47 chapters
24 hour read
Selected Chapters
47 chapters
Dedication
Dedication
To My Mother In Memory Of Loving Help The social institutions, manners, and customs of an ancient people must always be of deep interest for all those to whom nothing is indifferent that is human. But even for modern thinkers, engrossed in the practical problems of our advanced civilization, the records of antiquity have a direct value. We are better able to deal with the complicated questions of the day if we are acquainted with the simpler issues of the past. We may not set them aside as too r
17 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
Preface
Preface
The wholesome character of the subject-matter, the absence of all possibility of a revision in party interests, the probable straightforward honesty of the purpose, act like a tonic to the ordinary student of history. Nowhere can he find more reliable material for his purpose, if only he can understand it. The history he may reconstruct will be that of real men, whose character and circumstances have not yet been misrepresented. He will find the human nature singularly like what he may observe a
15 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
List Of Abbreviations
List Of Abbreviations
A. D. D. Assyrian Deeds and Documents. In three vols. Cambridge, 1898-. A. J. S. L. American Journal of Semitic Languages and Literatures. Chicago. A. O. F. Altorientalische Forschungen. Dr. H. Winckler. Leipzig, 1893-. B. A. L. Babylonian and Assyrian Life. Professor A. H. Sayce. New York, 1901. (Semitic Series.) B. A. S. Beiträge zur Assyriologie. Professors Delitzsch and Haupt. Leipzig, 1890-. B. E. P. The Babylonian Expedition of the University of Pennsylvania. Series A. Cuneiform Texts. 189
51 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
Sources And Bibliography
Sources And Bibliography
The division which is adopted in this work, “law, contracts, and letters,” is only conventional. The three groups have much that is common and mutually supplement one another. Previous publications have often treated them more or less together, both as inscriptions and as minor sources of history. Hence it is not possible to draw up separate lists of books treating each division of the subject. Only those books or articles will be referred to which are most valuable for the student. Many of them
56 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
I. The Earliest Babylonian Laws
I. The Earliest Babylonian Laws
But the question remained, Was it “right” or “law” ? Were there enactments by authority, making clear what was right, and in some cases creating right, where there was none before? There was much to suggest the existence of enacted law, even of a code of laws, and the word “law” had been freely applied. But there was no known ascription of any law to a definite legislator. There was no word for “law,” only the terms “judgments,” “right,” and “wrong.” It was significant that the parties to a suit
30 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
II. The Code Of Ḥammurabi
II. The Code Of Ḥammurabi
§ 3. If a man has borne false witness in a trial, or has not established the statement that he has made, if that case be a capital trial, that man shall be put to death. § 4. If he has borne false witness in a civil law case, he shall pay the damages in that suit. § 5. If a judge has given a verdict, rendered a decision, granted a written judgment, and afterward has altered his judgment, that judge shall be prosecuted for altering the judgment he gave and shall pay twelvefold the penalty laid do
38 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
III. Later Babylonian Law
III. Later Babylonian Law
As specimens of these laws we may take the following: Law A. [Col. II. 4-14.] The man who has sealed a tablet, by the name of another, in favor of an owner of a field, or has sealed a bond, and has not caused to be executed a deed giving him power of attorney, or has not taken a duplicate of such a tablet [cannot take possession]; the man, in whose name the tablet, or bond, is written, shall take that field, or house. If a man acted as buyer, or lender, for another, he incurred liabilities, for
16 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
IV. The Social Organization Of The Ancient Babylonian State
IV. The Social Organization Of The Ancient Babylonian State
In process of time amêlu came to be used, like our “sir,” and even “esquire,” of those who had no special qualifications for the title. Like the “gentleman's gentleman” of the servant's hall, he was only a respectable person. So, even in the Code, amêlu usually means no more than “man.” It already appears as a mere determinative of personality in the titles of laborers and artisans, 64 when it cannot stamp them as landed proprietors. But it may mark them as members of the guilds of craftsmen and
39 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
V. Judges, Law-Courts, And Legal Processes
V. Judges, Law-Courts, And Legal Processes
It seems best to consider legal usages first, because they are essential to the understanding of all others. When we have a simple contract between two parties we do not at once see where the reference to the law comes in. But the contract was not valid unless sealed and witnessed. The sealing was accompanied by an oath. The oath probably had to be made in court. The witnesses seem often to have been a body of men who could only be found at the court. Even when there is least trace of the law an
50 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
VI. Legal Decisions
VI. Legal Decisions
These usages explain the curious tablet 172 where we have a long series of sections each containing names associated with other names by the word aššum . Thus we read: 173 It is not clear whether Shamash-ellatsu was the adversary of Nishînishu, or the subject of her suit. But we clearly have here a “trial list” of seventeen cases. Whether they were all decided in one day, month, or year, or whether they were reserved for the royal audience, we have no means of telling. It is merely a list. The o
2 hour read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
VII. Public Rights
VII. Public Rights
The foreign wars brought slaves from all the surrounding countries, even as far away as Egypt. We cannot here enter into any discussion of the foreign elements in the population; but it is important to note what the attitude of the Babylonians was to the foreigners resident in their midst. The evidence on the whole is very slight. It may be said, that as a rule, resident aliens became citizens and were under no disabilities. One section of the Code, if we correctly understand it, allows an alien
6 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
VIII. Criminal Law
VIII. Criminal Law
We have one case from Assyrian times of the assignment of a slave-girl, as composition for manslaughter. Atarkâmu, a scribe, had caused the death of Samaku, whose son Shamash-ukîn-aḫi had the right to exact vengeance. Whether as the result of a legal decision or not, Atarkâmu hands over a slave-girl to Shamash-ukîn-aḫi and they agree to be at peace. The name of Ashurbânipal occurs in a position which strongly suggests that the king himself sat in judgment upon the case. The tablet is so fragment
8 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
IX. The Family Organization
IX. The Family Organization
The Code is explicit that a woman was not a wife without “bonds.” 257 This was a marriage-contract; of which the essentials were that the names of the parties and their lineage were given, the proper consents obtained and the declaration of the man that he has taken so-and-so to wife inserted. As a rule, stringent penalties are set down for a repudiation of the marriage-tie. In these bonds a man might be required to insert the clause that his wife was not to be held responsible for any debts he
34 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
X. Courtship And Marriage
X. Courtship And Marriage
Without this bride-price the young man could not take a wife. Hence it was expressly secured to him by the Code, if his father died before he was of age to marry, and reserved as a first charge on the father's estate. There is some evidence that a woman might make this present to her future husband. But that may have been because he was too poor to make it himself and she found him the means. As a rule, the parents gave this money to the bride. But we are not in a position to say whether they di
56 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
XI. Divorce And Desertion
XI. Divorce And Desertion
Divorce of either a wife or concubine involved her being given a maintenance. The divorced wife had the custody of her children, if any. They were not disinherited by the divorce. The divorced woman retained the marriage-portion which she had brought to the home. She had a share with her children in the divorced husband's property at his death. If he married again, the children of both marriages shared equally. She was also free to marry again, but apparently not until her children had come into
7 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
XII. Rights Of Widows
XII. Rights Of Widows
As long as she remained in her husband's home she enjoyed to the full whatever she had brought there as a marriage-portion, whatever her husband had settled upon her, and also received a share from her husband's goods at his death. The widow's share was the same as a child's. But she had no power to alienate any of these possessions. The Code expressly declares that they were her children's after her. 343 The children had no power to turn her out. If they desired her to leave, the matter came be
6 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
XIII. Obligations And Rights Of Children
XIII. Obligations And Rights Of Children
The father had the right to prefer one son above the rest. He could endow him with house, field, and garden. But this must be done in his lifetime and by written deed. This gift did not in any way affect the son's claim to inherit equally with his brethren on the father's death, when he took a full share over and above what he had by gift. 354 The father had full power to dispose of his daughters in marriage. But he was expected to furnish them with a marriage-portion. This was not obligatory, b
6 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
XIV. The Education And Early Life Of Children
XIV. The Education And Early Life Of Children
The use of Sumerian terms and phrases in the body of a document written in Semitic Babylonian might be ascribed to a mere tradition. But they were no meaningless formulæ. The many variations, including the substitution of completely different though synonymous words, show that these Sumerian phrases were sufficiently understood to be intelligently used. In later times they either disappear altogether, or are used with little variation. They had become stereotyped and were conventional signs, dou
13 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
XV. Adoption
XV. Adoption
The Code admits all kinds of adoption, but regulates the custom. A man might adopt an illegitimate son, or the child of a votary or palace-warder, who had no right to children, or the child of living parents. In the latter case alone was the parents' consent necessary. We have examples of cases of adoption of relatives, of entirely unrelated persons, of a slave even. 373 We learn from the series ana ittišu 374 that a man might take a young child, put it out to nurse, provide the nurse with food,
46 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
XVI. Rights Of Inheritance
XVI. Rights Of Inheritance
The Code deals at length with the laws of inheritance, which are best treated under the head of marriage. The actual examples occurring in the documents of the period serve to illustrate the practical working of these laws, but hardly add to our knowledge. They are usually occupied with the division of property among brothers. Sometimes we have some light on the reservations made in favor of other members of the family. Thus two brothers divide the property of their “father's house” and of their
35 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
XVII. Slavery
XVII. Slavery
But the slave had a great amount of freedom, and was in no respect worse off than a child or even a wife. He could acquire property, marry a free woman, engage in trade, and act as principal in contract with a free man. Only, his property, at his death, fell to his master. He was bound to do service without pay, though he had the right to food and drink. He could not leave his master's service at his own will, but he might acquire enough property to buy his freedom. He was tied to one spot, not
50 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
XVIII. Land Tenure In Babylonia
XVIII. Land Tenure In Babylonia
The amount of land might be increased by purchase, but there is a strong presumption that it thus became family property and did not remain at the disposal of the buyer. For if so, in the case above the law should have stated that the parent could not donate land that was family property, but might do so with what he had bought. This does not exclude the possibility of sale. Only the family had apparently the right of pre-emption. 465 In looking back upon the primitive state of the country, its
50 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
XIX. The Army, Corvée, And Other Claims For Personal Service
XIX. The Army, Corvée, And Other Claims For Personal Service
Claims might also be made for work on the fields. This was called ḫubšu and we know little about it more than that Sargon II. charged his immediate predecessors on the throne with having outraged the privileges of the citizens of the old capital Asshur, by putting them to work on the fields. The obligation to provide a soldier for the state was tied to a definite plot, or at any rate, to all estates of a certain size. The ilku , or obligation of the land, was transferred with it. In Assyrian tim
23 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
XX. The Functions And Organization Of The Temple
XX. The Functions And Organization Of The Temple
The importance of the temple was partially the result of the large dues paid to it. These consisted primarily of a ginû , or fixed customary daily payment, and a sattukku , or fixed monthly payment. How these arose is still obscure. They were paid in all sorts of natural products, paid in kind, measured by the temple surveyor on the field. Doubtless, these were due from temple lands, and grew out of the endowments given to the temple. These often consisted of land, held in perpetuity by a family
28 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
XXI. Donations And Bequests
XXI. Donations And Bequests
We may note as a common mark of all these transactions the care taken to fix and define ownership. The transfer is “from” A to B. In early times the property is usually first stated to belong to A. Then he is often said in Assyrian times to be the bêlu of it, its full and legitimate owner. The new owner had to be satisfied that A was competent to part with it. This is often made clearer by saying, in later times, that no one else has any claim upon it. Hence arise guarantees against defeasor, re
50 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
XXII. Sales
XXII. Sales
There were the same formalities as in all deeds. First the purchaser approached the vendor and there was an interchange of ideas, often through a third party, prolonged over a considerable space of time. When etiquette had been satisfied and all the preliminary haggling was over, the parties agreed upon a scribe, who was made acquainted with the terms of the sale, already verbally agreed upon, and he set down in the imperishable clay the legal instrument which should bind the parties to their co
2 hour read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
XXIII. Loans And Deposits
XXIII. Loans And Deposits
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. The greatest value of these tablets lies in their dates. The dates are usually events. Many of these have already been collected and registered, especially by Dr. H. Radau. 646 But there is even mor
32 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
XXIV. Pledges And Guarantees
XXIV. Pledges And Guarantees
The Code recognizes the taking of property in satisfaction of a debt. 685 But this is rather a process of distraint upon the goods of the debtor, in case of non-payment, than a case of pledge. Since it was usually expected that the property so taken would be returned on payment of the debt, we can hardly distinguish it from pledge. Indeed, where a debtor gave up his wife, child, or slave to work off a debt, we have a case of antichretic pledge for the debt and interest. In times subsequent to th
36 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
XXV. Wages Of Hired Laborers
XXV. Wages Of Hired Laborers
One might hire labor from the master of a slave, or from the parents of a young man, not yet independent, and then the wages were small, a shekel or two. These wages were paid to the master or parents, not to the laborer himself. Reapers for the harvest had half a shekel, 714 or two shekels, 715 each. The first may be the daily wages, the latter the price for a specific job. It is probable that the GUR of corn for ten days also represents the wages for the whole period. 716 Average wages have be
13 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
XXVI. Lease Of Property
XXVI. Lease Of Property
Meissner estimates the average rent of a house to be one shekel per annum. But there are noteworthy variations which, with our available data, cannot be explained. Perhaps the best way is to take account of the size of the house, usually given in the Babylonian fashion by the area of its ground-plan. Rents were often paid in corn, but are so variable that a value for corn in money cannot safely be deduced. A small part of the rent was usually paid as earnest-money to close the bargain. In the ca
17 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
XXVII. The Laws Of Trade
XXVII. The Laws Of Trade
The merchant principal also furnished goods, among which are mentioned corn, sesame, oil, wool, wine, and manufactured articles. The agent did the trading, and regularly rendered his accounts to his principal. He travelled from place to place to find a market for his goods, or to make purchases, which could be profitably sold at home. The principal paid no salary, but received again his capital, or the value of his goods, and an interest or share of the profit. It is clear that the merchant also
33 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
XXVIII. Partnership And Power Of Attorney
XXVIII. Partnership And Power Of Attorney
The name for a “partner” is tappû , and the sign TAP serves as ideogram. This sign consists of the two horizontal strokes used to denote “two,” and may have been used to denote “union,” or partnership, and so from its name tap have given rise to the name for “partner.” In the new Babylonian times the ideogram is the sign usually read ḫarrânu , also formed of the two horizontal strokes crossed by two connecting strokes or bonds. There is little doubt that in early times this was read girru , when
23 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
XXIX. Accounts And Business Documents
XXIX. Accounts And Business Documents
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 o
42 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
I. Letters And Letter-Writing Among The Babylonians And Assyrians
I. Letters And Letter-Writing Among The Babylonians And Assyrians
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. 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 seale
29 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
II. The Letters Of Ḥammurabi
II. The Letters Of Ḥammurabi
Since Mr. King's introduction to his first volume gives a full account of the few letters previously published, this need not be reproduced here. Of Ḥammurabi's letters fifty-three are addressed to one and the same man, Sin-iddinam. It is doubtful whether he was the King of Larsa who bore this name, or the official who in the next reign seems to be Governor of Sippara. There are many persons who bore this name known at this period. However, several mentions of the temple of Shamash at Larsa occu
47 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
III. The Letters Of Samsu-Iluna And His Immediate Successors
III. The Letters Of Samsu-Iluna And His Immediate Successors
Like his father Ḥammurabi, Samsu-iluna cared for the health of the goddesses, providing them with an occasional change of scene. This time it is the goddess Anunitum, who makes a journey: 835 The name of the official to whom the letter is sent is broken and it could be completed in several different ways. Sippar-edina was one quarter of Sippara. The following letter is concerned with the supply of corn for the Shamash temple at Larsa. It is addressed to three officials: 836 The “treasure-house”
16 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
IV. Private Letters Of The First Dynasty Of Babylon
IV. Private Letters Of The First Dynasty Of Babylon
There are many obscurities about this letter. Some are caused by the difficulty of reading the defaced characters. Some by the fact that the signs, printed here in capitals, are ideograms whose meaning is not yet clear. The prisoner, if his plea is true, was sent on an errand for his master, apparently to trade for him. He was either robbed by the nomad Sutû, or compelled to give up his oil to them. Why this led to imprisonment is not clear, unless it was regarded as furnishing supplies to the e
24 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
V. Sennacherib's Letters To His Father, Sargon
V. Sennacherib's Letters To His Father, Sargon
The second letter 861 began in exactly the same way, so far as one can judge from the traces of the first seven lines. As before, Sennacherib quotes reports, which he has received, in the sender's own words. From what is left of the first report we learn that the King of Armenia had ordered the forces at his command to capture the commanders of the King of Assyria and bring them alive to him. The city of Kumai is named as the place where these commanders were. As yet the sender “is cut off” and
41 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
VI. Letters From The Last Year Of Shamash-Shum-Ukîn
VI. Letters From The Last Year Of Shamash-Shum-Ukîn
But much more may be made out when the letters are fully available. Thus Nabû-bêl-shumâte, grandson of Merodach Baladan II., had been made King of the Sealands on the death of his uncle, Nâ'id-Marduk. When the revolt broke out, Ashurbânipal sent Assyrian troops to help Nabû-bêl-shumâte to repel Shamash-shum-ukîn. During the long process of suppressing the revolt, it is clear that Nabû-bêl-shumâte conceived the idea of reasserting the independence of the Sealands. He endeavored to gain the allian
20 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
VII. Letters Regarding Affairs In Southern Babylonia
VII. Letters Regarding Affairs In Southern Babylonia
From a letter, 896 which G. Smith 897 ascribes to Kudur, governor of Erech, we learn that he had heard from Sin-tabni-uṣur, who reports that a messenger had arrived from Shamash-shum-ukîn, inciting the people to rebel against Ashurbânipal. As a result, The good Kudur sent five or six hundred archers and joined Aplîa, the governor of Arrapḫa, and Nûrêa, governor of Ṣameda, and went to Ur. He was able to seize the leaders of the revolt, among them Nabû-zêr-iddin. But someone had captured Sin-tabni
16 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
Letters About Elam And Southern Babylonia
Letters About Elam And Southern Babylonia
The rest is obscure by reason of lacunæ. The reverse seems to be inscribed with numerals, perhaps relating to items of presents sent. Ashurbânipal kept up the friendship, and, when a famine broke out in Elam, allowed some Elamites to take refuge in his land, and afterwards restored them to their country. He also sent grain into Elam itself. But, perhaps as consequence of having spied out the land, the Elamites contrived to make Urtaku attack Assyria. He was incited to this act by Bêl-iḳisha, pri
33 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
IX. Miscellaneous Assyrian Letters
IX. Miscellaneous Assyrian Letters
Here is an example of some interest, and more easily understood than many: 914 Whether this was a good or evil omen, or even an omen at all, we do not know. Nabûa is a very common name. There are fourteen or fifteen astrological reports which bear his name. In these he appears as an inhabitant of the city Asshur. The name occurs some forty times in the contracts, but it is clear that there were several of the name. Perhaps the scribe who appears from b.c. 668 down to post-canon times may be our
31 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
X. Letters Of The Second Babylonian Empire
X. Letters Of The Second Babylonian Empire
Or, 949 A somewhat longer but imperfect letter 950 reads: Of some interest for the nature of public works is: 951 Or this: 952 The following is another of the best-preserved letters of this period: 953 For the most part the others are fragmentary and of no special interest. It is noteworthy that they all begin with much the same form of greeting. Dr. T. G. Pinches published the text of three letters of this period in Recueil des Travaux . 954 Two are very fragmentary; the third reads thus: Here
30 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
I. The Prologue And Epilogue To The Code Of Ḥammurabi
I. The Prologue And Epilogue To The Code Of Ḥammurabi
When the most high God (Anu), king of the spirits of heaven (Anunnaki), (and) Bêl, lord of heaven and earth, who settles the fates of all, allotted to Marduk, the first-born of Ea, the lord God of right, a rule over men and extolled him among the spirits of earth (Igigi), then they nominated for Babylon a name above all, they made it renowned in all quarters, and in the midst of it they founded an everlasting sovereignty, whose seat is established like heaven and earth; then did God (Anu) and Bê
15 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
II. Chronology
II. Chronology
In the early periods, a vertical line between two names denotes that the second was son of the former. This is often all we know, but it is useful to mark the fact, as we cannot then insert other rulers between them. Names printed in capitals are either Sumerian or their true pronunciation is unknown. When these capitals are in Roman type, we know that they were kings or Patesis; when they are printed in italic, we only know that they were the parents of those whose names follow. We do not then
5 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
III. Weights And Measures
III. Weights And Measures
II. Measures Of Capacity Early Scale Later Scale III. Measures Of Length On other measures see A. D. D., ii., pp. 197-218. The ell is about half a metre. IV. Measures Of Surface The area of the SAR was one GAR square, or 6 metres square. Areas were also measured by the amount of corn required to sow them, or their average yield, that is by the GUR and ḲA. V. Measures Of Time Further details may be obtained from Zimmern's Das Princip unserer Zeit-und Raumteilung , in the Berichten d. philolog. hi
7 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
IV. Bibliography Of The Later Periods
IV. Bibliography Of The Later Periods
Nebuchadrezzar II. —Strassmaier published 460 texts in Hefts V.-VI. , of the Babylonische Texte , of which thirty-one are transcribed and translated in K. B. , iv., pp. 180-201, and forty are discussed in Kohler-Peiser's Aus Babylonischen Rechtsleben . Two texts are published by Pinches, C. T. , iv., p. 38, two more in Peiser's Babylonische Verträge , six texts from the Liverpool Museum were published by Strassmaier in the Actes du VI. Congrès Internationale des Orientalistes, 1883 . Some of the
6 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter