Chapter XII: Life at Babylon During the Captivity, with Some Reference to (2)

“7 canes, 5 cubits, 18 fingers, a built house, the territory of a plantation(142) which is within Borsippa, which Dâan-šum-iddina, son of Zērîa, descendant of Nabâa, has bought from Ibâ, son of Zillâ, descendant of the carpenter, for 11-½ mana of silver, for the price complete, by the authority of Abil-Addu-nathānu, son of Addîa, and Bunanitu, his wife, daughter of Ḫariṣâa. That house he has received, the silver of Abil-Addu-nathānu and Bunanitu as the price of the house has been given. Dâan-šum-iddina has no share in the house or the silver. The tablet which Dâan-šum-iddina has sealed in his name, he has given to Abil-Addu-nathānu and Bunanitu. The day a copy of the sealed document of the purchase or any contract for that house appears in the house of Dâan-šum-iddina or in any other place, it belongs to Abil-Addu-nathānu and Bunanitu.”

Here follow the names of four witnesses and two scribes. The date is—

“Babylon, month Shebat, day 24th, year 2nd, Nabû-na’id, king of Babylon.”

The agent through whom the purchase was made has to declare that no part of the property or the money belonged to him, hence the final clause of the contract, which was intended to prevent trouble at any future time.

At the end are the seal-impressions of the two scribes.

The Loan To Make Up The Sum Required To Purchase The Property.

“1-½ mana 8-½ shekels of silver of Iddina-Marduk, son of Ikîšā, descendant of Nûr-Sin, upon (= due from) Abil-Addu-nathānu, son of Addîa, and Bunanitu, his wife. It increases to them monthly at the rate of 1 shekel of silver upon each mana. They shall pay the interest from the month Sivan of the 5th year of Nabû-na’id, king of Babylon. The silver was the balance of the silver for the price of a house, which was paid to Ibâ. They shall pay the interest monthly.”

After the names of two witnesses and the scribe comes the date—

“Barsip (Borsippa), month Iyyar, day 3rd, year 5th, Nabû-na’id, king of Babylon.”

As this tablet was written two years and three months after the house at Borsippa was bought, it is clear that the money had been advanced, but the indebtedness of Abil-Addu-nathānu had not been placed, until the date of the second tablet, on a legal footing. Probably he intended to pay the money, but had not the wherewithal, and this being the case, the lender agreed to allow the debt to remain unpaid, stipulating only that the interest should be paid at the usual rate of one mana upon every mana monthly. As will be seen from the other documents, the principal was not paid for many years after this. There is no record whether any payment of interest had been made in the meanwhile, but, in any case, the rate is far beyond what at the present time is considered fair.

A First Payment Made After The Death Of Abil-Addu-Nathānu.

This is a small tablet similar in shape to the last, and is now preserved in the Museum of Art at New York.

“8 shekels of silver Iddina-Marduk, son of Ikîšā, descendant of Nûr-Sin, has received from the hands of Bunanitu, with the first payment, which (has been made) since the death of Ablada-nathanu, her husband, from the interest of his money. In the presence of Tabnêa, son of Nabū-âḫê-iddina, descendant of the priest of ...; Nabû-kain-âbli, son of Marduk-šum-ibnî, descendant of Dannu-Nabû. Barsip (Borsippa), month Adar, day 18th, year 8th, Nabû-na’id, king of Babylon.

“There is to be no abatement (?).”

As the loan was contracted in the second year of Nabonidus, it cannot be said that Iddina-Marduk had been by any means pressing in the matter. The numerous documents which exist show that the Babylonians were good at making contracts, but they were probably not so strict in keeping them, and certainly not so merciless (to judge from the history here unfolded) as the people of the modern West in enforcing them.

The phonetic spelling of the name of the husband, Ablada-nathānu, is interesting, as it shows the Babylonian pronunciation. Ben-Addu-nathan, however, was a possible form, and may have been even a fairly common one.

The Legal Action After The Death Of Abil-Addu-Nathānu.

“Bunanitu, daughter of Ḫariṣâa, said thus to the judges of Nabû-na’id, king of Babylon—

“ ‘Abil-Addu-nathān, son of Nikmadu’, had me to wife, and he took 3-½ mana of silver as my dowry, and one daughter I bore to him. I and Abil-Addu-nathān, my husband, traded with the silver of my dowry, and we bought 8 canes, a built house, the territory of a large property,(143) which was within Barsip, for 9-2/3 of a mana of silver, with 2-½ mana of silver which was from Iddina-Marduk, son of Ikîšā, descendant of Nûr-Sin, as balance, and we fixed (it) as the price of that house, and we paid and received it together. In the 4th year of Nabû-na’id, king of Babylon, I made an agreement with Abil-Addu-nathān, my husband, concerning my dowry, and Abil-Addu-nathān, in the kindness of his heart, sealed the 8 canes, (and) that house which is within Barsip, and bequeathed it to me for future days, and on my tablet made it known thus: ‘2-½ mana of silver, which Abil-Addu-nathān and Bunanitu took from Iddina-Marduk, and paid as the price of that house, they received together.’ He sealed that tablet, and wrote thereon the curse of the great gods. In the 5th year of Nabû-na’id, king of Babylon, I and Abil-Addu-nathān, my husband, took Abil-Addu-amara as our son, and wrote the tablet of his sonship, and made known 2 mana 10 shekels of silver and the furniture of a house as the dowry of Nûbtâ, my daughter. Fate took my husband, and now Aqabi-îlu, the son of my father-in-law, has laid claim upon the house and everything which had been sealed and bequeathed to me, and upon Nabû-nûr-îli, (the slave) whom we had acquired by the hands of Nabû-âḫê-iddina for silver. I have brought it before you, make a decision.

“The judges heard their words, they read the tablets and contracts which Bunanitu brought before them, and they caused Aqabi-îlu not to have power over the house at Barsip, which had been bequeathed to Bunanitu instead of her dowry, over Nabû-nûr-îli, whom she and her husband had bought for silver, or over anything of Abil-Addu-nathānu; Bunanitu and Abil-Addu-amara, by their tablets, they caused to be confirmed. Iddina-Marduk pleads for (?), and will receive, the 2-½ mana of silver which had been given towards the price of that house. Afterwards Bunanitu will receive the 3-½ mana of silver, her dowry, and her share besides. Nûbtâ will receive Nabû-nûr-îli, according to the contracts of her father.

“By the decision of this judgment.

“Nergal-banû-nu, the judge, son of the builder; “Nabû-âḫê-iddina, the judge, son of Êgibi; “Nabû-šum-ukîn, the judge, son of Irani; “Bêl-âḫê-iddina, the judge, son of ... “Bêl-êṭir, the judge, son of ... “Nabû-balaṭ-su-iqbî, the judge, son of ... “Nadinu, the scribe, son of ... “Nabû-šum-iškun, the scribe, son of the ... “Babylon, month Elul, day 26th, year 9th, Nabûna’id, king of Babylon.”

Two copies of this document exist, neither of them being the original. They were probably made for persons interested in the result of the judgment.

It has been suggested that the claim of Aqabi-îlu to all his brother’s property was based upon the fact that he was the eldest of the family. This, however, is hardly likely to have been the case, the Babylonian law concerning the wife’s dowry—_i.e._ that it was her own in any event—being clear and incontrovertible. The probability therefore is, that he claimed the property hoping that she might not be able to prove her right. The clear statements of this document, and the common-sense judgment delivered by Nabonidus’s judges are full of simplicity and dignity, and show well the Babylonian character.

The Final Repayment Of The Loan To Iddina-Marduk.

A tablet recording the payment of interest has already been translated (p. 461), and from that it would seem that no repayment on account of the money lent to Abil-Addu-nathānu and Bunanitu took place until after the former’s death. When the last payment was made is unknown, but it must have been some time after the lawsuit. From the portion of the tablet recording it, it would seem that the amount remaining to be paid was 2 mana and 10 shekels, which was paid jointly by Abil-Addu-amari and “Bunaniti, his mother,” who probably lived on the property with him and her daughter.

Thus ends the life-story of this Babylonian family, as far as at present known.

In addition to the names Abil-addu-nathānu and Abil-Addu-amara (or -amari), both of which contain the name of the deity Abil-Addu or Ben-Hadad, the name of the brother, Aqabi-îlu, is interesting. It is naturally a synonym of a Hebrew name found under the form of Aqabi-yāwa, the Talmudic Aqabiah, with _-yāwa_ or _-iāwa_ for _-iah_, as in Šanîāwa, which appears on p. 458.

Ê-Sagila-Râmat And Her Father-In-Law’s Slave.

“Ikîšā, son of Kudurru, descendant of Nûr-Sin, sealed a tablet of adoption for Rêmanni-Bêl, his slave, whose name is called Rêmut, for the giving of his food and his clothing. Rêmanni-Bêl, whose name is called Rêmut, after he had sealed the tablet of his adoption, ran away, and he did not give him food, oil, and clothing. Ê-sagila-râmat, daughter of Zērîa, descendant of Nabâa, wife of Iddina-Marduk, son of Ikîšā, descendant of Nûr-Sin, reverenced him, feared him, and befriended him, and gave him food, oil, and clothing. Ikîšā, son of Kudurru, descendant of Nûr-Sin, in the joy of his heart, annulled the tablet of the adoption of Rêmanni-Bêl, and sealed and bequeathed him to Ê-sagila-râmat and Nûbtâ, her daughter, daughter of Iddina-Marduk, descendant of Nûr-Sin. He shall reverence Ê-sagila-râmat and Nûbtâ, her daughter. Afterwards Ê-sagila-râmat shall leave him to Nûbtâ, her daughter. Whoever changes these words, and destroys the contract Ikîšā has drawn up and given to Ê-sagila-râmat and Nûbtâ, her daughter, may Merodach and Zēr-panitum command his destruction.”

The names of four witnesses and the scribe follow. Date: “Babylon, month Iyyar, day 9th, year 13th, Nabû-na’id, king of Babylon.” Postscript: “At the sitting of Bissā, daughter of Ikîšā, descendant of Nûr-Sin.”

From this it would seem that Ikîšā made Rêmanni-Bêl his heir, freeing him from the position of a bondsman, in exchange for his (Ikîšā’s) keep, but that Rêmanni-Bêl, declining the advantage and the responsibility, ran away, whereupon the burden fell upon Ikîšā’s daughter-in-law, Ê-sagila-râmat. This the last-named seems to have undertaken willingly, and in return, Ikîšā annulled Rêmanni-Bêl’s adoption, and bequeathed him, as a slave, to Ê-sagila-râmat and her daughter. Means probably existed for bringing back the runaway, when the news of his return to his old condition would be communicated to him. Ê-sagila-râmat’s husband, Iddina-Marduk, is the one who advanced to Abil-Addu-nathānu and Bunanitu the money to make up the price of their house.

Iddina-Nabû Sells His Egyptian Slave And Her Infant.

“Iddina-Nabû, son of Mušêzib-Bêl, has cheerfully sold Nanaa-ittîa, his slave, and her daughter, a child of three months, Egyptians captured by his bow, for 2 mana of silver, the complete price, to Itti-Marduk-balaṭu, son of Nabû-âḫê-iddina, descendant of Êgibi. Iddina-Nabû has received the money, 2 mana of silver, the price of Nanaa-ittîa and her daughter, from the hands of Itti-Marduk-balaṭu. Iddina-Nabû guarantees against the existence of any liability of defeasor (?), legal claimant, royal service, or freedmanship with regard to Nanaa-ittîa and her daughter.”

Here come the names of four witnesses and the scribe.

“Babylon, month Kisleu, day 23rd, year 6th, Kambuzîa (Cambyses), king of Babylon.

“Besides the contract of 240 gur of fruit, from Itti-Marduk-balaṭu, which was unto (or due from) Iddina-Nabû.”

This document may be held to testify to the reality of Cambyses’ campaign in Egypt, which took place in his 5th year (525 B.C.). It is also a proof that the Babylonians took part in the campaign.

It is noteworthy that three copies of this document exist, one being in the British Museum, another in the Museum of Art at New York, and the third in the museum founded by the late Sir Henry Peek at Lyme Regis. The tablet recording the contract for the 240 gur of fruit also exists, and is preserved in the British Museum.

Among the tablets of the time of Nabonidus, translations of all the records known which refer to the family of Ben-Hadad-nathan or Abil-Addu-nāthanu have been given, and examination of the numerous other tablets of the reigns of his predecessors and his successors down to the time of Darius, and perhaps Xerxes, shows that similar more or less complete family histories could be made. One of the most interesting of these, and the most complete on account of the number of documents (by far the greater number of the contracts from Babylon and its neighbourhood, of the period to which he belongs, contain his name) are those referring to Širku, a tablet from whose slave Dâan-bêl-uṣur has been given above (p. 454). This man’s history has been tentatively dealt with by the present author in Part IV. of the catalogue of tablets belonging to the late Sir Henry Peek. From a tablet in the Louvre, we find that Širku was not his real name, but that he was called Marduk-naṣir-âbli. The curious thing about this double naming of Širku, however, is that the majority of the tablets where he is called Širku say that he was the son of Iddina, and the majority of those calling him Marduk-naṣir-âbli say that he is the son of Itti-Marduk-balaṭu. Fortunately documents exist reversing this parentage, and showing conclusively that Širku and Marduk-naṣir-âbli are one and the same personage. Were it otherwise, we should have to credit his slaves with two masters, and his wife with two husbands, a state of things probably unknown in Babylonia.

From a tablet dated in the first year of Darius, we learn that he bought a field before the great gate of Uraš in the province of Babylon, this field being beside that of his wife Âmat-Bau, which she had brought as her dowry. Other documents record that he made loans of silver and produce, both alone and associated with his brothers. In these his proper name is generally used, but sometimes he was called Širku. The hiring and letting of houses, the buying and selling of slaves, etc., are also recorded of them. In the third year of Darius he and his brothers came into considerable property in Babylon, sharing it among them, and there is also record of Marduk-naṣir-âbli paying his father’s debts. This increase in their resources naturally enabled them to deal in the produce of their fields, and in all probability they managed his wife’s as well, whilst there is at least one record that she lent money on her own account. To enumerate all the interesting points which the tablets reveal to us concerning their various transactions, however, would naturally take too much time and space.

In exchange for the slave Dâan-bêl-uṣur, the slave’s wife, their six children, and a cornfield upon the canal called Ṭupašu, which Marduk-naṣir-âbli gave to his wife Âmat-Bau, he received from her two sums of silver and one of gold, a ring, and two slaves, who had been part of her dowry. The slaves he gave her, though now her property, were in all probability still at his disposition, but Dâan-bêl-uṣur seems to have served him so well when in charge of his affairs, that after having parted with him, though only to his wife, he must have found, to his regret, that he and his family were naturally not so much at his disposition as when he could call them his own.

Under the name of Marduk-naṣir-âbli, he appears before us principally in the character of an agriculturalist and dealer in produce, combining with this money-lending on occasion. As Širku, he dealt largely in ships, and apparently also in boats for pontoon bridges. In the fifth year of Darius he was in Elam, and there is a reference to the sending to him of a messenger, “with the charioteers of Bêl-âbla-iddina, captain of Babylon.” Many years afterwards Širku is said to have received the rent of a house situated “upon the _giššu_ of Borsippa,” and the question naturally arises, whether _giššu_ may not be for _gišru_, “bridge,” though a house upon a bridge crossing a comparatively narrow canal near Babylon is certainly not what one would expect.

On the 16th of Sivan in the twenty-sixth year of Darius, Širku was the scribe who drew up a contract referring to two ships, one apparently for service on the Euphrates, the other for the bridge. Later on, he borrowed some money upon the security of two of his female slaves, Mušêzibtum and Narû, the wrist of the former being inscribed with the name of one of his relations, the other with his own name, Širku (it is given as Šišku on the tablet). This loan is distinctly stated to be for the purpose of acquiring “a ship for the bridge” (_êlippu ša giširi_), and this he seems to have bought two months later, unless there was another contract for a vessel which has not come down to us. In the Peek collection is a large tablet referring to the completed bridge, the traffic upon it, and the ships moored to it, suggesting that a portion of it at least was used as a quay or landing-stage. More research is needed, however, ere its precise nature will be clear—perhaps the etymology is misleading, and _gišru_ or _giširu_ means, in Babylonian, “pier” or “landing-stage” simply.

The following is one of the inscriptions which refer to his hiring a ship—

“(Concerning) the ship of Iddina-Bêl which is with Šamaš-iddina, son of Bêl-iddina, for navigation. He has given the ship for hire as far as _bištum ša ṣêrûa_ (= _birtum ša ṣêrûa_, ‘the fortress of _ṣêrûa_’) for 1/3 of a mana of white silver, coined, to Širik (Širku), son of Iddinā, descendant of Êgibi. The silver, 1/3 of a mana, the hire of the ship, and its provisions, he has received. The ship shall not cross the great (water), if it pass, he shall pay 5 mana of silver. Each has taken (a copy of this contract).”

The names of three witnesses and the scribe follow this, after which is the date—

“Babylon, month Adar, day 6th, year 26th, Darius, king of Babylon and countries.”

The tablets in which Marduk-naṣir-âbli, _alias_ Širku, are mentioned, prove that Babylonia maintained its character as a maritime nation to a very late date. As, however, voyages on the ocean are not provable, it is doubtful whether their ships sailed to any great distance—in all probability they confined themselves to making coast-voyages only. Judging from the penalty attached to taking the ship across the great (water), the question naturally arises, whether the sea (the Persian Gulf) may not have been intended. The word used in the original is _rabbu_, which would then correspond with the last word of the poetic expression, “the rolling main.”

Such, as far as space allows, was life at Babylon and the chief cities of Babylonia, where the Israelites dwelt for so many years, and colonies of them existed until a very late date, as the drinking bowls inscribed with charms against sickness and evil spirits in Hebrew and Aramaic show. Some of the Hebrew names contained in the tablets from Babylonia have already been referred to (p. 458), and to these several others may be added, such as Banāwa or Beniah; Gamariāwa or Gemariah; Malakiāwa or Malchiah, who had a son bearing the heathen name of Nergal-êṭir; together with several similarly-formed but otherwise unknown names (as was to be expected). Examples of these are, Azziāwa, Ḫuliāwa, Nirîāwa and Agirîāwa. The Gemariah mentioned above was witness, with his compatriot Barikîa (Berechiah) and others, on the occasion when Ša-Nabû-duppu sold Nanaa-silim, his Bactrian slave-girl. The scribe’s name on this occasion was Marduka (Mordecai), son of Épeš-îli. Mordecai means “the Merodachite,” and is interesting as showing how Babylonian monotheism, such as it was, reconciled the Jews to accept what they would otherwise have regarded as a heathen name.

Interesting in the extreme would it be, if we could know what the Jews thought of the country and the city of their captivity. In that enormous walled tract known as the city of Babylon were large open spaces covered with gardens, and cornfields, and orchards, mostly, perhaps almost exclusively, of date-palms, the fruit of which formed such an important part of the food of the people. These were the trees, in all probability, on which the Jewish captives hung their harps when, in their captivity, they mourned for the city of Sion, from which they were so far away. The rivers of Babylon, of which the well-known psalm speaks, were the Tigris and the Euphrates, with the innumerable canals and watering-channels which the nature of the country rendered so necessary to the fertility and productiveness of the land, and without which it would have been a desert.

There, too, they looked upon the buildings of old time, the fanes which were there when their forefather Abraham was a dweller in the land, changed, doubtless, beyond recognition. Chief among these was the great temple of Belus, joined to the tower called “the temple of the foundation of heaven and earth,” and which Nebuchadnezzar speaks of as “the tower of Babylon.” There, too, were the shrines dedicated to Zēr-panitum, consort of Merodach, the goddess Nin-maḫ; Nebo, the god of wisdom; Sin, the Moon-god; Šamaš, the Sun-god; Gula, the goddess of healing, and many other divinities. Whilst the Jews were there, they must have seen many of this king’s building operations—the strengthening of the fortresses and the walls, and the repair and extension of the moats and ditches; the raising of the level of the great street, Aa-ibûr-sabû (the remains of which have just been found by the German explorers on the site of the city), along which, yearly, at the beginning of the year, processions went, and the images of the gods were in all probability carried. Then there was the rebuilding of the royal palace, with its roof and doors of cedar, the latter being also overlaid with bronze, probably after the manner of the bronze gates of Shalmaneser found by Mr. Rassam at Balawat. The thresholds were also of bronze, and the palace was adorned, in other parts, with gold, silver, precious stones, and various other costly things.

They must have seen, also, the construction, between the two great fortifications called Imgur-Bêl and Nē-mitti-Bêl, of that great building which was to serve as a castle and a royal residence at the same time. This was in connection with the old palace of Nabopolassar, Nebuchadnezzar’s father, built, as already stated, in a fortnight. Chief among the shrines restored by Nebuchadnezzar with great magnificence must be mentioned Ê-kua, the sanctuary of Merodach, in the temple Ê-sagila (the temple of Belus), and that called Du-azaga (“the glorious seat”), otherwise described as “the place of fate,” where yearly, on the new year’s festival (the 8th and 9th of Nisan) the statue of the god Merodach, “the king of the gods of heaven and earth,” was placed, and the king’s future declared on the question being put. Doubtless the glory of the place attracted not a few, causing them to decide to stay there permanently, and these, mingling with the native population, were lost to Israel, like their brethren of the ten tribes, and even as Nergal-êṭir, son of Malakiāwa (see above) seems to have been.