at full length and witnessed, have already been considered. But the
majority may only contain a list of articles delivered, with the name of
the receiver, the lender being the holder as a temple official, while the
receiver is a subordinate. These may have been as effective as the fuller
bonds, but they furnish little information, except regarding the current
prices of articles.
(M716) Some tablets are concerned with hire. The amounts paid by the
temple for repairs, fresh robes for gods and officials, even maintenance
of the workmen, are all set down with their totals for a week, or a month.
(M717) An important class consists of the records of the measurements,
length, breadth, and area of fields, together with the amounts of corn
which they were expected to produce. Were these available for a widely
extended area, we might be able to map out the district round the temple
from whose archives they come.
(M718) The temples and large landowners had great flocks and herds.
Consequently, there is much evidence concerning the pastoral occupations
of the people of Babylonia. The Code regulates the relations of the
shepherds and herdsmen to the flock-masters.(774) Thus an owner might hire
a shepherd, _nâkidu_, for his sheep or cattle, at the wages of eight _GUR_
of corn _per annum_. The shepherd or herdsman took out the flock or herd
to the pasture and was responsible to the owner for them. They were
intrusted to him, and if sheep or ox were lost through his fault, he had
to restore ox for ox and sheep for sheep. If he was hired and had received
satisfactory wages, he had no power to diminish, or abstract from, the
flock or herd for his keep or private use. He entered into a contract with
the owner, and that stipulated for the restoration of the entire flock or
herd, together with a proper increase due to the breeding of the flock or
herd. He had to make any deficiency good, by statute.(775) This applied
also to the stipulated profit in wool or other produce. It seems clear
that his own profit was any excess above the stipulated return. Otherwise
it is difficult to see what source he had from which to make good the loss
to his master. He was forbidden to alter the agreement into which he had
entered in any particular, or to sell any of the flock, under penalty of a
tenfold restitution. He was, however, protected from liability for loss by
wild beasts or accident. But, if the loss was due to his fault, by
neglecting to keep the fold secure, he had to make up the loss.
(M719) It is obvious that he gave a receipt for what was intrusted to him
and made his account on return from the pastures. These accounts are
plentiful among the temple accounts in the earliest periods, but being
written for the most part in Sumerian, have still many obscurities for us.
As a rule, each deals with the liabilities of one man, whose “account,”
_nikasu_, it is said to be. At the beginning are recounted the details of
his trust, so many oxen, cows, sheep or goats, of varied ages and
qualities. Here it is very difficult to translate. Anyone who knows the
variety of names which are given to an animal by agriculturists according
to its age, sex, and use, need not be surprised to find that the
Babylonians had many names for what we can only render by “sheep.” As a
rule, we know when the ram, ewe, or lamb is intended. But this by no means
exhausts the variety. Anyone who glances through an Arabic lexicon must
notice how many different names the Arabs have for the camel in its
different aspects. But in our case we often have no clew to what was meant
by the signs beyond some variety of sheep, ox, or goat. At any rate, the
first section enumerates the cattle or sheep delivered to the herdsman.
Then follows a section devoted to those “withdrawn,” taken back by the
owner, or exacted as some due from the flock. Others are noted as taken
for sacrifice, used for the wages or support of the herdsman, or else dead
or otherwise missing. These the herdsman was allowed to subtract and then
had to return the balance. There are similar lists of asses or goats. The
tablets hardly lend themselves to connected translation because of the
absence of verbs. The following is an example:
Forty-three ewes, forty-three rams, seven ewe-lambs, seven
he-lambs, three she-goats, one sucking kid, to start with.
Expended in ewes and rams, none; six ewes, seventeen rams,
snatched away; no lambs lost: no ewes, one ram, no lambs. Total:
one hundred and four to start with. Total expended: none. Total:
twenty-three snatched away. Total: one lost. Namḫâni, shepherd.
Overseer: Duggazidda. At Girsu. The year after the king devastated
Kimash.
The meaning of the words is somewhat conjectural. “Expended” may mean used
for the shepherd’s own maintenance. “Snatched away” means probably
deducted for revenue purposes, about one in five. The scribe did not write
“none.” He merely left a blank.(776)
(M720) The similar lists for the second epoch are not yet available for
study. Only one(777) appears to have been published,(778) but there are
many still unpublished. It is not easy to translate them, because, though
many Semitic names occur, there is still a tendency to use the old
Sumerian, or ideographic writings. Such a list as:
Eight oxen, twenty-three work-oxen (for watering-machines), eleven
milch cows, sixteen steers, sixteen heifers. In all seventy-four
oxen (or cattle) belonging to Marduk-uballiṭ in the hands of
Bêlshunu, fifth day,
may serve as an example, but does not convey much information to us. These
lists are chiefly valuable for the means of comparison they afford. A
three-year-old ox was worth half a mina of silver.(779)
(M721) For Assyrian times we have a few interesting examples, just enough
to show that the same customs survived. There are no less than thirty-five
kinds of sheep and goats, and fifteen kinds of cattle named in the lists;
also eleven kinds of birds. Here is a specimen list of asses which gives
some prices:(780)
One male working ass for one and a half minas seven shekels, one
she-ass for thirty-seven shekels, a second she-ass for one mina, a
third she-ass for one royal mina, a fourth she-ass for thirty-two
shekels, in all five and a half minas two shekels.
There is nothing to show for whom or why the list was drawn up, but if the
total is correct, we learn that a royal mina was worth one mina forty-six
shekels of the ordinary standard. The lists of horses are now very
numerous, some dozen varieties being distinguished. Many of these lists
give the numbers of horses of different kinds which entered a certain city
on a certain day.(781) The horses are often distinguished as coming from
certain countries, being called Kusai, or Mesai, horses. The camels are
frequently mentioned, and we learn that one was worth a mina and a
third.(782) Dromedaries are also named(783) and seem to have been worth
three minas apiece.
(M722) Wool accounts play an important part in documents of the early
times. They may be regarded as of two kinds. The first are shearers’
accounts returned by the shepherd of a flock; the second are concerned
with the amounts of wool given out to weavers.
(M723) Shearers’ accounts enumerate four sorts or qualities of wool. The
best was called royal wool, that which was of the highest quality. The
others were second, third, and fourth quality. Poor wool and black wool
are also named. Sometimes we are told from what part of the sheep’s body
it was taken. Other terms applied are less easy to recognize. This wool
was received by weight.
(M724) The weavers’ accounts give a list of quantities of wool, with the
same distinctions as to quality, and the price at which it was assessed.
This was doubtless the sum to be paid by the weaver, if the wool was not
returned made up. The values attached show very clearly the difference in
quality. Thus, while two looms of royal wool were worth thirty minas,
seven looms of second quality went for the same value, eleven looms of
third quality for a talent, and thirty-two looms of fourth quality for one
talent, one loom of another sort for one talent, and the same amount of
black wool for the same value.(784) It is evident that the black wool was
highly valued. The loom, literally, “beam,” of wool, was some measure,
perhaps what would occupy one weaver. The price was probably fixed in
silver. The price of the same quality varied from time to time.
(M725) In the letters of Ḥammurabi and his successors there are frequent
references to the shearing, and orders for the inspection of flocks and
herds.(785) The Code does not refer to sheep-shearing, though it mentions
wool. The shearing was concluded by the New Year feast in Nisan. In the
contemporary contracts there are several wool accounts. As a rule, one
talent, or sixty minas’ weight, of wool was served out to several men who
were to pay for it, to the palace, at the rate of one shekel of silver
_per mina_.
(M726) In Assyrian times we have great wool and weaving accounts. Some
deal with the huge amounts of wool received as tribute from the great
cities of the empire and then served out to bodies of weavers in various
palaces with specifications of the species of cloth or sorts of garments
which were to be returned. In the later Babylonian times we have a large
number of wool accounts recording the amounts given out from the temple to
various persons to weave or make up into garments.(786)
(M727) Skins are also named in the accounts. They are distinguished as the
skins of certain kinds of animals. Various amounts are credited to
different persons, but whether as giving or receiving, and in what
capacity, is not clear. Sheep and goat skins are most common, but ox and
cow hides are named.
(M728) The Code does not refer to these, nor the letters of Ḥammurabi and
his successors, but we have lists of skins and carcasses of animals.(787)
The purpose of the lists is not clear. In Assyrian times there are
frequent references to hides. There was a distinct grade of official
called a _ṣârip taḫšê_, “dyer of skins.” Large quantities were bought in
the markets of Kalaḫ and Ḥarrân. The price was about two shekels of silver
for a skin.(788) The articles made of leather are very numerous; shoes,
harness, pouches, even garments, are named. It was used for buckets,
baskets, bottles, shields, and many other things not clearly recognized.
(M729) Fairly frequent also are accounts of the quantities of corn
expended for the keep of flocks and herds. The amounts allowed _per diem_
are the chief items of interest. Sheep were allowed from one to one and a
half _ḲA_ a day, lambs half a _ḲA_, oxen six to eight _ḲA_.(789) In the
Code we find allowances for the keep of animals. There are very frequent
lists in Assyrian times of amounts of corn given to various animals. These
also occur at later times. The amounts allowed per day are various and by
no means uniform. A very good example gives as the allowance of corn for a
full-grown sheep two _ḲA per diem_, for a young sheep, one _ḲA_, for a
lamb one-half _ḲA_.(790)
(M730) Acknowledgments of advances, or loans, occur in the first epoch. As
a rule, we are not told what was the ground of the loan. The fact that
these loans were to be repaid is not stated, and we may take the tablets
to be merely receipts for things given out to officials who had a right to
them. The substances were corn of different kinds, wine, beer,
sesame-wine, butter, flour and other food-stuffs, wool, and other
supplies. We sometimes learn prices from these tablets. Thus a _GUR_ of
corn cost one shekel.(791)
(M731) Long lists of accounts are very common at all epochs. They relate
what sums or amounts were paid out to various officials for certain goods
or for wages, keep, and the like. In fact, they are stewards’ accounts.
Unfortunately, the way in which most collections have been formed, and
even more the way in which they have since been preserved, renders it
impossible for us to make the use of them which has often been made of
mediæval accounts. Otherwise we could obtain from them many interesting
items. They are, however, most valuable for prices and names.
(M732) Thus, in such lists we find mention of articles which would
otherwise remain unsuspected. The first reference to iron is in the
Ḥammurabi period,(792) whence we learn that a shekel of silver would buy
eight times its weight of iron. Sometimes we get an important contribution
to chronology. It is well known that there is no certainty as to the order
of the Eponyms after B.C. 648, but we know their names for at least forty
years later. Any contribution to the order of these names would be
welcomed with avidity. Thus, one scribe writes: “Income from the Eponymy
of Sagab to the Eponymy of Nabû-shar-aḫêshu, for six years, which was paid
in as maintenance, eleven talents ... besides twenty-seven plates of
silver.” We cannot say whose income it was, but the previous section dealt
with the income of the crown prince, and this may be only a _résumé_ of
the last. But we now know that from Sagab to Nabû-shar-aḫêshu was six
years in all.
Thus, from the most varied and often most unpromising sources are derived
those important details which make it possible to attain an exact and
realistic conception of Babylonian and Assyrian history and life.
BABYLONIAN AND ASSYRIAN LETTERS
I. Letters And Letter-Writing Among The Babylonians And Assyrians
(M733) (M734) The ancient Babylonians early discovered the convenience of
written communication between friends at a distance. The origin of
letter-writing is not yet clear; for, when we first meet with letters,
they are fully developed. A piece of clay, usually shaped like a miniature
pillow, was inscribed and then enclosed in an envelope made of a thin
sheet of clay. On the envelope was written the address. As a rule, the
letter was baked hard before being put into its envelope. Powdered clay
was inserted to prevent sticking. The envelope, after being inscribed, was
also baked hard. Of course, the letter could not be read without breaking
the envelope, which was therefore a great protection to the interior
letter. The envelope was naturally thrown away after being broken. Hence,
extremely few envelopes have been preserved.
(M735) The practice of dating letters does not seem to have been common.
We have dated letters at all epochs, but they are few. In some cases the
date may have been on the envelope. It is more common for the writer to
give the day of the month, sometimes also the month. But the date of a
letter was probably not then of any great importance.
(M736) Some letters seem to have been covered with coarse cloth, on which
was impressed a lump of clay, to act as a seal and bind down the edges.
The lumps were then sealed with a signet-ring, or cylinder-seal. The clay
envelopes were also sealed, before baking, with the sender’s seal. So
usual was this habit, that the word for seal, _unḳu_, is often used to
denote a sealed letter. Thus when an official acknowledges the receipt of
the king’s “seal,” it means a sealed order or rescript.
(M737) The early Babylonian letters usually open with the formula, “To A
say: Thus saith B.” The formula probably goes back to the times when the
message was verbally delivered. These would be the words used to a
messenger who had to remember the message. The verb “saith” is not
expressed exactly. The word used is _umma_, which is often rendered
“saying”; it introduces a direct quotation. We might render, “In the name
of B.” But the written letter replaced the spoken message. Some think the
letter was read by a professional reader. Such readers are common still,
where education is not widely diffused. It is very clear that the letter
was generally written by a scribe. Thus, all Ḥammurabi’s letters show the
same hand, while those of Abêshu or Ammi-ditana are quite different. In
the case of private letters we have less proof. But it is possible that
the king sometimes wrote with his own hand. Some terms of expression
render that very likely. It is, however, quite impossible to be certain on
such points.
(M738) The same opening formula also appears in the Tell el Amarna
letters. It is not known in Assyrian letters, but survived in Babylonia to
a late period. In Assyria the formula is nearly the same; with the
omission of the _ḳibi_, or “say,” it reads “To A thus B.” In addresses to
superiors, B usually adds “thy servant.” Polite letters generally add good
wishes for the recipient. These are exceedingly varied. The word _šulmu_
plays a great part in them. Literally it denotes “peace.” “Peace be to
thee” is very common. But it soon came to mean the “greeting of peace.”
Thus “I have sent _ana šulmika_” means “I have sent to wish thee peace,”
“to greet thee.” But it also takes the more general meaning of well-being.
Thus _šulmu iâši_ means “I am well,” “it is peace with me”; not only
absence from war, but health and all prosperity was included. Hence
Joram’s inquiry of Jehu, “Is it peace, Jehu?” means “Is everything all
right?” “Be thou at peace” may be rendered loosely, “I hope you are well,”
in the fullest sense that “all is well with you.” No consistent rendering
can be given for such phrases as these.
(M739) Very often letters quote the previous message of the present
recipient, _ša tašpuranni_, “what thou didst send me.” But the quotation
is often omitted and then this becomes an awkward rendering. We have to
fill up some general sentence such as, “as to what you sent about.” A very
difficult sort of construction arises when the writer sets down a list of
questions, which he has been asked, and the answer to each. As there are
no capitals, periods, or question-marks, there is often some difficulty in
separating a question from its answer. This may be done differently by
different translators, with startlingly different results.
(M740) Very many sentences are elliptical. Thus, it was common to add at
the end of the letter something like, “I leave it to you to decide.” This
might be put, “As the king, my lord, sees fit, let him do.” But a scribe
would often merely say, “As the king sees fit.” Such elliptical sentences
are often very difficult to complete. They were obviously clear to the
recipient. To us they leave a wide margin for conjecture.
(M741) Very early indeed in the history of Babylonia a sort of postal
system had been developed. At any rate, in the time of Sargon I., B.C.
3800, an active exchange of commodities existed between Agade and
Shirpurla. Packages or vessels of produce or goods were forwarded and with
them small blocks of clay, impressed with seals and inscribed with the
address of the recipient. These were probably used to prevent the
fastenings of the packages from being untied, and on their backs may be
seen the impressions of the strings which fastened the packages.(793) As
it happens, no letters have yet been published from the era preceding the
First Dynasty of Babylon; but we can hardly doubt that such exist.
(M742) In the time of the First Dynasty of Babylon letters appear
frequently in the collections of tablets brought to our museums. The
volumes of _Cuneiform Texts from Babylonian Tablets, etc., in the British
Museum, published by order of the Trustees_,(794) contain a large number
of letters from copies made by Mr. T. G. Pinches. These have been made the
subject of a study by Dr. Mary Williams Montgomery.(795) Mr. L. W. King,
in his work, _The Letters and Inscriptions of Ḥammurabi_, published
fifty-five letters of Ḥammurabi to his subordinate officer, Sin-idinnam,
six letters of Samsuiluna, thirteen of Abêshu’, two of Ammiditana, five of
Ammizaduga, and two private letters. These were all transcribed,
translated, annotated, and, with a number of other contemporary
inscriptions, issued with admirable introductions, glossary, and
index.(796) Nowhere can a more vivid picture be obtained of the great
empire and the manifold duties of a Babylonian king. A number of the texts
published in the first volume were translated and commented upon by Dr. G.
Nagel under the title, _Die Briefe Ḥammurabi’s an Sin-idinnam_.(797)
Professor Delitzsch added some valuable notes. Dr. B. Meissner had already
published the text of four letters as _Altbabylonische Briefe_.(798)
Professor V. Scheil gave the text of two letters of this period, found by
him at Sippara, in the _Recueil de Travaux_(799) and noticed others, and
some more in his _Une Saison de fouilles a Sippar_.(800) These are
preserved at Constantinople, but the text has not yet been published. They
are chiefly private letters and of a business nature. There are a great
many other letters in American and European museums, the publication of
which should not be longer delayed.
(M743) For the long period before the Tell el Amarna times, _circa_ B.C.
1500, nothing of any extent seems to have been published, though letters
are also known to exist of this period. A late copy of one such letter,
addressed by Adadi-Shumnâṣir, King of Babylon, to Ashur-narara and
Nabû-dâni, kings of Assyria, about B.C. 1250, is partly preserved in the
British Museum.(801)
(M744) The Tell el Amarna tablets, some three hundred in number, were
discovered in 1887-88, at the ruins of the palace of Amenophis IV., in
Egypt. They will form the subject of a separate volume of this series.
They consist of the letters or despatches sent to kings of Egypt by the
kings of Babylon, Assyria, Mitanni, and the subject-rulers of many Syrian
and Palestinian cities and states. From these can be obtained a very clear
view of the state of Syria and Palestine just before the exodus of the
Israelites from Egypt. Naturally, these letters have formed the subject of
a very large literature. The most complete edition of the texts is by
Winckler, _Der Thontafelfund von el Amarna_.(802) With these should be
compared Dr. J. A. Knudtzon’s _Ergebnisse einer Collation der El Amarna
Tafeln_ and _Weitere Studien zu den El Amarna Tafeln_.(803) A full
transcription with translation and glossary to these texts has been given
by Winckler, as _Die Thontafeln von Tell el Amarna_.(804) An excellent
English translation by J. P. Metcalf is to be had. There are a few of
these tablets, which found their way into private hands, or to other
museums than London, Berlin, and Gizeh, whence Winckler’s copies were
obtained. It is a duty to science that these should now be published. In
the _Bulletin de l’Institut Français d’Archéologie orientale_, t. II.,
published at Cairo, Professor Scheil gives the text of two more of these
important letters. The explorer, Dr. F. Bliss, found another in the ruins
of Lachish. It is included in Winckler’s work above. Professor Sellin has
lately found several tablets, which by their script and personal
references are shown to belong to this period. They were found at
Ta’annek, and are published by Dr. Hronzy in the _Anzeige der philos.
hist. Klasse der Wiener Akademie_.(805) The interest of these additions
lies in the fact that they were found in Palestine itself.