Chapter D: D. LUCKENBILL in the American Journal of Semitic Languages and

Literatures_, 1907, pp. 280-322, gave a most valuable _Study of the Temple Documents from the Cassite Period_.

The scarcity of legal documents from this period may be estimated from the fact that in _Texte juristischen und geschäftlichen Inhalts_ (see p. 81, above) only the so-called boundary-stones could be quoted.

It is in the Third Dynasty of Babylon that the Boundary-Stone or Kudurru inscriptions first appear. These have been much discussed, especially from the side of the curious symbols which occur upon them, often regarded as signs of the Zodiac, or emblems of the gods.

In the _Beiträge zur Assyriologie_, vol. ii, pp. 111-204, a number of such texts were published and partly discussed by C. BELSER, as _Babylonische Kudurru-Inschriften_. PEISER incorporated some in the fourth volume of SCHRADER’S _Keilinschriftliche Bibliothek_. W. J. HINKE gave in 1907, as vol. iv of Series D of the _Publications of the Babylonian Expedition of the University of Pennsylvania_ (Philadelphia, University of Pennsylvania), _A New Boundary-Stone of Nebuchadrezzar I from Nippur_, in which he also gave a full bibliography of the subject, collected names, words, &c., from all the texts of the sort hitherto published, and discussed the symbols. In _Babylonian Boundary-stones and Memorial Tablets in the British Museum, with an Atlas of Plates_ (London, British Museum, 1912), L. W. KING gave the whole of the British Museum material. In 1911 HINKE contributed to the _Semitic Study Series_ (Leiden, E. J. Brill), a useful collection in _Selected Babylonian Kudurru Inscriptions_. Many such inscriptions are published by V. SCHEIL with transcriptions and translations in _Mémoires de la Délégation en Perse_ (Paris, E. Leroux), vols. ii, pp. 86-94, 97-116; vi, pp. 30-47; vii, 137-53; x, 87-96. F. STEINMETZER contributed _Eine Schenkungsurkunde des Königs Melishichu_ to the _Beiträge zur Assyriologie_, vol. viii, pp. 1-38.

HINKE gives an excellent bibliography of the Babylonian _kudurru_ inscriptions, their publications, transliterations, translations, and discussions. Some are of the nature of _Freibriefe_, and MEISSNER so treated one in the _Zeitschrift für Assyriologie_, 1889, pp. 259-67, cf. pp. 403-4. He also wrote _Assyrische Freibriefe_ in the _Beiträge zur Assyriologie_ II. (1894), pp. 565-72, 581-8, giving text, transliteration, translation, and discussion of three examples from the reign of Ashurbanipal and one of Adad-nirari. In my _Assyrian Deeds and Documents_ (Cambridge, Deighton, Bell & Co., 1902), nos. 646, 647, 648, and 651, I republished these texts and added nos. 649, 650, two texts of Ashur-etil-ilâni, son and successor of Ashurbanipal, nos. 652, 653, 654, 655, 656 (= 808 in vol. ii) of Adad-nirari, nos. 657, 658 (dated in B. C. 730), 659 (names Tiglath-Pileser), 660 (now joined to other fragments as 809, an important grant by Sargon II in connexion with the site of Dur-Sargon), 661, 662(?), 663, and possibly also nos. 669, 671, 672, 673, 674 (see now no. 1101), 692 (now part of 807), 714 (now part of 809), and in vol. ii, nos. 734, 735, 736, 737, 738(?), 739, 740(?), 741(?), on to 752, all possible fragments of similar proclamations, _Freibriefe_, charters, or the schedules to them. I have collected the references here, as the texts seem to have met with insufficient attention. WINCKLER had published parts of some of them in his _Altorientalische Forschungen_ (Leipzig, E. Pfeiffer, 1898), vol. ii, pp. 4-8, and assigned the Ashur-etil-ilâni texts to Esarhaddon’s reign, and in the note on p. 192 to Sin-shar-ishkun. F. E. PEISER made some acute suggestions as to the readings of the text and their meanings.

On no. 809 MEISSNER wrote a full discussion in the _Mitteilungen der Vorderasiatischen Gesellschaft_, 1903, pp. 85-96.

In 1883 H. V. HILPRECHT published _Freibrief Nebukadnezar’s I._ (Leipzig, Hinrichs), with great advances on the previous treatment, and published others in _Old Babylonian Inscriptions_, vol. i, part 1 (1893), nos. 80, 83, part 2 (1896), nos. 149, 150. In 1891 K. L. TALLQVIST wrote on _Babylonische Schenkungsbriefe_ (Helsingfors). In the _Beiträge zur Assyriologie_, 1894, pp. 258-73, FR. DELITZSCH published and admirably treated _Der Berliner Merodachbaladan-Stein_.

ED. CUQ in _La Propriété foncière en Chaldée_ gave a new view of the meaning of these documents and the significance of their first appearing in the Kassite period. It will be seen from the titles given in the above works that no complete unanimity prevails as to their nature and purpose.

We may now turn back to the class of texts usually called contracts.

The Assyrian empire has not yielded much of this class of document, before the time of Sargon II, B.C. 785-722. A number of texts have been reported in the _Mitteilungen der Deutschen Orient-Gesellschaft zu Berlin_ as found at Asshur by the German excavators there, which date from times both early and late. The publication of these texts will doubtless soon be achieved and add greatly to our knowledge. The treatment in Assyria seems to be largely reminiscent of that of Babylonia under the First Dynasty, but there are wide divergences doubtless due to the foreign elements in the Assyrian population. We are not yet possessed of sufficient material to assign the changes to their true causes, but we know enough to be sure that they were not on the whole due to contemporary developments in Babylonia.

In _Assyrian Deeds and Documents relating to the transfer of Property_, in three volumes, by C. H. W. JOHNS, published in 1898-1901 (Deighton, Bell & Co., Cambridge, 3 vols.), practically all the material of this class in the British Museum then catalogued was edited. These tablets apparently all came from Nineveh. There are now many more similar tablets in the British Museum listed in the _Supplement to the Catalogue_. Recently in _Assyrische Rechtsurkunden von J. Kohler und A. Ungnad_ (Leipzig, Ed. Pfeiffer, 1913), a series of transliterations and translations have been commenced which will form a key to the whole, including many other texts since published.

It was on these texts that J. OPPERT formed his views given in _Das Assyrische Landrecht_, and in _Le droit de retrait lignager à Ninive_, see p. 72.