Chapter VII: Manners and Customs of Babylonia-Assyria (3)

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.

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.