(M. Ja.)
[Plate I.][Plate II.]
[1]For a survey of the chronological systems adopted by different modern scholars, see below, section viii. "Chronological Systems."[2]The compiler of the more complete one seems to have allowed himself liberties. At all events he gives 30 years of reign to Sin-muballidh instead of the 20 assigned to him in a list of dates drawn up at the time of Ammi-zadok's accession, 55 years to Khammurabi instead of 43, and 35 years to Samsu-iluna instead of 38, while he omits altogether the seven years' reign of the Assyrian king Tukulti-In-aristi at Babylon.[3]They are also called high-priests of Gunammidē and a contract-tablet speaks of "Tē in Babylon," but this was probably not the Tē of the seal. It must be remembered that the reading of most of the early Sumerian proper names is merely provisional, as we do not know how the ideographs of which they are composed were pronounced in either Sumerian or Assyrian.[4]For the events leading up to the conquests of Cyrus, seePersia:Ancient History, § v. The chronology is not absolutely certain.[5]The following is a list of the later dynasties and kings of Babylonia and Assyria so far as they are known at present. For the views of other writers on the chronology, see § viii.,Chronological Systems.The Babylonian Dynasties from cir.2500B.C.Dynasty of Ur.Gungunu,cir.2500B.C.Ur-Gur.Dungi, more than 51 years.Bur-Sin, more than 12 years.Gimil-Sin, more than 9 years.Ibi-Sin.Idin-Dagan.Sumu-ilu.First Dynasty of Babylon.2350B.C.Sumu-abi, 14 years.Sumu-la-ilu, 36 years.Zabium, 14 years.Abil-Sin, 18 years.Sin-muballidh, 20 years.Khammurabi, 43 years.Samsu-iluna, 38 years.Abesukh, 25 years.Ammi-ditana, 25 years.Ammi-zadoq, 21 years.Samsu-ditana, 31 years.Dynasty of Sisku (?) for 368 years.2160B.C.Anman, 60 years.Ki-Nigas, 56 years.Damki-ilisu, 26 years.Iskipal, 15 years.Sussi, 27 years.Gul-ki[sar], 55 years.Kirgal-daramas, 50 years.Ā-dara-kalama, 28 years.Akur-duana, 26 years.Melamma-kurkura, 8 years.Ea-ga(mil), 9 years.Kassite Dynasty of 36 kings for 576 years 9 months.1780B.C.Gandis, 16 years.Agum-sipak, 22 years.Bitilyasu I., 22 years.Ussi (?), 9 years.Adu-metas.Tazzi-gurumas.Agum-kakrime.. . . .Kara-indas.Kadasman-Bel, his son, corresponded withAmon-hotep (Amenophis) III. of Egypt, 1400B.C.Kuri-galzu II.Burna-buryas, his son, 22 years.Kuri-galzu III., his son, 26 years.Nazi-Maruttas, his son, 17 years.Kadasman-Turgu, his son, 13 years.Kudur-bel, 6 years.Sagarakti-suryas, his son, 13 years.Bitilyasu II., 8 years.Tukulti-In-aristi of Assyria (1272B.C.)for 7 years, native vassal kings being—Bel-sum-iddin, 1½ years.Kadasman-Bel II., 1½ years.Hadad-sum-iddin, 6 years.Hadad-sum-uzur, 30 years.Meli-sipak, 15 years.Merodach-baladan I., his son, 13 years.Zamama-sum-iddin, 1 year.Bel-sum-iddin, 3 years.Dynasty of Isin of 11 kings for 132½ years.1203B.C.Merodach-... 18 years.. . . .Nebuchadrezzar I.Bel-nadin-pal.Merodach-nadin-akhi, 22 years.Merodach-... 1½ years.Hadad-baladan, an usurper.Merodach-sapik-zer-mati, 12 years.Nabu-nadin, 8 years.Dynasty of the Sea-coast.1070B.C.Simbar-sipak, 18 years.Ea-mukin-zeri, 5 months.Kassu-nadin-akhi, 3 years.Dynasty of Bit-Bazi.1050B.C.Ē-Ulmas-sakin-sumi, 17 years.Ninip-kudur-uzur I., 3 years.Silanim-Suqamuna, 3 months.Dynasty of Elam.1030B.C.An Elamite, 6 years.Second Dynasty of Babylon.1025B.C.Nebo-kin-abli, 36 years.Ninip-kudur-uzur II. (?) 8 months 12 days.Probably 5 names missing.B.C.Samas-mudammiqcir.920Nebo-sum-iskuncir.900Nebo-baladancir.880Merodach-nadin-sumicir.860Merodach-baladhsu-iqbicir.830Bau-akhi-iddincir.810Probably 2 names missing.Nebo-sum-iskun, son of Dakuricir.760Nabonassar, 14 years747Nebo-nadin-suma, his son, 2 years733Nebo-sum-yukin, his son, 1 month 12 days731End of "the 22nd dynasty."Dynasty of Sape.B.C.Yukin-zera or Chinziros, 3 years.730Pulu (Pul or Poros), calledTiglath-pileser III. in Assyria, 2 years727Ululā, called Shalmaneser IV. in Assyria725Merodach-baladan II. the Chaldaean721Sargon of Assyria709Sennacherib, his son705Merodach-zakir-sumi, 1 month702Merodach-baladan III., 6 months702Bel-ebus of Babylon702Assur-nadin-sumi, son of Sennacherib700Nergal-yusezib694Musezib-Merodach693Sennacherib destroys Babylon689Esar-haddon, his son681Samas-sum-yukin, his son668Kandalanu (Kineladanos)648Nabopolassar626Nabu-kudur-uzur (Nebuchadrezzar II.)605Amil-Marduk (Evil-Merodach), his son562Nergal-sarra-uzur (Nergal-sharezer)560Labasi-Marduk, his son, 3 months556Nabu-nahid (Nabonidus)556Cyrus conquers Babylon538Cambyses, his son529Gomates, the Magian, 7 months521Nebuchadrezzar III., native king521Darius, son of Hystaspes520Nebuchadrezzar IV., rebel king514Darius restored513Kings of Assyria.Zulilu "founder of the monarchy.". . . .Assur-rabi.Assur-nirari, his son.Assur-rim-nisesu, his son.. . . .Erba-Hadad,Assur-nadin-akhi I., his son.Assur-yuballidh I., his son.B.C.Assur-bil-nisi-sucir.1450Buzur-Assur1440Assur-nadin-akhi II.1410Assur-yuballidh, his son1390Bel-nirari, his son1370Arik-den-ilu, his son1350Hadad-nirari I., his son1330Shalmaneser I., his son (built Calah)1310Tiglath-In-aristi I., his son,1280conquers Babyloncir.1270Assur-nazir-pal I., his son1260Assur-narara and his son Nebo-dan1250Assur-sum-lisir1235In-aristi-tukulti-Assur1225Bel-kudur-uzur1215In-aristi-pileser, descendant of Erba-Hadad1200Assur-dan I., his son1185Mutaggil-Nebo, his son1160Assur-ris-isi, his son1140Tiglath-pileser I., his son1120Assur-bil-kala, his son1090Samsi-Hadad I., his brother1070Assur-nazir-pal II., his son1060Assur-irbi—Hadad-nirari II.cir.960Tiglath-pileser II., his son950Assur-dan II., his son930Hadad-nirari III., his son911Tukulti-In-aristi, his son889Assur-nazir-pal III., his son883Shalmaneser II., his son858Assur-danin-pal (Sardanapallos), rebel king825Samsi-Hadad II., his brother823Hadad-nirari IV., his son810Shalmaneser III.781Assur-dan III.771Assur-nirari753Pulu, usurper, takes the name of Tiglath-pileser III.745Ululā, usurper, takes the name of Shalmaneser IV.727Sargon, usurper722Sennacherib, his son705Esar-haddon, his son681Assur-bani-pal, his son668Assur-etil-ilani-yukin, his son?Assur-sum-lisir?Sin-sarra-uzur (Sarakos)?Destruction of Nineveh606[6]These three dynasties are usually known as the First Dynasty of Babylon, the Dynasty of Sisku or Uruku, and the Kassite Dynasty; see sect. v.[7]See Oppert,Comptes rendus de l'Acad. des Inscr. et Belles-Lettres(1888), xvi. pp. 218 ff., andBab. and Or. Rec.ii. pp. 107 ff.[8]See Sayce,Early Israel, pp. 281 ff., andEncyc. Brit., 10th ed., vol. xxvi. p. 45 (also his account above).[9]See RogersHistory of Babylonia and Assyria(1900).[10]See Winckler,Geschichte Babyloniens und Assyriens(1892),Altorientalische Forschungen, i. Hft. 2 (1894), andAuszug aus der Vorderasiatischen Geschichte(1905).[11]See Delitzsch and Mürdter,Geschichte Babyloniens und Assyriens(1891), and Delitzsch,Mehr Licht(1907).[12]See Maspero,Histoire ancienne des peuples de l'Orient classique, tome ii.[13]See Peiser,Zeits. für Assyr.vi. pp. 264 ff.[14]See Rost,Mitteil. der vorderas. Gesellschaft(1897), ii.[15]See Lehmann-Haupt,Zwei Hauptprobleme(1898).[16]See Marquart,Philologus, Supplbd. vii. (1899), pp. 637 ff.[17]See Rost,Orient. Lit.-Zeit., iii. (1900), No. 6.[18]See Lehmann-Haupt,Beiträge zur alten Geschichte (Klio), Bd. iii. Heft 1 (1903).[19]See Hommel,Geschichte Babyloniens und Assyriens.[20]SeeAncient Hebrew Tradition, p. 125, and Hastings'Dictionary of the Bible, i. pp. 226 f.[21]See Niebuhr,Chronologie(1896).[22]See Hommel, "Sitzungsberichte der königl. böhmischen Gesellschaft der Wissenschaften,"Phil.-hist. Classe(1901), v.[23]Published and discussed by L. W. King, "Chronicles concerning early Babylonian Kings" (Studies in Eastern History, vols. ii. and iii., 1907), andHistory of Egypt, vol. xiii. (published by the Grolier Society, New York, in the spring of 1906), pp. 244 ff.[24]Published and discussed by Hilprecht, "Mathematical, Metrological and Chronological Texts" (Bab. Exped., Ser. A, xx. 1, dated 1906, published 1907), pp. 46 ff.[25]See L. W. King,Letters and Inscriptions of Khammurabi, vol. iii. pp. 228 ff.[26]Cf.,e.g., Hilprecht,Old Babylonian Inscriptions, pt. ii. p. 24.[27]See Radau,Early Babylonian History(1900).[28]See Lehmann-Haupt,Zwei Hauptprobleme, pp. 172 ff.[29]See Winckler in Schrader'sKeilinschriften und das Alte-Testament(3rd ed.), i. pp. 17 f., and cf.Mitteil. der vorderas. Gesellschaft(1906), i. p. 12, n.l.[30]Cf. L. W. King,Chronicles, i. pp. 15 ff., 61 f.[31]SeeMitteilungen der deutschen Orientgesellschaft, Nos. 21 and 22, and cf. L. W. King, Chronicles, i. pp. 114 ff.[32]The Assyrian language is practically identical with the Babylonian, just as the Assyrians are the same people as the Babylonians with some foreign admixtures.[33]In many names the divine element is lopped off, but was originally present.[34]Aramaic endorsements on business documents repeating in Aramaic transliteration the names of parties mentioned in the texts have also been of service in fixing the phonetic readings of names. Seee.g.Clay's valuable article, "Aramaic Endorsements on the Documents of Murashū Sons" (Persian period) inOld Testament and Semitic Studies in Memory of William Rainey Harper(Chicago, 1908, vol. i.), pp. 285-322.[35]Even in the case of the "Semitic" name of the famous Sargon I. (q.v.), whose full name is generally read Sharru-kenu-sha-ali, and interpreted as "the legitimate king of the city," the question has recently been raised whether we ought not to read "Sharru-kenu-shar-ri" and interpret as "the legitimate king rules"—an illustration of the vacillation still prevailing in this difficult domain of research.
[1]For a survey of the chronological systems adopted by different modern scholars, see below, section viii. "Chronological Systems."
[2]The compiler of the more complete one seems to have allowed himself liberties. At all events he gives 30 years of reign to Sin-muballidh instead of the 20 assigned to him in a list of dates drawn up at the time of Ammi-zadok's accession, 55 years to Khammurabi instead of 43, and 35 years to Samsu-iluna instead of 38, while he omits altogether the seven years' reign of the Assyrian king Tukulti-In-aristi at Babylon.
[3]They are also called high-priests of Gunammidē and a contract-tablet speaks of "Tē in Babylon," but this was probably not the Tē of the seal. It must be remembered that the reading of most of the early Sumerian proper names is merely provisional, as we do not know how the ideographs of which they are composed were pronounced in either Sumerian or Assyrian.
[4]For the events leading up to the conquests of Cyrus, seePersia:Ancient History, § v. The chronology is not absolutely certain.
[5]The following is a list of the later dynasties and kings of Babylonia and Assyria so far as they are known at present. For the views of other writers on the chronology, see § viii.,Chronological Systems.
The Babylonian Dynasties from cir.2500B.C.
Dynasty of Ur.
Gungunu,cir.2500B.C.
Ur-Gur.
Dungi, more than 51 years.
Bur-Sin, more than 12 years.
Gimil-Sin, more than 9 years.
Ibi-Sin.
Idin-Dagan.
Sumu-ilu.
First Dynasty of Babylon.2350B.C.
Sumu-abi, 14 years.
Sumu-la-ilu, 36 years.
Zabium, 14 years.
Abil-Sin, 18 years.
Sin-muballidh, 20 years.
Khammurabi, 43 years.
Samsu-iluna, 38 years.
Abesukh, 25 years.
Ammi-ditana, 25 years.
Ammi-zadoq, 21 years.
Samsu-ditana, 31 years.
Dynasty of Sisku (?) for 368 years.2160B.C.
Anman, 60 years.
Ki-Nigas, 56 years.
Damki-ilisu, 26 years.
Iskipal, 15 years.
Sussi, 27 years.
Gul-ki[sar], 55 years.
Kirgal-daramas, 50 years.
Ā-dara-kalama, 28 years.
Akur-duana, 26 years.
Melamma-kurkura, 8 years.
Ea-ga(mil), 9 years.
Kassite Dynasty of 36 kings for 576 years 9 months.1780B.C.
Gandis, 16 years.
Agum-sipak, 22 years.
Bitilyasu I., 22 years.
Ussi (?), 9 years.
Adu-metas.
Tazzi-gurumas.
Agum-kakrime.
. . . .
Kara-indas.
Kadasman-Bel, his son, corresponded with
Amon-hotep (Amenophis) III. of Egypt, 1400B.C.
Kuri-galzu II.
Burna-buryas, his son, 22 years.
Kuri-galzu III., his son, 26 years.
Nazi-Maruttas, his son, 17 years.
Kadasman-Turgu, his son, 13 years.
Kudur-bel, 6 years.
Sagarakti-suryas, his son, 13 years.
Bitilyasu II., 8 years.
Tukulti-In-aristi of Assyria (1272B.C.)
for 7 years, native vassal kings being—
Bel-sum-iddin, 1½ years.
Kadasman-Bel II., 1½ years.
Hadad-sum-iddin, 6 years.
Hadad-sum-uzur, 30 years.
Meli-sipak, 15 years.
Merodach-baladan I., his son, 13 years.
Zamama-sum-iddin, 1 year.
Bel-sum-iddin, 3 years.
Dynasty of Isin of 11 kings for 132½ years.1203B.C.
Merodach-... 18 years.
. . . .
Nebuchadrezzar I.
Bel-nadin-pal.
Merodach-nadin-akhi, 22 years.
Merodach-... 1½ years.
Hadad-baladan, an usurper.
Merodach-sapik-zer-mati, 12 years.
Nabu-nadin, 8 years.
Dynasty of the Sea-coast.1070B.C.
Simbar-sipak, 18 years.
Ea-mukin-zeri, 5 months.
Kassu-nadin-akhi, 3 years.
Dynasty of Bit-Bazi.1050B.C.
Ē-Ulmas-sakin-sumi, 17 years.
Ninip-kudur-uzur I., 3 years.
Silanim-Suqamuna, 3 months.
Dynasty of Elam.1030B.C.
An Elamite, 6 years.
Second Dynasty of Babylon.1025B.C.
Nebo-kin-abli, 36 years.
Ninip-kudur-uzur II. (?) 8 months 12 days.
Probably 5 names missing.
B.C.
Samas-mudammiq
cir.920
Nebo-sum-iskun
cir.900
Nebo-baladan
cir.880
Merodach-nadin-sumi
cir.860
Merodach-baladhsu-iqbi
cir.830
Bau-akhi-iddin
cir.810
Probably 2 names missing.
Nebo-sum-iskun, son of Dakuri
cir.760
Nabonassar, 14 years
747
Nebo-nadin-suma, his son, 2 years
733
Nebo-sum-yukin, his son, 1 month 12 days
731
End of "the 22nd dynasty."
Dynasty of Sape.
B.C.
Yukin-zera or Chinziros, 3 years.
730
Pulu (Pul or Poros), called
Tiglath-pileser III. in Assyria, 2 years
727
Ululā, called Shalmaneser IV. in Assyria
725
Merodach-baladan II. the Chaldaean
721
Sargon of Assyria
709
Sennacherib, his son
705
Merodach-zakir-sumi, 1 month
702
Merodach-baladan III., 6 months
702
Bel-ebus of Babylon
702
Assur-nadin-sumi, son of Sennacherib
700
Nergal-yusezib
694
Musezib-Merodach
693
Sennacherib destroys Babylon
689
Esar-haddon, his son
681
Samas-sum-yukin, his son
668
Kandalanu (Kineladanos)
648
Nabopolassar
626
Nabu-kudur-uzur (Nebuchadrezzar II.)
605
Amil-Marduk (Evil-Merodach), his son
562
Nergal-sarra-uzur (Nergal-sharezer)
560
Labasi-Marduk, his son, 3 months
556
Nabu-nahid (Nabonidus)
556
Cyrus conquers Babylon
538
Cambyses, his son
529
Gomates, the Magian, 7 months
521
Nebuchadrezzar III., native king
521
Darius, son of Hystaspes
520
Nebuchadrezzar IV., rebel king
514
Darius restored
513
Kings of Assyria.
Zulilu "founder of the monarchy."
. . . .
Assur-rabi.
Assur-nirari, his son.
Assur-rim-nisesu, his son.
. . . .
Erba-Hadad,
Assur-nadin-akhi I., his son.
Assur-yuballidh I., his son.
B.C.
Assur-bil-nisi-su
cir.1450
Buzur-Assur
1440
Assur-nadin-akhi II.
1410
Assur-yuballidh, his son
1390
Bel-nirari, his son
1370
Arik-den-ilu, his son
1350
Hadad-nirari I., his son
1330
Shalmaneser I., his son (built Calah)
1310
Tiglath-In-aristi I., his son,
1280
conquers Babylon
cir.1270
Assur-nazir-pal I., his son
1260
Assur-narara and his son Nebo-dan
1250
Assur-sum-lisir
1235
In-aristi-tukulti-Assur
1225
Bel-kudur-uzur
1215
In-aristi-pileser, descendant of Erba-Hadad
1200
Assur-dan I., his son
1185
Mutaggil-Nebo, his son
1160
Assur-ris-isi, his son
1140
Tiglath-pileser I., his son
1120
Assur-bil-kala, his son
1090
Samsi-Hadad I., his brother
1070
Assur-nazir-pal II., his son
1060
Assur-irbi
—
Hadad-nirari II.
cir.960
Tiglath-pileser II., his son
950
Assur-dan II., his son
930
Hadad-nirari III., his son
911
Tukulti-In-aristi, his son
889
Assur-nazir-pal III., his son
883
Shalmaneser II., his son
858
Assur-danin-pal (Sardanapallos), rebel king
825
Samsi-Hadad II., his brother
823
Hadad-nirari IV., his son
810
Shalmaneser III.
781
Assur-dan III.
771
Assur-nirari
753
Pulu, usurper, takes the name of Tiglath-pileser III.
745
Ululā, usurper, takes the name of Shalmaneser IV.
727
Sargon, usurper
722
Sennacherib, his son
705
Esar-haddon, his son
681
Assur-bani-pal, his son
668
Assur-etil-ilani-yukin, his son
?
Assur-sum-lisir
?
Sin-sarra-uzur (Sarakos)
?
Destruction of Nineveh
606
[6]These three dynasties are usually known as the First Dynasty of Babylon, the Dynasty of Sisku or Uruku, and the Kassite Dynasty; see sect. v.
[7]See Oppert,Comptes rendus de l'Acad. des Inscr. et Belles-Lettres(1888), xvi. pp. 218 ff., andBab. and Or. Rec.ii. pp. 107 ff.
[8]See Sayce,Early Israel, pp. 281 ff., andEncyc. Brit., 10th ed., vol. xxvi. p. 45 (also his account above).
[9]See RogersHistory of Babylonia and Assyria(1900).
[10]See Winckler,Geschichte Babyloniens und Assyriens(1892),Altorientalische Forschungen, i. Hft. 2 (1894), andAuszug aus der Vorderasiatischen Geschichte(1905).
[11]See Delitzsch and Mürdter,Geschichte Babyloniens und Assyriens(1891), and Delitzsch,Mehr Licht(1907).
[12]See Maspero,Histoire ancienne des peuples de l'Orient classique, tome ii.
[13]See Peiser,Zeits. für Assyr.vi. pp. 264 ff.
[14]See Rost,Mitteil. der vorderas. Gesellschaft(1897), ii.
[15]See Lehmann-Haupt,Zwei Hauptprobleme(1898).
[16]See Marquart,Philologus, Supplbd. vii. (1899), pp. 637 ff.
[17]See Rost,Orient. Lit.-Zeit., iii. (1900), No. 6.
[18]See Lehmann-Haupt,Beiträge zur alten Geschichte (Klio), Bd. iii. Heft 1 (1903).
[19]See Hommel,Geschichte Babyloniens und Assyriens.
[20]SeeAncient Hebrew Tradition, p. 125, and Hastings'Dictionary of the Bible, i. pp. 226 f.
[21]See Niebuhr,Chronologie(1896).
[22]See Hommel, "Sitzungsberichte der königl. böhmischen Gesellschaft der Wissenschaften,"Phil.-hist. Classe(1901), v.
[23]Published and discussed by L. W. King, "Chronicles concerning early Babylonian Kings" (Studies in Eastern History, vols. ii. and iii., 1907), andHistory of Egypt, vol. xiii. (published by the Grolier Society, New York, in the spring of 1906), pp. 244 ff.
[24]Published and discussed by Hilprecht, "Mathematical, Metrological and Chronological Texts" (Bab. Exped., Ser. A, xx. 1, dated 1906, published 1907), pp. 46 ff.
[25]See L. W. King,Letters and Inscriptions of Khammurabi, vol. iii. pp. 228 ff.
[26]Cf.,e.g., Hilprecht,Old Babylonian Inscriptions, pt. ii. p. 24.
[27]See Radau,Early Babylonian History(1900).
[28]See Lehmann-Haupt,Zwei Hauptprobleme, pp. 172 ff.
[29]See Winckler in Schrader'sKeilinschriften und das Alte-Testament(3rd ed.), i. pp. 17 f., and cf.Mitteil. der vorderas. Gesellschaft(1906), i. p. 12, n.l.
[30]Cf. L. W. King,Chronicles, i. pp. 15 ff., 61 f.
[31]SeeMitteilungen der deutschen Orientgesellschaft, Nos. 21 and 22, and cf. L. W. King, Chronicles, i. pp. 114 ff.
[32]The Assyrian language is practically identical with the Babylonian, just as the Assyrians are the same people as the Babylonians with some foreign admixtures.
[33]In many names the divine element is lopped off, but was originally present.
[34]Aramaic endorsements on business documents repeating in Aramaic transliteration the names of parties mentioned in the texts have also been of service in fixing the phonetic readings of names. Seee.g.Clay's valuable article, "Aramaic Endorsements on the Documents of Murashū Sons" (Persian period) inOld Testament and Semitic Studies in Memory of William Rainey Harper(Chicago, 1908, vol. i.), pp. 285-322.
[35]Even in the case of the "Semitic" name of the famous Sargon I. (q.v.), whose full name is generally read Sharru-kenu-sha-ali, and interpreted as "the legitimate king of the city," the question has recently been raised whether we ought not to read "Sharru-kenu-shar-ri" and interpret as "the legitimate king rules"—an illustration of the vacillation still prevailing in this difficult domain of research.
BABYLONIAN AND ASSYRIAN RELIGION.The development of the religion of Babylonia, so far as it can be traced with the material at hand, follows closely along the lines of the periods to be distinguished in the history of the Euphrates valley. Leaving aside the primitive phases of the religion as lying beyond the ken of historical investigation, we may note the sharp distinction to be made between the pre-Khammurabic age and the post-Khammurabic age. While the political movement represented by Khammurabi may have been proceeding for some time prior to the appearance of the great conqueror, the period ofc.2250B.C., when the union of the Euphratean states was effected by Khammurabi, marks the beginning of a new epoch in the religion as well as in the political history of the Euphrates valley. Corresponding to the states into which we find the country divided before 2250B.C., we have a various number of religious centres such as Nippur, Erech, Kutha (Cuthah), Ur, Sippara (Sippar), Shirgulla (Lagash), Eridu and Agade, in each of which some god was looked upon as the chief deity around whom there were gathered a number of minor deities and with whom there was invariably associated a female consort. The jurisdiction of this chief god was, however, limited to the political extent or control of the district in which the main seat of the cult of the deity in question lay. Mild attempts, to be sure, to group the chief deities associated with the most important religious and political centres into a regular pantheon were made—notably in Nippur and later in Ur—but such attempts lacked the enduring quality which attaches to Khammurabi's avowed policy to raise Marduk—the patron deity of the future capital, Babylon—to the head of the entire Babylonian pantheon, asBabylon itself came to be recognized as the real centre of the entire Euphrates valley.
Associated with Marduk was his consort Sarpanit, and grouped around the pair as princes around a throne were the chief deities of the older centres, like Ea and Damkina of Eridu, Nebo and Tashmit of Borsippa, Nergal and Allatu of Kutha, Shamash and Ā of Sippar, Sin and Ningal of Ur, as well as pairs like Ramman (or Adad) and Shala whose central seat is unknown to us. In this process of accommodating ancient prerogatives to new conditions, it was inevitable that attributes belonging specifically to the one or the other of these gods should have been transferred to Marduk, who thus from being, originally, a solar deity becomes an eclectic power, taking on the traits of Bel, Ea, Shamash, Nergal, Adad and even Sin (the moon-god)—a kind of composite residuum of all the chief gods.
In the religious literature this process can be traced with perfect definiteness. The older incantations, associated with Ea, were re-edited so as to give to Marduk the supreme power over demons, witches and sorcerers: the hymns and lamentations composed for the cult of Bel, Shamash and of Adad were transformed into paeans and appeals to Marduk, while the ancient myths arising in the various religious and political centres underwent a similar process of adaptation to changed conditions, and as a consequence their original meaning was obscured by the endeavour to assign all mighty deeds and acts, originally symbolical of the change of seasons or of occurrences in nature, to the patron deity of Babylon—the supreme head of the entire Babylonian pantheon. Besides the chief deities and their consorts, various minor ones, representing likewise patron gods of less important localities and in most cases of a solar character were added at one time or the other to the court of Marduk, though there is also to be noted a tendency on the part of the chief solar deity, Shamash of Sippara, and for the chief moon-god to absorb the solar and lunar deities of less important sites, leading in the case of the solar gods to the differentiation of the functions of Shamash during the various seasons of the year and the various times of the day among these minor deities. In this way Ninib, whose chief seat appears to have been at Shirgulla (Lagash), became the sun-god of the springtime and of the morning, bringing joy and new life to the earth, while Nergal of Kutha was regarded as the sun of the summer solstice and of the noonday heat—the harbinger of suffering and death.
There were, however, two deities who appear to have retained an independent existence—Anu (q.v.), the god of heaven, and Ishtar (q.v.), the great mother-goddess, who symbolized fertility and vitality in general. There are some reasons for believing that the oldest seat, and possibly the original seat, of the Anu cult was in Erech, as it is there where the Ishtar cult that subsequently spread throughout Babylonia and Assyria took its rise. While Anu, with whom there was associated as a pale reflection a consort Antum, assigned to him under the influence of the widely prevalent view among the early Semites which conceived of gods always in pairs, remained more or less of an abstraction during the various periods of the Babylonian-Assyrian religion and taking little part in the active cult of the temples, his unique position as the chief god of the highest heavens was always recognized in the theological system developed by the priests, which found an expression in making him the first figure of a triad, consisting of Anu, Bel and Ea, among whom the priests divided the three divisions of the universe, the heavens, the earth with the atmosphere above it, and the watery expanse respectively.
Postponing the discussion of this triad, it is to be noted that the systematization of the pantheon after the days of Khammurabi did not seriously interfere with the independence of the goddess Ishtar. While frequently associated with Marduk, and still more closely with the chief god of Assyria, the god Assur (who occupies in the north the position accorded to Marduk in the south), so much so as to be sometimes spoken of as Assur's consort—the lady or Belitpar excellence—the belief that as the source of all life she stands apart never lost its hold upon the people and found an expression also in the system devised by the priests. By the side of the first triad, consisting of Anu, Bel and Ea—disconnected in this form entirely from all local associations—we encounter a second triad composed of Shamash, Sin and Ishtar. As the first triad symbolized the three divisions of the universe—the heavens, earth and the watery element—so the second represented the three great forces of nature—the sun, the moon and the life-giving power. According as the one or the other aspect of such a power is brought into the foreground, Ishtar becomes the mother of mankind, the fertile earth, the goddess of sexual love, and the creative force among animals, while at times she appears in hymns and myths as the general personification of nature.
We thus find in the post-Khammurabic period the pantheon assuming distinct shapes. The strong tendency towards concentrating in one deity—Marduk—the attributes of all others was offset by the natural desire to make the position of Marduk accord with the rank acquired by the secular rulers. As these emphasized their supremacy by grouping around them a court of loyal attendants dependent in rank and ready to do their master's bidding, so the gods of the chief centres and those of the minor local cults formed a group around Marduk; and the larger the group the greater was the reflected glory of the chief figure. Hence throughout the subsequent periods of Babylonian history, and despite a decided progress towards a monotheistic conception of divine government of the universe, the recognition of a large number of gods and their consorts by the side of Marduk remained a firmly embedded doctrine in the Babylonian religion as it did in the Assyrian religion, with the important variation, however, of transferring the rôle of the head of the pantheon from Marduk to Assur. Originally the patron god of the city of Assur (q.v.), when this city became the centre of a growing and independent district, Assur was naturally advanced to the same position in the north that Marduk occupied in the south. The religious predominance of the city of Babylon served to maintain for Marduk recognition even on the part of the Assyrian rulers, who, on the political side likewise, conceded to Babylonia the form at least of an independent district even when, as kings of Assyria, they exercised absolute control over it. They appointed their sons or brothers governors of Babylonia, and in the long array of titles that the kings gave themselves, a special phrase was always set aside to indicate their mastery over Babylonia. "To take the hand of Bel-Marduk" was the ceremony of installation which Assyrian rulers recognized equally with Babylonians as an essential preliminary to exercising authority in the Euphrates valley. Marduk and Assur became rivals only when Babylonia gave the Assyrians trouble; and when in 689B.C.Sennacherib, whose patience had been exhausted by the difficulties encountered in maintaining peace in the south, actually besieged and destroyed the city of Babylon, he removed the statue of Marduk to Nineveh as a symbol that the god's rule had come to an end. His grandson Assur-bani-pal, with a view of re-establishing amicable relations, restored the statue to the temple E-Saggila in Babylon and performed the time-honoured ceremony of "taking the hand of Bel" as a symbol of his homage to the ancient head of the Babylonian pantheon.
But for the substitution of Assur for Marduk, the Assyrian pantheon was the same as that set up in the south, though some of the gods were endowed with attributes which differ slightly from those which mark the same gods in the south. The warlike nature of the Assyrians was reflected in their conceptions of the gods, who thus became little Assurs by the side of the great protector of arms, the big Assur. The cult and ritual in the north likewise followed the models set up in the south. The hymns composed for the temples of Babylonia were transferred to Assur, Calah, Harran, Arbela and Nineveh in the north; and the myths and legends also wandered to Assyria, where, to be sure, they underwent certain modifications. To all practical purposes, however, the religion of Assyria was identical with that practised in the south.
We thus obtain four periods in the development of the Babylonian-Assyrian religion: (1) the oldest period fromc.3500B.C.to the time of Khammurabi (c.2250B.C.); (2) the post-Khammurabic period in Babylonia; (3) the Assyrian period (c.2000B.C.) to the destruction of Nineveh in 606B.C.; (4) the neo-Babylonian period beginning with Nabopolassar (625-604B.C.), the first independent ruler under whom Babylonia inaugurates a new though short-lived era of power and prosperity, which ends with Cyrus's conquest of Babylon and Babylonia in 539B.C., though since the religion proceeds on its undisturbed course for several centuries after the end of the political independence, we might legitimately carry this period to the Greek conquest of the Euphrates valley (331B.C.), when new influences began to make themselves felt which gradually led to the extinction of the old cults.
In this long period ofc.3500 toc.300B.C., the changes introduced after the adjustment to the new conditions produced by Khammurabi's union of the Euphratean states are of a minor character. As already indicated, the local cults in the important centres of the south and north maintained themselves despite the tendency towards centralization, and while the cults themselves varied according to the character of the gods worshipped in each centre, the general principles were the same and the rites differed in minor details rather than in essential variations. An important factor which thus served to maintain the rites in a more or less stable condition was the predominance of what may be called the astral theology as the theoretical substratum of the Babylonian religion, and which is equally pronounced in the religious system of Assyria. The essential feature of this astral theology is the assumption of a close link between the movements going on in the heavens and occurrences on earth, which led to identifying the gods and goddesses with heavenly bodies—planets and stars, besides sun and moon—and to assigning the seats of all the deities in the heavens. The personification of the two great luminaries—the sun and the moon—was the first step in the unfolding of this system, and this was followed by placing the other deities where Shamash and Sin had their seats. This process, which reached its culmination in the post-Khammurabic period, led to identifying the planet Jupiter with Marduk, Venus with Ishtar, Mars with Nergal, Mercury with Nebo, and Saturn with Ninib. The system represents a harmonious combination of two factors, one of popular origin, the other the outcome of speculation in the schools attached to the temples of Babylonia. The popular factor is the belief in the influence exerted by the movements of the heavenly bodies on occurrences on earth—a belief naturally suggested by the dependence of life, vegetation and guidance upon the two great luminaries. Starting with this belief the priests built up the theory of the close correspondence between occurrences on earth and phenomena in the heavens. The heavens presenting a constant change even to the superficial observer, the conclusion was drawn of a connexion between the changes and the ever-changing movement in the fate of individuals and of nature as well as in the appearance of nature.
To read the signs of the heavens was therefore to understand the meaning of occurrences on earth, and with this accomplished it was also possible to foretell what events were portended by the position and relationship to one another of sun, moon, planets and certain stars. Myths that symbolized changes in season or occurrences in nature were projected on the heavens, which were mapped out to correspond to the divisions of the earth. All the gods, great and small, had their places assigned to them in the heavens, and facts, including such as fell within the domain of political history, were interpreted in terms of astral theology. So completely did this system in the course of time sway men's minds that the cult, from being an expression of animistic beliefs, took on the colour derived from the "astral" interpretation of occurrences and doctrines. It left its trace in incantations, omens and hymns, and it gave birth to astronomy, which was assiduously cultivated because a knowledge of the heavens was the very foundation of the system of belief unfolded by the priests of Babylonia and Assyria. "Chaldaean wisdom" became in the classical world the synonym of this science, which in its character was so essentially religious. The persistent prominence which astrology (q.v.) continued to enjoy down to the border line of the scientific movement of our own days, and which is directly traceable to the divination methods perfected in the Euphrates valley, is a tribute to the scope and influence attained by the astral theology of the Babylonian and Assyrian priests.
As an illustration of the manner in which the doctrines of the religion were made to conform to the all-pervading astral theory, it will be sufficient to refer to the modification undergone in this process of the view developed in a very early period which apportioned the control of the universe among the three gods Anu, Bel and Ea. Disassociating these gods from all local connexions, Anu became the power presiding over the heavens, to Bel was assigned the earth and the atmosphere immediately above it, while Ea ruled over the deep. With the transfer of all the gods to the heavens, and under the influence of the doctrine of the correspondence between the heavens and the earth, Anu, Bel and Ea became the three "ways" (as they are called) on the heavens. The "ways" appear in this instance to have been the designation of the ecliptic circle, which was divided into three sections or zones—a northern, a middle and a southern zone, Anu being assigned to the first, Bel to the second, and Ea to the third zone. The astral theology of the Babylonian-Assyrian religion, while thus bearing the ear-marks of a system devised by the priests, succeeded in assimilating the beliefs which represented the earlier attempts to systematize the more popular aspects of the religion, and in this way a unification of diverse elements was secured that led to interpreting the contents and the form of the religion in terms of the astral-theological system.
The most noteworthy outcome of this system in the realm of religious practice was, as already intimated, the growth of an elaborate and complicated method of divining the future by the observation of the phenomena in the heavens. It is significant that in the royal collection of cuneiform literature made by King Assur-bani-pal of Assyria (668-626B.C.) and deposited in his palace at Nineveh, the omen collections connected with the astral theology of Babylonia and Assyria form the largest class. There are also indications that the extensive texts dealing with divination through the liver of sacrificial animals, which represents a more popular origin than divination through the observations of the heavens, based as it is on the primitive view which regarded the liver as the seat of life and of the soul, were brought into connexion with astral divination. Less influenced by the astral-theological system are the old incantation texts which were gathered together into series. In these series we can trace the attempt to gather the incantation formulae and prayers produced in different centres, and to make them conform to the tendency to centralize the cult in the worship of Marduk and his consort in the south, and of Assur and Ishtar in the north. Incantations originally addressed to Ea of Eridu, as the god of the watery element, and to Nusku, as the god of fire, were transferred to Marduk. This was done by making Ea confer on Marduk as his son the powers of the father, and by making Nusku a messenger between Ea and Marduk. At the same time, since the invoking of the divine powers was the essential element in the incantations, in order to make the magic formulae as effective as possible, a large number of the old local deities are introduced to add their power to the chief ones; and it is here that the astral system comes into play through the introduction of names of stars, as well as through assigning attributes to the gods which clearly reflect the conception that they have their seats in the heavens. The incantations pass over naturally into hymns and prayers. The connexion between the two is illustrated by the application of the termshiptu, "incantation," to the direct appeals to the gods, as well as by the introduction, on the one hand, of genuine prayers into the incantations and by the addition, on the other hand, of incantations to prayers and hymns, pure and simple. In another division of the religious literature of Babylonia which is largely represented in Assur-bani-pal's collection—the myths and legends—tales which originally symbolized the change of seasons, or in which historical occurrences are overcast with more or less copiousadmixture of legend and myth, were transferred to the heavens, and so it happens that creation myths, and the accounts of wanderings and adventures of heroes of the past, are referred to movements among the planets and stars as well as to occurrences or supposed occurrences on earth.
The ritual alone which accompanied divination practices and incantation formulae and was a chief factor in the celebration of festival days and of days set aside for one reason or the other to the worship of some god or goddess or group of deities, is free from traces of the astral theology. The more or less elaborate ceremonies prescribed for the occasions when the gods were approached are directly connected with the popular elements of the religion. Animal sacrifice, libations, ritualistic purification, sprinkling of water, and symbolical rites of all kinds accompanied by short prayers, represent a religious practice which in the Babylonian-Assyrian religion, as in all religions, is older than any theology and survives the changes which the theoretical substratum of the religion undergoes.
On the ethical side, the religion of Babylonia more particularly, and to a less extent that of Assyria, advances to noticeable conceptions of the qualities associated with the gods and goddesses and of the duties imposed on man. Shamash the sun-god was invested with justice as his chief trait, Marduk is portrayed as full of mercy and kindness, Ea is the protector of mankind who is grieved when, through a deception practised upon Adapa, humanity is deprived of immortality. The gods, to be sure, are easily aroused to anger, and in some of them the dire aspects predominated, but the view becomes more and more pronounced that there is some cause always for the divine wrath. Though, in accounting for the anger of the gods, no sharp distinction is made between moral offences and a ritualistic oversight or neglect, yet the stress laid in the hymns and prayers, as well as in the elaborate atonement ritual prescribed in order to appease the anger of the gods, on the need of being clean and pure in the sight of the higher powers, the inculcation of a proper aspect of humility, and above all the need of confessing one's guilt and sins without any reserve—all this bears testimony to the strength which the ethical factor acquired in the domain of the religion.
This factor appears to less advantage in the unfolding of the views concerning life after death. Throughout all periods of Babylonian-Assyrian history, the conception prevailed of a large dark cavern below the earth, not far from the Apsu—the ocean encircling and flowing underneath the earth—in which all the dead were gathered and where they led a miserable existence of inactivity amid gloom and dust. Occasionally a favoured individual was permitted to escape from this general fate and placed in a pleasant island. It would appear also that the rulers were always singled out for divine grace, and in the earlier periods of the history, owing to the prevailing view that the rulers stood nearer to the gods than other mortals, the kings were deified after death, and in some instances divine honours were paid to them even during their lifetime.
The influence exerted by the Babylonian-Assyrian religion was particularly profound on the Semites, while the astral theology affected the ancient world in general, including the Greeks and Romans. The impetus to the purification of the old Semite religion to which the Hebrews for a long time clung in common with their fellows—the various branches of nomadic Arabs—was largely furnished by the remarkable civilization unfolded in the Euphrates valley and in many of the traditions, myths and legends embodied in the Old Testament; traces of direct borrowing from Babylonia may be discerned, while the indirect influences in the domain of the prophetical books, as also in the Psalms and in the so-called "Wisdom Literature," are even more noteworthy. Even when we reach the New Testament period, we have not passed entirely beyond the sphere of Babylonian-Assyrian influences. In such a movement as early Christian gnosticism, Babylonian elements—modified, to be sure, and transformed—are largely present, while the growth of an apocalyptic literature is ascribed with apparent justice by many scholars to the recrudescence of views the ultimate source of which is to be found in the astral-theology of the Babylonian and Assyrian priests.
Bibliography.—Morris Jastrow, jun.,Religion Babyloniens und Assyriens(Giessen, 1904), enlarged and re-written form of the author's smallerReligion of Babylonia and Assyria(Boston, 1898); A. H. Sayce,The Religion of the Ancient Babylonians(Hibbert Lectures, London, 1887), now superseded by the same author'sReligions of Ancient Egypt and Babylonia(Gifford Lectures, Edinburgh, 1902); Friedrich Jeremias,Die Babylonier und Assyrer, in de la Saussaye'sLehrbuch der Religionsgeschichte(3rd ed., Tübingen, 1905), vol. i.; L. W. King,Babylonian Religion and Mythology(London, 1899); T. G. Pinches,Religion of Babylonia and Assyria(London, 1906). Of special texts and monographs bearing on the religion may be mentioned various volumes in the new series of cuneiform texts from Babylonian tablets, &c., in the British Museum (London, 1901- ), especially parts v., xii., xv., xvii., xviii., xx. and xxi. and vol. iv. of the earlier series ofSelections from the Miscellaneous Inscriptions of Western Asia, ed. by H. C. Rawlinson (2nd ed., London, 1891); H. Zimmern,Beiträge zur Kenntniss der babylonischen Religion(Leipzig, 1901); J. A. Craig,Assyrian and Babylonian Religious Texts(Leipzig, 1895-1897); L. W. King,The Seven Tablets of Creation(London, 1902); R. C. Thompson,The Reports of the Magicians and Astrologers of Nineveh and Babylon(London, 1900); A. Boissier,Documents assyriens relatifs aux présages(Paris, 1894-1897); and hisChoix de textes relatifs à la divination assyro-babylonienne(Geneva, 1905-1906); Ch. Fossey,La Magie assyrienne(Paris, 1902); G. A. Reisner,Sumerisch-babylonische Hymnen(Berlin, 1896); L. W. King,Babylonian Magic and Sorcery(London, 1896); R. C. Thompson,Devils and Evil Spirits of Babylonia(London, 1903-1904); K. L. Tallqvist,Die assyrische Beschwörungsserie Maqlū(Leipzig, 1895); J. A. Knudtzon,Assyrische Gebete an den Sonnengott(Leipzig, 1893); Virolleaud,L'Astrologie chaldéenne(Paris, 1906- ); Craig,Astrological-Astronomical Texts(Leipzig, 1892); Martin,Textes religieux assyriens et babyloniens(Paris, 1900 and 1903); Paul Haupt,Das babylonische Nimrodepos(Leipzig, 1891); Friedrich Delitzsch,Das babylonische Weltschöpfungsepos(Leipzig, 1896); P. Jensen, "Assyrisch-babylonische Mythen und Epen," in Schrader'sKeilinschriftliche Bibliothek, vol. vi. part 1 (Berlin, 1900); also hisDas Nationalepos der Babylonier, &c. (Strassburg, 1906); H. Zimmern in vol. ii. of 3rd ed. of Schrader'sKeilinschriften und das Alte Testament(Berlin, 1903); Alfred Jeremias,Die babylonisch-assyrischen Vorstellungen von Leben nach dem Tode(Leipzig, 1887); and hisDas Alte Testament im Lichte des Alten Orients(2nd ed., Leipzig, 1906-1907); andBabylonisches im Neuen Testament(Leipzig, 1905). On the religious literature of Babylonia and Assyria, see also chapters xv. to xxiv. in Jastrow's work (German and English edition), Carl Bezold'sNinive and Babylon(Bielefeld, 1905), chapters vi. to xii., and the same author's monumental catalogue of the cuneiform tablets in the Kuyunjik collection of the British Museum (5 vols., London, 1889-1899).
(M. Ja.)
BABYLONIAN CAPTIVITY,the name generally given to the deportation of the Jews to Babylon by Nebuchadrezzar. Three separate occasions are mentioned (Jer. lii. 28-30). The first was in the time of Jehoiachin in 597B.C., when the temple of Jerusalem was partially despoiled and a number of the leading citizens removed. After eleven years (in the reign of Zedekiah) a fresh rising of the Judaeans occurred; the city was razed to the ground, and a further deportation ensued. Finally, five years later, Jeremiah (loc. cit.) records a third captivity. After the overthrow of Babylonia by the Persians, Cyrus gave the Jews permission to return to their native land (537B.C.), and more then forty thousand are said to have availed themselves of the privilege. (SeeJehoiakim;Jehoiachin;Zedekiah;Ezra-NehemiahandJews:History.)
BABYLONIAN LAW.The material for the study of Babylonian law is singularly extensive without being exhaustive. The so-called "contracts," including a great variety of deeds, conveyances, bonds, receipts, accounts and, most important of all, the actual legal decisions given by the judges in the law courts, exist in thousands. Historical inscriptions, royal charters and rescripts, despatches, private letters and the general literature afford welcome supplementary information. Even grammatical and lexicographical works, intended solely to facilitate the study of ancient literature, contain many extracts or short sentences bearing on law and custom. The so-called "Sumerian Family Laws" are thus preserved. The discovery of the now celebrated Code of Khammurabi (Hammurabi)[1](hereinafter simply termed"the Code") has, however, made a more systematic study possible than could have resulted from the classification and interpretation of the other material. Some fragments of a later code exist and have been published; but there still remain many points upon which we have no evidence.
This material dates from the earliest times down to the commencement of our era. The evidence upon a particular point may be very full at one period and almost entirely lacking at another. The Code forms the backbone of the skeleton sketch which is here reconstructed. The fragments of it which have been recovered from Assur-bani-pal's library at Nineveh and later Babylonian copies show that it was studied, divided into chapters entitledNinu ilu ṣirumfrom its opening words, and recopied for fifteen hundred years or more. The greater part of it remained in force, even through the Persian, Greek and Parthian conquests, which affected private life in Babylonia very little, and it survived to influence Syro-Roman and later Mahommedan law in Mesopotamia. The law and custom which preceded the Code we shall call "early," that of the New Babylonian empire (as well as the Persian, Greek, &c.) "late." The law in Assyria was derived from Babylonia but conserved early features long after they had disappeared elsewhere.
When the Semitic tribes settled in the cities of Babylonia, their tribal custom passed over into city law. The early history of the country is the story of a struggle for supremacy between the cities. A metropolis demanded tribute and military support from its subject cities but left their local cults and customs unaffected. The city rights and usages were respected by kings and conquerors alike.
As late as the accession of Assur-bani-pal and Samas-sum-yukin we find the Babylonians appealing to their city laws that groups of aliens to the number of twenty at a time were free to enter the city, that foreign women once married to Babylonian husbands could not be enslaved and that not even a dog that entered the city could be put to death untried.
The population of Babylonia was of many races from early times and intercommunication between the cities was incessant. Every city had a large number of resident aliens. This freedom of intercourse must have tended to assimilate custom. It was, however, reserved for the genius of Khammurabi to make Babylon his metropolis and weld together his vast empire by a uniform system of law.
Almost all trace of tribal custom has already disappearedCode of Khammurabi.from the law of the Code. It is state-law; alike self-help, blood-feud, marriage by capture, are absent; though family solidarity, district responsibility, ordeal, thelex talionis, are primitive features that remain. The king is a benevolent autocrat, easily accessible to all his subjects, both able and willing to protect the weak against the highest-placed oppressor. The royal power, however, can only pardon when private resentment is appeased. The judges are strictly supervised and appeal is allowed. The whole land is covered with feudal holdings, masters of the levy, police, &c. There is a regular postal system. Thepax Babylonicais so assured that private individuals do not hesitate to ride in their carriage from Babylon to the coast of the Mediterranean. The position of women is free and dignified.
The Code did not merely embody contemporary custom or conserve ancient law. It is true that centuries of law-abiding and litigious habitude had accumulated in the temple archives of each city vast stores of precedent in ancient deeds and the records of judicial decisions, and that intercourse had assimilated city custom. The universal habit of writing and perpetual recourse to written contract even more modified primitive custom and ancient precedent. Provided the parties could agree, the Code left them free to contract as a rule. Their deed of agreement was drawn up in the temple by a notary public, and confirmed by an oath "by god and the king." It was publicly sealed and witnessed by professional witnesses, as well as by collaterally interested parties. The manner in which it was thus executed may have been sufficient security that its stipulations were not impious or illegal. Custom or public opinion doubtless secured that the parties would not agree to wrong. In case of dispute the judges dealt first with the contract. They might not sustain it, but if the parties did not dispute it, they were free to observe it. The judges' decision might, however, be appealed against. Many contracts contain the proviso that in case of future dispute the parties would abide by "the decision of the king." The Code made known, in a vast number of cases, what that decision would be, and many cases of appeal to the king were sent back to the judges with orders to decide in accordance with it. The Code itself was carefully and logically arranged and the order of its sections was conditioned by their subject-matter. Nevertheless the order is not that of modern scientific treatises, and a somewhat different order from both is most convenient for our purpose.
The Code contemplates the whole population as falling into three classes, theamelu, themuskinuand theardu. Theameluwas a patrician, the man of family, whose birth, marriage and death were registered, of ancestral estates and full civil rights. He had aristocratic privileges and responsibilities, the right to exact retaliation for corporal injuries, and liability to heavier punishment for crimes and misdemeanours, higher fees and fines to pay. To this class belonged the king and court, the higher officials, the professions and craftsmen. The term became in time a mere courtesy title but originally carried with it standing. Already in the Code, when status is not concerned, it is used to denote "any one." There was no property qualification nor does the term appear to be racial. It is most difficult to characterize themuskinuexactly. The term came in time to mean "a beggar" and with that meaning has passed through Aramaic and Hebrew into many modern languages; but though the Code does not regard him as necessarily poor, he may have been landless. He was free, but had to accept monetary compensation for corporal injuries, paid smaller fees and fines, even paid less offerings to the gods. He inhabited a separate quarter of the city. There is no reason to regard him as specially connected with the court, as a royal pensioner, nor as forming the bulk of the population. The rarity of any reference to him in contemporary documents makes further specification conjectural. Thearduwas a slave, his master's chattel, and formed a very numerous class. He could acquire property and even hold other slaves. His master clothed and fed him, paid his doctor's fees, but took all compensation paid for injury done to him. His master usually found him a slave-girl as wife (the children were then born slaves), often set him up in a house (with farm or business) and simply took an annual rent of him. Otherwise he might marry a freewoman (the children were then free), who might bring him a dower which his master could not touch, and at his death one-half of his property passed to his master as his heir. He could acquire his freedom by purchase from his master, or might be freed and dedicated to a temple, or even adopted, when he became anameluand not amuskinu. Slaves were recruited by purchase abroad, from captives taken in war and by freemen degraded for debt or crime. A slave often ran away; if caught, the captor was bound to restore him to his master, and the Code fixes a reward of two shekels which the owner must pay the captor. It was about one-tenth of the average value. To detain, harbour, &c., a slave was punished by death. So was an attempt to get him to leave the city. A slave bore an identification mark, which could only be removed by a surgical operation and which later consisted of his owner's name tattoed or branded on the arm. On the great estates in Assyria and its subject provinces were many serfs, mostly of subject race, settled captives, or quondam slaves, tied to the soil they cultivated and sold with the estate but capable of possessing land and property of their own. There is little trace of serfs in Babylonia, unless themuskinube really a serf.
The god of a city was originally owner of its land, which encircled it with an inner ring of irrigable arable land and an outer fringe of pasture, and the citizens were his tenants. The god and his viceregent, the king, had long ceased to disturb tenancy, and were content with fixed dues innaturalia, stock,money or service. One of the earliest monuments records the purchase by a king of a large estate for his son, paying a fair market price and adding a handsome honorarium to the many owners in costly garments, plate, and precious articles of furniture. The Code recognizes complete private ownership in land, but apparently extends the right to hold land to votaries, merchants (and resident aliens?). But all land was sold subject to its fixed charges. The king, however, could free land from these charges by charter, which was a frequent way of rewarding those who deserved well of the state. It is from these charters that we learn nearly all we know of the obligations that lay upon land. The state demanded men for the army and the corvée as well as dues in kind. A definite area was bound to find a bowman together with his linked pikeman (who bore the shield for both) and to furnish them with supplies for the campaign. This area was termed "a bow" as early as the 8th centuryB.C., but the usage was much earlier. Later, a horseman was due from certain areas. A man was only bound to serve so many (six?) times, but the land had to find a man annually. The service was usually discharged by slaves and serfs, but theamelu(and perhaps themuskinu) went to war. The "bows" were grouped in tens and hundreds. The corvée was less regular. The letters of Khammurabi often deal with claims to exemption. Religious officials and shepherds in charge of flocks were exempt. Special liabilities lay upon riparian owners to repair canals, bridges, quays, &c. The state claimed certain proportions of all crops, stock, &c. The king's messengers could commandeer any subject's property, giving a receipt. Further, every city had its own octroi duties, customs, ferry dues, highway and water rates. The king had long ceased to be, if he ever was, owner of the land. He had his own royal estates, his private property and dues from all his subjects. The higher officials had endowments and official residences. The Code regulates the feudal position of certain classes. They held an estate from the king consisting of house, garden, field, stock and a salary, on condition of personal service on the king's errand. They could not delegate the service on pain of death. When ordered abroad they could nominate a son, if capable, to hold the benefice and carry on the duty. If there was no son capable, the state put in alocum tenens, but granted one-third to the wife to maintain herself and children. The benefice was inalienable, could not be sold, pledged, exchanged, sublet, devised or diminished. Other land was held of the state for rent. Ancestral estate was strictly tied to the family. If a holder would sell, the family had the right of redemption and there seems to have been no time-limit to its exercise.
The temple occupied a most important position. It received from its estates, from tithes and other fixed dues, as well as from the sacrifices (a customary share) and other offerings of the faithful, vast amounts of all sorts ofnaturalia; besides money and permanent gifts. The larger temples had many officials and servants. Originally, perhaps, each town clustered round one temple, and each head of a family had a right to minister there and share its receipts. As the city grew, the right to so many days a year at one or other shrine (or its "gate") descended in certain families and became a species of property which could be pledged, rented or shared within the family, but not alienated. In spite of all these demands, however, the temples became great granaries and store-houses; as they also were the city archives. The temple had its responsibilities. If a citizen was captured by the enemy and could not ransom himself the temple of his city must do so. To the temple came the poor farmer to borrow seed corn or supplies for harvesters, &c.—advances which he repaid without interest. The king's power over the temple was not proprietary but administrative. He might borrow from it but repaid like other borrowers. The tithe seems to have been the composition for the rent due to the god for his land. It is not clear that all lands paid tithe, perhaps only such as once had a special connexion with the temple.
The Code deals with a class of persons devoted to the service of a god, as vestals or hierodules. The vestals were vowed to chastity, lived together in a great nunnery, were forbidden to open or enter a tavern, and together with other votaries had many privileges.
The Code recognizes many ways of disposing of property—sale, lease, barter, gift, dedication, deposit, loan, pledge, all of which were matters of contract. Sale was the delivery of the purchase (in the case of real estate symbolized by a staff, a key, or deed of conveyance) in return for the purchase money, receipts being given for both. Credit, if given, was treated as a debt, and secured as a loan by the seller to be repaid by the buyer, for which he gave a bond. The Code admits no claim unsubstantiated by documents or the oath of witnesses. A buyer had to convince himself of the seller's title. If he bought (or received on deposit) from a minor or a slave without power of attorney, he would be executed as a thief. If the goods were stolen and the rightful owner reclaimed them, he had to prove his purchase by producing the seller and the deed of sale or witnesses to it. Otherwise he would be adjudged a thief and die. If he proved his purchase, he had to give up the property but had his remedy against the seller or, if he had died, could reclaim five-fold from his estate. A man who bought a slave abroad, might find that he had been stolen or captured from Babylonia, and he had to restore him to his former owner without profit. If he bought property belonging to a feudal holding, or to a ward in chancery, he had to return it and forfeit what he gave for it as well. He could repudiate the purchase of a slave attacked by thebennusickness within the month (later, a hundred days), and had a female slave three days on approval. A defect of title or undisclosed liability would invalidate the sale at any time.