Willy ii Ht ny Hit it S % Feuer AS Wie Simoba SAK, | 06 DUKE UNIVERSITY DIVINITY SCHOOL LIBRARY Se rae he voy , Pip tek i he eos # PPP ye es TA, 3 Pe ae; m . , a s ae! i WU ny) , acts uw ‘ahd i a a | : a? ; i) ‘1 . e « ~ : Ved ae a oe” / ‘ ‘ ‘ van 5 ee ’ hi - Dee lok OF OE NEPIRES - 4h aie Digitized by the Intel t Gs rchit in 2022 with funding from Duke 2 University Libraries ss x Span’ mre ANIA te [frontispiece. E LAWS. MMURABI RECEIVING TH KHA | THE exo) OF EMPIRES SbabyYLON OF THE BIBLE” iN THE LIGHT OF .LATEST RESEARCH AN ACCOUNT OF THE ORIGIN, GROWTH, AND DEVELOPMENT OF THE EMPIRE, CIVILIZATION, AND HISTORY OF THE ANCIENT BABYLONIAN EMPIRE, FROM THE EARLIEST TIMES TO THE CONSOLIDATION OF THE EMPIRE IN B.C. 2000 BY West. CHAD BOSCAWEN AUTHOR OF ** FROM UNDER THE DUST OF AGES,” ‘‘ HEBREW TRADITION IN THE LIGHT OF THE MONUMENTS,” “‘ BRITISH MUSEUM LECTURES,” ETC., ETC. ‘‘But aught beyond traditions oral tale, Or gleams of truth like wavering moonlight pale, The Arab knows not, though around him rise The sepulchres of earth's first monarchies.” Newdigate Prize Poem, 1851, by ALFRED W. HUNT LONDON AND NEW YORK rahe ke or BROT EE RS 45, ALBEMARLE STREET, W. 1903 THIS WORK IS DEDICATED TO THE LOVING MEMORY OF MY FATHER WILLIAM HENRY BOSCAWEN, B.A. VICAR OF HANMER, FLINTSHIRE, 1852-1870, AND RECTOR OF MARCHWIEL, DENBIGHSHIRE, 1870-1883 FROM WHOM I FIRST LEARNED THE CHARM OF THE STUDY WHICH HAS BEEN THE ONE OBJECT OF MY LIFE ‘Let the wise and understanding ponder on them together, Let the father repeat them and teach them to his son.” EPILOGUE VII., ‘‘CREATION”’ TABLET PREVA © IN placing this work before the public, some few words of explanation as to its scope and intention may be necessary. In the world of Oriental research, during the last half century, the labours of the explorer and the decipherer have produced such astonishing results as to revolutionize all our former ideas as to the true nature and character of Oriental nations. The work of the spade in Egypt, in Chaldea, and in the nearer East have produced evidence of civilizations, organized communities and empires of widespread influence totally undreamt of but a few years ago. The activity of the explorer, supplemented by the patient labours of the decipherer, has given to the mystical and fabulous East a concrete reality totally unexpected ; and from the buried libraries of Assyria, Babylonia, and Egypt have come the treasures of a literature which, even the most prejudiced critic is compelled to admit, demand a careful consideration in the reconstruction of the Old World’s story. The chief triumph of this resurrection of the buried past has been the recognition of the claims of Assyriology, and of the fact that in the ancient libraries of Babylonia and Assyria were stored priceless works which formed the first editions of those which we had hitherto regarded as the sole chronicles of human origins. 1X De PREFACE The triumph of Assyriology began with the discovery, by the late George Smith, of the Chaldean account of the Deluge, in the year 1872. Hitherto the study of the cuneiform records had been confined to a small band of English and Continental scholars; and the few historical records, which afforded synchronisms with the Hebrew records, such as the mention of the tribute of Jehu on the famous Black Obelisk in the British Museum, or the account given by Sennacherib of his siege of Jerusalem in the reign of Hezekiah, had excited some considerable interest among Biblical students : but the idea that Assyrian literature would become an important factor in Hebrew criticism was not even suggested. The discovery of the Deluge tablet with its striking parallelisms to the Biblical accounts was an epoch-marking event. By the orthodox it was hailed as a most startling confirmation of the Hebrew record, and duly discounted as such. Still further hopes were raised when, a few years later, the brilliant discoverer published his fragments of the Babylonian Creation legends. It was now recognized that there were most striking and close affinities between the Hebrew and Assyrio-Babylonian primitive traditions. The first and most important result of these discoveries was the birth of a new branch of Biblical study, that of Biblical Archeology, and with astonishing rapidity works began to appear, pointing out the astonishing confirma- tions of the Hebrew records which were now to be found in the Babylonian and Assyrian inscriptions. These works did a certain amount of good by directing the attention of students to the rich material that was now accessible for study, but at the same time this good was materially depreciated by the conspicuous absence of any critical faculty in the work of comparison. The Biblical element PREFACE xi was always predominant, and the referendum of all outside material. The Mosaic origin of the Pentateuch was enunciated as a proved fact, and therefore all the Assyrian and Babylonian material was merely of a confirmatory nature—no suggestion that it was rather of the nature of original could be entertained. The rise of Higher Criticism on the Continent and in this country has, however, effected a strange change, and one which has also had a corresponding development in Assyriology. Just as it is now clearly demonstrated that the Mosaic origin of the Pentateuch is no longer tenable, so also is it shown that the literature of Babylonia, of which that of Assyria was but a later edition, has an antiquity exceeding, by more than a thousand years, that of the Mosaic age. The immense number of religious and poetical inscriptions obtained from the buried libraries of Chaldea, enable us to trace the growth and development of the literature of those ancient people, in a manner not to be met with in that of any other ancient nation. The labours of Wellhausen and Haupt on the Conti- nent, and Cheyne and Driver in this country, and especially those of the late Professor Robertson Smith, have shown that, like all other Oriental literature, that of the Hebrew people was capable of being analyzed, and shown to be, not a series of concrete works, each to be assigned to a definite epoch, but that in most cases the works had undergone several editings, and that the Pentateuch and many of the other books of the Old Testament were a mosaic of fragments of varying authorship and date. To the ordinary and unprejudiced reader of the English version, this composite character is apparent in the redupli- cation of several important events. We have two Creation stories, presenting marked variations (Gen. i. and ii.), two >on PREFACE versions of the Deluge story, two legends of the patriarchs and the beginnings of civilization in the times of Cain and Seth, three versions of the Ten Commandments (Exod. xx., xxxiv., and Deut. v.), and many other such reduplications. These repetitions would show at least a diversity of author- ship, and a subsequent not too careful editing. Such a phenomenon as this indication of varied authorship and material might seem to be the result of hypercritical analysis were it not that the very same features are to be found in Babylonian literature also. As I show in dealing with the Creation legends and the National Epic, with the incorporated Deluge legend, the same blending of material from various schools of religious teaching, and an attempted canonical editing about B.c. 2000, to suit the tenets of the theological college of Marduk of Babylon, is clearly to be traced. As in Hebrew literature we have the three elements of the Yahavistic and Elohistic writers and the priestly editing, so in Babylonian we have the theological teaching of the school of Ea of Eridu, the older Bel of Nippur, and the final composition or editing of these important religious texts under the supervision of the priestly school of Marduk of Babylon. Whatever may be the date of the Hebrew accounts both of Creation and Deluge, the Babylonian versions are long antecedent to them. The very important opening lines of the Code inscriptions of Khammurabi so closely resemble a passage in the seventh Creation tablet which is a direct product of the teaching of the school of Marduk of Babylon that it is evident that it was during the period of the first Babylonian dynasty (B.C. 2300-2000) that the fusion of the old theological teachings of Eridu and Nippur was attempted; but this primitive fusion was no doubt PREFACE xiii still further completed in Neo-Babylonian times, and it is these later documents that would be accessible to the Hebrew scribes during and after the age of the Captivity, in the libraries of Babylon, Borsippa, and other cities. The documents which were used by these first editors were, however, much older than the Epic period, and certainly some of them were based on Sumerian originals. Notice the Sumerian names of Tutu, originally Ea, later Marduk in the seventh tablet, and the bilingual Creation legend—an undoubted product of the school of Eridu. The Dragon Tiamat myth which forms the opening to the Babylonian epic can be traced, as I have shown, still further back to the old Magical tablets of the Sumerians. The engraved seals of the age of Sargon I. of Agade, dating "B.C. 3800, have scenes taken from the epic of Gilgames, so that the poem must then have been in existence, and, as the Deluge tablet forms an episode in it, we may reasonably assume that it formed part of the then cycle poem. The Deluge story, as I show, like most other Babylonian myths, had passed through stages of growth and development. Important discoveries in all parts of Western Asia, during recent years, have thrown a lurid light upon the position of the Hebrew people in the drama of Oriental history, and done much to remove them from that position of splendid isolation to which they had been condemned by the apologetic school of writers. The inscriptions of Babylonia show that the position of the Hebrews, as the chosen people of Yaveh, was by no means unique. Each Oriental nation regarded itself as the chosen people of the national god; the Babylonian hymn to Marduk speaks of “the people of Babylon whom thou lovest,” so the Assyrian speaks of Assur as “the land which thou (Assur) lovest.” The Moabite regarded himself xiv PREFACE as the chosen of Kemosh. It was but the natural con- clusion® resulting from a theocratic form of government, and all the ancient Oriental kingdoms were theocracies, the king being the vice-regent of the national god. This form of government was essentially Semitic, and the result of the growth of social life from the individual to the nation, and the unbroken association between God and man. Man was the son of his god, from the god of the individual came the tribal or family god, the civic god, the national god. Hence’in all the events of social development there must be an association with the god. We see this clearly in all the early history of Babylonian civilization. The first elements of civilization are of Divine origin; law is given by God to man, kings derive their authority from God. Thus Khammurabi says, “ Ffom the people whom Bel entrusted to me to rule I did not with- draw myself ;” “I am he whom the gods proclaimed :” and, later, Nebuchadnezzar says, “ When Marduk, the great lord, had rightly summoned me to direct the land and shepherd the people.” This unbroken association between the god, the king, and the people, is the essential basis of Semitic national life. Hitherto it has been regarded as the sole possession of the Hebrew people, and therefrom has arisen one of the most striking errors of the apologetic school of Biblical expositors, and nothing has done so much to render the true study of the growth and development of Hebrew literature and civilization impossible. The great fault of a certain school of writers has been their total inability to distinguish between illustration and evidence. Any chance similarity between the Babylonian, Egyptian, and other monuments and the Hebrew record is at once seized upon as a piece of confirmatory evidence. I may instance one striking example of this in the case of re PREFACE XV Melchizedek, the priest-king of Salem, the priest of the Most High God (Gen. xiv. 19). We know nothing more of this personage, who is made the contemporary of Abram, therefore probably about B.C. 2300 according to Babylonian records, until, more than two thousand years after, a Christian writer, speaking of this tradition, says that he was “without father or mother, without genealogy or beginning of days, nor end of life” (Heb. vii. 1). Among the Tel-el-Amarna tablets were found certain letters from the King of Jerusalem, Addi-taba, to Amenophis IV., dating therefore about B.c. 1430. In these letters the writer says “that not from my father or my mother am I king, but from the arm of the king "that is, from the Egyptian Pharaoh. There is a gap of some eight or more centuries’ between this tablet and the age of Melchizedek, fourteen centuries between this record and the Christian writer, yet this statement is hailed as a startling con- firmation of the truth of the Hebrew writing. This is an instance of the confusion between illustration and evidence. The discovery of the wonderful Code of Laws drawn up by the Babylonian King Khammurabi is even more important in its bearing on the study of Biblical archeology than that of the Deluge or Creation legend, because it raises the whole question of the origin of the Mosaic law and Mosaic tradition. The amount of energy that has been expended on proving the historical accuracy of the ages of Joseph and Moses is astonishing ; Professor Sayce, Revs. G. Tomkins, and H. M. Mackenzie have all pointed out the marvellous Egypticity of these portions of the Pen- tateuch. No one can deny this in the case of Joseph: the Egyptian references are most accurate both as regards names, religious and social customs, etc, but it has, b Xvi PREFACE unfortunately, been pointed out by Mr. Griffith, Professor Steindorff, and other Egyptologists, that these all agree with the period of the Twenty-second Egyptian dynasty, and not with the Hyksos age, to which the episode of Joseph in Egypt is assigned. The names Potiphar, Potipherah, Asenath,* the title Zaphenath-paneah, are all names which belong to the time of the twenty-second dynasty, B.C. 977, or even later. The “Tale of the Two Brothers,’ so often used as an illus- tration of the incident of Joseph and Potiphar’s wife, was not written until the time of Seti II.; so there again we have great discrepancy in age of the authorities compared. In regard to the life of Moses, new and important matter has now come to light. The life of Moses in Egypt is associated with the reigns of Rameses II. and his son Seti Meneptah. The chief incidents in the life of the Hebrew leader are, his finding in the ark on the waters of the Nile by Pharaoh’s, presumably Rameses IL’s, daughter ; his flight into Midian, and his infliction of the plagues on the land of Egypt; dividing the waters of the Red Sea. That the episodes in the life of Moses should be assigned to the age of Rameses II. is of great im- portance. Among the sons of this prolific Pharaoh, for he had some seventy children, was one named Kha-m-was (Manifestation, in Thebes). This prince was High Priest of Ptah in Memphis, and, according to traditions, a man of great learning, and especially addicted to the study of magic. Around him there grew up in later times a series of stories which were extremely popular among the Egyptians in the times subsequent to the twenty-second dynasty, and even down to long after the Christian era. In the time of the * See Budge, “ History of Egypt,” vol. v. ; Griffith, in “ Archeology and Authority,” edited by Hogarth. PREFACE Xvii twenty-sixth Egyptian dynasty, the magic of Kha-m-tas is referred to, and it is to this age that his statue in the British Museum is probably to be assigned. In the “ Tales of Setme-kha-m-iias,” recently published by Mr. Griffith, we have a curious series of wonders asso- ciated with this ancient magician, which present a striking resemblance to those in the life of Moses. According to the story, two Ethiopian magicians had come to the court of Egypt to cast spells on the land, and these are the threats they use: the first magician says, “I will cast my spell upon the land of Egypt, and will cause the people of Egypt to pass three days and three nights without seeing the light.” The parallel with Ex. x. 21, 23 is almost literal. To quote: “The Lord said unto Moses, Stretch thy hands toward Heaven, and there shall be darkness over the land of Egypt ; and there was darkness in the land of Egypt for three days.” The next extract also presents a curious agreement with the Hebrew accounts. The mother of one of the Ethiopian magicians, after warn- ing them of the skill of the Egyptian wise men, says, “Set some sign between me and thee. Should it be that thou failest, I will come to thee that I may help thee.” Her son then says, “If it happen that I be overcome, the waters shall be made the colour of blood before thee, and the foods before thee the colour of flesh, and the heavens shall be the colour of blood.” Here we have all the essential features of the plague of blood (Ex. vii. 19, 23). It would seem as if the writer in Exodus knew of these stories, which he used in giving colour to his work. One more parallel is to be noted. One magician says, “I will cast my magic spell upon the land of Egypt, and will not allow the land to be fertile for three years.” It may be urged that these are but the deeds of Moses XViii PREFACE which have been woven into the cycle of legends round Kha-m-tias. There is, however, an answer to this. The defeat of the two Ethiopean magicians is accomplished by Se Osiris, the son of Kha-m-ias, who appears at the court of Rameses II., but the episode really belongs to the reign of Thothmes III. According to the legend, Se Osiris had lived in a former life at the time of Thothmes III. as Hor, the Son of the Negro. At that time the two Ethiopian magicians had come to cast magic on Egypt, and had been defeated by him as Moses defeated Jannes and Jambres. The resemblance to Moses is very striking, and when one of the magicians taunts the victorious Hor in the words, “Art thou not Hor, the son of Negro, whom I took from the reeds of Ra (Nile) ?” we are reminded of the finding of Moses. This episode has been sometimes compared to the story of Sargon of Agade being placed by his mother in an ark or basket on the Euphrates, but I am inclined to regard this as doubtful. Other episodes found their counterpart in the magical fiction of Egypt. The flight of Sinhuit from Egypt to Midian, a legend of the Twelfth dynasty, where he marries the daughter of the local sheik and becomes rich, but eventually returns to Egypt and to the court of Pharaoh, has remarkable resemblances to the story of the flight of Moses. Lastly, the dividing of the waters by magicians, and heaping of them up like a wall, occurs in the West Car papyrus, and in the first of the stories of Setme Kha-m-uas. It is then in the popular folk literature of Egypt that we find parallels to most of the episodes in the life of Joseph and Moses, and most of these works belong to the period between the Twenty-second and Twenty-sixth dynasties, B.C. 977-064. During the age of Solomon and Rehoboam the intercourse with Egypt was close, and, indeed, until PREFACE Beek the Assyrian power became dominant, it existed ; it was probable, therefore, that many of these stories would be known among the learned in Palestine, and hence the local colouring of the age of the bondage and deliver- ance which we find in the Pentateuch was adopted from them. I now come to the most important episode in the life of the Hebrew law-giver—the giving of the Law on Sinai. The very pertinent question was once asked by the late M. Renan, “ Was the law given upon Sinai because Sinai was holy, or was Sinai holy because the law was given there?” Recent researches, as I have shown (Chap. III.), have proved that to both the Egyptians and the Babylonians, both Sumerians and Semites, Sinai was a holy land. To the former it was the special fief of the goddess Hathor and her consort, the hawk god Supt; while to the Semites of Babylonia it was probably associated with Sin, the moon god, “a lord of law” (del teritz), from which the mountain derived its name. It is not improbable that the pre-Israelitish population of Palestine looked upon this region of wild mountain and desert, the region of storms and thunders and lightnings, as the abode of some mighty Desert god. The code of Khammurabi, however, affords us some clue to this belief in an ancient law given to man by God, and especially a god associated with the holy mountain. The old Sumerian God of laws was the god Mullil, the older Bel of the Semites, whose sacred city was Nippur, and whose temple was E-Kur, “the Mountain House,” deriving its name from the Mountain of the World, on which Bel held his court. Now, Bel it was who wore on his breast the “tablets of law and destiny,” by wiich he SOK PREFACE ruled all things, and cast the destinies of gods and men. These tablets were the special insignia of divine power and supremacy, and the possession of them confirmed these attributes on the possessor. In the Creation Epic we find Tiamat conferring them upon Kingu, his spouse, from whom they are taken by Marduk. There is, however, a very interesting legend associated with these tablets in Babylonian mythology. The tablets of destiny were stolen from the god Bel by Zu, the Storm god, who takes and carries them away to his mountain of storms, and there he retains them amid the storms and thunders and lightnings. At last Marduk goes and brings them down from the mountain, and restores law and order to the gods. In this legend I believe we have the basis of the story of the giving of the Law on Sinai, or on the Mountain of God. As Khammurabi states that he received his laws direct from the Sun god—a statement that is not in a strict sense true, for the laws he proclaims had been in use long before his time—so the later Hebrew writers, in order strictly to connect the Law with Yaveh, borrowed and adapted the story of Zu, the Storm god, whose theophany resembled that of the God of Sinai. The discovery of the Tel-el-Amarna Tablets have shown that the influence of Babylonia had been pre- dominant over Canaan for many centuries. The scribes in most of the towns were acquainted with the cuneiform writing, and if so, the literature of Babylonia was known to them. If the writing was used for diplomatic purposes, it must also have been used for commercial purposes, Now, during the rule of the first Babylonian dynasty, of which Khammurabi was a member, and probably for some time after, their influence continued, certainly until many a century before the age of Joshua. It is, therefore, more PREFACE XXi than probable that the laws embodied in the code of Khammurabi were current in Canaan. If Babylonian myths, such as those which the Hebrews adopted in the story of Samson or Saul and the witch of Endor, had become known in Palestine, surely so great and so simple and so suitable a code of laws must have been known throughout the whole of Western Asia. The earliest Hebrew code is that of a settled people; its verbatim agreements with the Babylonian code are so close as to admit of no explanation other than an adaptation by the Hebrews of a code which they had found in use, and such a code would have no vazson @étre in the wilds of Sinai. The civilization which the Hebrews found in Canaan was essentially Babylonian; and most of the surrounding nations had derived their culture from the same source. The culture of Phoenicia, which first made itself felt in Jerusalem in the age of Solomon, and later in that of Ahab, was essentially Babylonian. The temple of Solomon might have been one erected by a Babylonian or an Assyrian king; for its arrangements, including the two tree pillars and the sea, or laver, are the same both in names and plan. This indirect contact with the civilizations of the Tigro-Euphrates Valley continued until the fall of Jeru- salem, and the foundation of many religious traditions and civil laws and customs was laid. During all this period, however, the Hebrews lacked one great quality of true national life—a true and deep belief in the theocratic power of the national god. The Captivity—if such it can be called—in Babylonia consolidated all these isolated elements, and produced the greatest renaissance the world has ever seen. In Babylonia, Xxii PREFACE with its marvellous system of religious and political centrali- zation, the Jew saw the true secret of national life. The god was one with the nation, his city and temple were the life and heart of the nation, and from him law and order must come. There it was that the old fragments were revised and edited, the national literature constructed so as to have a continuity of tradition extending back to the childhood of the nation, and once for all and for ever Israel became a nation ruled by a theocracy which has never ceased to exist. The monuments have, as I say, removed the Hebrew from the isolated position in which he has hitherto been placed. He is no longer a mere figure in the drama of old-world history; he has his part, and an important one, mingling with the crowd of Egyptians, Babylonians, and Assyrians upon the stage—a real and intensely important character, above all intensely human, no longer a mere automaton, but a being of like passions with ourselves. In this work I have endeavoured to show how fully we can reconstruct the beginnings of civilization in Western Asia, and to what an antiquity we must look for the dawn of civilization. Much has been done, but much remains to be done, and the solution of many problems of the utmost importance to the true understanding of the child- hood of the human race still lies buried beneath the mounds of the Chaldean plain. In the chapter on Egypt and Chaldea I have endea- voured to show that there are many indications of a contact at a very early period between the civilization of the Nile and the Tigro-Euphrates Valley. My remarks must, how- ever, be considered more of the nature of suggestions than as the statement of a definite fact, and each year’s PREFACE XXili work in these two fields of archzological research supplies new and important material for consideration. In conclusion, I must thank Mr. James Kennedy for the valuable assistance he has given me in the difficult field of Mohammedan law, and for the time and trouble he has expended in reading a large portion of the proofs of the work The maps were drawn by Mr. W. W. Woodrow, of the Library of the British Museum. “EX ORIENTE LUX.” CONDE NES CHAPTER I. THE LANDS OF NIMROD II. BEGINNINGS OF BABYLONIAN CIVILIZATION ii EeG VP AND CHAT DEAS IV REE ClhYe KINGDOMS = V. THE GARDEN OF THE ORIENT VI. “KHAMMURABI THE GREAT” Vil. “THE CODE OF KHAMMURABI” VIII. “LAWS OF KHAMMURABI” IX. THE BEGINNINGS OF LITERATURE APPENDIX A. BABYLONIAN AND ASSYRIAN ART IN RELATION TO EGYPT APPENDIX B. FOUNDATION CEREMONIES APPENDIX C. THE LEGEND OF DEATH APPENDIX D. THE DELUGE LEGEND INDEX isl ‘OF ILLUSTRATIONS Khammurabi receiving the Laws . Geological Map Canal at Busra Inscription of Karibu-Sa-Susinak Inscription of Anu-Banini Sumerian Head Early Elamite Head Kileh-Shergat, ASsur Istar of Nineveh Tel-el-Amarna Tablets Statue of Gudea Cave Drawings from France Drawing of Urnina Oldest Bill in the World Pictorial Characters Citadel Mound of Susa Fish-headed God . Block of Pillars, Tello . Shepherd and Dogs Musical Instruments Figures of Fire-god Pyramid of Medum Flint Tools from Egypt Bird’s Nest and Basket Basket from Nippur PAGE | Mem de la Delegation en Perse, Pl, IV. . Frontispiece 3 8 Mem de la Delegation en { RerseyPla ls ' = lO: De Morgan Mission en Perse 12 Photo, Eyre & Spottiswoode 14 15 : : ‘ : : 19 Photo, Mansell & Co.. 23 Photo, Eyre & Spottiswoode 38 Harper’s Magazine. fe 45 a tae tak erie ia ak From Drawing and Cast . A 57 i j : ‘ ; a Re Photo, Mansell & Co, OS Harper's Magazine . el Drawing . : ; os Harper's Magazine . oe » 9 : Os 89 9I Drawing . : : E 2 S AL Se Re MO ES tok: XXVIl XXViili List OF Royal Tomb of Nagada Tomb of Mer Neit Building of Ur Nina Staircase of Den Staircase at Eridu Chaldean Seal, B.c. 3800 Clay Seals of Ka, 1st Dynasty Egypt Early Babylonian 350, Stele of Per-ab-Sen Stele of Meti-Sikhu Demon of South-west Wind Chaldean Tomb from Mughier Babylonian Funeral Couch . Obelisk of Manistu-su Tel-Edé, or Marad Brick Stele of E-anna-du Mace-head of Sargon Stele of Naram-Sin from Susa Royal Group on Stele . Mughier—Ur Statue of Ur-bau Palace of Gudea Plan of the Palace of era Plans on Statue of Gudea Wooden Sickle (Egypt), 1 Sheep’s Jaw-bone, 2 Surveys of Estates : Cadastral Survey of Estate . Corn Return, B.C. 2500 . Inventory of Cattle Cattle from Babylonian Seal Tools from Egypt and Chaldea Portrait, Khammurabi . Ruins of Temple of Bel Bronze Figure Cylinder of Eri-aku Assyrian Winged Bull . ut ILLUSTRATIONS De Morgan Petrie, “ Royal Tombs” Drawing . ” Petrie, “ Royal Tombs Drawing . Petrie, “ Royal Tombs” Private Photo Drawing . Delegation en Perse, Pl. I. . Drawing . Photo, Mansell e Co, Delegation en Perse, Pl. II. . Photo (private) . Harper's Magazine Drawing, W. St, C. B, Photo, Mansell & Co, British Museum, Inscriptions Drawing . Photo, Mansell & Co, Old Drawing Drawing . : Photo, Lyre & Spottirauonee as ” ” PAGE 96 97 97 98 99 100 IOI 103 104 104 108 II4 116 121 123 126 128 129 130 132 133 136 137 138 143 143 145 149 150 152 153 161 163 164 175 176 187 ist OF TELUSTRATIONS XXix PAGE Tablet of Domestic Laws. : Photo, Mansell & Co. Ae Demons Fighting . é : ” » > . 267 Seal of Epic Figures, B.c. aio 2 Drawing . : : 277 Gilgames and Lion (Seal) . ‘ Photo, Eyre & Spottis oe 278 Gilgames (Nimrod) . E : Photo, Girandon : > 285 Gates of Heaven and Sun-god_ Photo, Eyre & Spottiswoode 285 Deluge Tablet (Obverse) . : = = ~ 286 # » (Reverse). : 5 8 > ” 287 Samas Napistiinhis Ark . ‘ ; 3 288 First Creation Tablet . : : % ” 3 293 Second Creation Tablet : : > = a 295 Seventh Creation Tablet : : > = -: 308 Birs Nimroud : : : : Drawing . ‘ 2 310 Fifth Creation Tablet . : : Photo, Eyre & spt woode 313 Nebo, the Scribe-God . : : Photo, Mansell & Co. - 316 Slate Tablet from soca of Narmer . : ; : : : 2 320 Fragment of Slate Tablet with t P.S.B.A., Vol. XXIL. . ee Vultures Portions of halen Stele of t Haier Mancinee EX the Vultures . wes a ee Funeral Couches from Aby flog : Petrie, “ Royal Tombs” 326 Foundation Stone of Assurbani-pal : : : : - e327, Babylonian Bronze Funeral Tablet Drawing . 333 THE FIRST OF EMPIRES CHAPTER I THE LANDS OF NIMROD “And it came to pass, as they journeyed in the east, that they found a plain in the land of Shinar, and dwelt there.”—GEN. xi. 2. HE civilization of Chaldea, like that of the sister empire of Egypt, found its cradle in a great alluvial basin, a river-born land, a region where nature seemed, as it were, to have made ample preparation for the advent of man. The rich and fertile valley, which breaks the broad belt of desert which stretches across Asia from the Mediterranean to the Yellow Sea, is the basin of two great rivers to which the fertile delta—which became the site of the Babylonian Kingdom—owes its existence. It was a region well calculated to attract settlers. To the west the arid wastes of Arabia, to the east the desert plateau of Persia, Luristan, Kurdistan rising step by step to the tableland of Central Asia— the womb of nations,” as Sir Henry Rawlinson aptly styled it—this oasis would naturally seem a veritable “garden of the gods” to those who journeyed thither. The two rivers, the Tigris and Euphrates, both rise in the mountains of Armenia, and within a short distance of each other. B 2 THE FIRST OF EMPIRES The two streams differ from each other considerably ; the Euphrates, after a considerable bend westward, enters a tolerably lofty steppe, where the uniform surface is broken by ridges of rock, by ranges of hills, pastures, and fruitful strips of land, while the banks of the river are overgrown with forests of plane trees, tamarisks, and cypresses, and shut in by fertile meadows. When the Euphrates has left the high land, at a place where the two rivers approach each other most nearly, and at a distance of about 400 miles from their mouths, the plain of rich alluvial soil commences. Theline of demarcation between the alluvial and secondary formation is very clearly marked—as commencing at Hit on the Euphrates, and Samarah on the Tigris. From this point the difference between the two rivers is most clearly to be seen. The Euphrates has a slow course, often spreading its waters over the low-lying banks; but the Tigris, the fall in whose bed is considerably steeper than that of the Euphrates, rushes rapidly to the sea, its own volume being augmented by the tributaries from the Persian Apennines. Although, unlike the Nile, there is no regular annual inundation, both streams, flooded by the melting of the snows of the Armenian and Persian mountains, overflow their banks during the summer. The inundation commences in the Tigris about the beginning of June; in the Euphrates about the beginning of July. These inundations, now uncontrolled by canals and embankments, as in ancient times, often do more harm than good, and those of the Tigris especially often turn the whole of the marshy regions of the Afadj into a rolling sea. In ancient times, when the dams, reservoirs, and canals were carefully preserved, these life-giving waters were distributed over the land in just proportion, and the THE LANDS OF NIMROD 3 fertility of the land immensely increased. The growth of the alluvial in Chaldea has been very rapid, and accurate observations show that the present rate of increase is AOriginal River Mout: Bloasslinein BC E9F longitude fast 4% from Greenwich GEOLOGICAL MAP. about one mile in seventy years; while it is the opinion of those best qualified to judge that the average progress during the historic period was as much as a mile in thirty years. There is every reason to believe that in the early 4 THE FIRST OF EMPIRES days of the Chaldean Empire the Persian Gulf extended at least 120 miles further inland. The annals of Sennac- herib throw some considerable light upon this subject, for at the time of his campaign against Bit Yakin, on the Elamite shores of the Persian Gulf, the two rivers entered the gulf by separate mouths, as did also the Karun and the Kerkha.* From the evidence of the inscriptions, it is clear also that both Eridu (Abu Sharain) and Ur (Mughier) were in ancient times close to the sea, from which they are now more than a hundred miles distant. The fact that in remote geological times the whole of Lower Babylonia, as far inland as a line drawn from Hit to Samarah, that is, a distance of about 400 miles from the present mouth of the Shal-el-Arab, was under sea, is clearly indicated by the formation of the country. The rapid growth of the alluvial deposits drove the waters of the eulf back, and formed a rich and fertile plain; but traces of the old sea-bed remain in low sandy and pebbly ridges, which rise above the surface of the plain. “To-day,” says Dr. Hilprecht,f ‘‘such enormous sandhills are found in several districts of Iraq, notably in the neighbourhood of Jokha, Warka (Erech), Tel Ibrahim (Kutha), and Nuffar (Nippar), and Abu Hubba (Sippara).” These heaps were known to the ancient Babylonians by the name of Tul Abubi (“mounds of the deluge”), and this name is of particular interest. The alluvial belt extends to the foot of the Persian mountains, the ancient Susiania through which the Karun, Kerkha, and Dizful flow. The explorations of M. de Morgan at Susa, and among the prehistoric settlements at Poucht-e-Kouh, show that these * See lines on Geological Map ; this expedition was undertaken in B.C. 695. + Hilprecht, “ Explorations in Bible Lands,” p. 41. THE LANDS OF NIMROD 5 highlands were occupied by man in early neolithic and possibly paleolithic times, and therefore man then looked down upon a vast gulf covering the land that afterwards became the Elamite and Babylonian plains. It was the tradition of this submergence, no doubt, which lived on, and out of which grew the legend of the Deluge. Just as we find the tradition of the extinct monsters of the tertiary age surviving in the Egyptian Book of the Dead, in the gigantic serpents and composite animal forms, so the submergence of the lowlands of Mesopotamia lived on in the myth of the Deluge. Like the Nile valley, especially Lower Egypt, this acquired land, the gift of the two rivers, was in every way favourable to the development of national life. Naturally fertile, it became ten times more so with the slightest assistance from the hand of man. All the writers of antiquity are unanimous in praising the fertility of this plain. Berosus, Herodotus, Xenophon, all speak with astonishment of its wealth of wheat, barley, sesame, dates, and other fruits. The testimony of Herodotus may be taken as the best evidence. He says (I. 193), “Of all countries that we know, there is none which is so fruitful in grain. It makes no pretension, indeed, of growing the fig, the olive, or the vine, or any other trees of the kind, but in grain it is so fruitful as to yield commonly two hundred-fold, and when the production is greatest, even three hundred-fold. The blade of the wheat plant and barley is often four fingers in breadth. As for millet and the sesame, I shall not say to what height they grow, though within my own knowledge; for I am not ignorant that what I have already written concerning the fruitful- ness of Babylonia must seem incredible to those who have never visited the country. . . . Palm trees grow in 6 THE FIRST OF EMPIRES great numbers over the whole of the flat country, mostly of the kind that bears fruit, and this fruit supplies them with bread, wine, and honey.” The statements of Herodotus and the other classical writers are fully endorsed by the evidence of the monu- ments. The large number of revenue tablets in the British Museum, dating from the time of the Second Dynasty of Ur (about B.C. 2500), and more ancient inscrip- tions, such as the obelisk of Manistu-su, show the immense corn-producing power of the land. The forfeits in the code of Khammurabi show the estimated yield of land was 6 gur (48 bushels) per gaz (feddan). The feddan was about one acre and a ninth, thus the yield would be 47-48 bushels peracre. In the time of Manistu-su eight bushels of corn could be purchased for a silver shekel. Ccern was not only the staple food of Babylonia, it formed the com- mercial standard by which the price of all commodities was estimated. This fact is proved by the ideogram for price (stm), which is Xisw-*e, composed of & + >] + =~ (corn measure), which indicates a corn tariff. The great corn-growing area of Babylonia was in the south, with Larsa, Erech, Sirpurra, and Nippur as the chief centres. There was a considerable interchange of commodities between north and south, the former exchanging sheep, wool, cattle, etc., for corn and dates with the latter. Among the tablets found at Tello are some inventories of articles sent from the north to the south dated in the reign of Sargon I. (B.C. 3800).* These give an idea of the wealth of the land. One of these letters mentions two oxen and seven asses, which were sent by boat from Agade to Sirpurra, and the writer states that there is sufficient fodder in the boat for the animals. Another mentions 1540 sheep and 854 goats * Thureau Dangin, “Tab. Chald. Inedit.,” No 35. THE LANDS OF NIMROD " as being sent. The corn mostly being exported from the south to the north, we do not find many records, but one tablet records 1720 gur as being sent from Agade—that would be 13,760 bushels. These ancient documents, then, amply confirm the statements of the classical writers as to the wealth of the Chaldean plain. Among other objects mentioned on these tablets we have dates, sesame, honey, milk, butter, wool, various woods. An interesting point in regard to these tablets is the frequent mention not only of silver, but also of gold, which is rarely found on tablets of a later date. Sargon, and Naram Sin, his son, had widely extended the power of the Chaldean Empire. Elam, as we know from both Babylonian records and the inscriptions and sculptures found at Susa, had been conquered, and the Chaldean forces had penetrated into the Persian mountains as far as Apirak, or Mal Amir, the Khalpirti of the Susanian inscriptions. Westward most important conquests had been made. Magan, or Sinai, with its stone quarries and copper mines, had been conquered, and Milukha, or Midian, with its stores of alluvial gold, had been annexed. The following appears to be a list of offerings sent by the King, Queen, Viceroy, and other officials to the temple of Nin Sugir, or possibly the goddess Bau :— (One) mana of gold. One fat goat. (One) Ox. Seven fat sheep. One fat ox. (The Queen (Lady).) One lamb. 19 (20-1) fat sheep. Half a mana of gold. (The King.) Two fat sheep. (Udu Lumir.) Half a mana of gold. One fat bull. Half a mana of gold. One lamb. Two fat sheep. @neve- (The Patesi (Viceroy).) 8 THE FIRST OF EMPIRES By nature prolific, the land became tenfold more so when man began to cultivate it, to regulate the water- supply, and to store and distribute the fertilizing fluid over the land. The earliest inscriptions we possess, those of the kings of Sirpurra or Tello, relate to the making of canals, tanks, and dams to regulate or store the water, and hence we find the agricultural wealth of the country CANAL AT BUSRA. vastly increased. No nation of the ancient world ever attained to such a high state of perfection in agriculture as the Sumerian population of Babylonia; and as early as B.C. 4500 we find a system of cadastral survey and land valuation, a fiscal system never changed in later times in use, all of which presupposes centuries of growth and development. Some idea of Babylonia in its most flourishing period can be gained from the better cultivated portions of the land at the present time. Of the countries associated with Babylonia in ancient THE LANDS OF NIMROD 9 times the most important was that of Elam, or “the Highland,” the kingdom which occupied the western slopes of the Luristan mountains, and the fertile plain between them and the Tigris. It was, as I have already said, a region partly of alluvial origin, its rich soil being composed of the deposits from the rivers whose head- streams were in the highlands of Western Persia. Through this region flowed the Karun, the Dizful, the Kerkha, and the Dyala. This region, the modern Khuzistan, is still one of the most fertile provinces of the Persian Empire, and in ancient times it must have been a serious rival of the Chaldean plain in fertility. Rich in corn, and probably, as De Morgan, De Candole,* Dr. Schweinfurt, and others agree, the indigenous home of wheat ; it was probably, as the prehistoric harvest settlements at Susa show, cultivated before Babylonia. On higher ground, with a cooler climate than the plains of Chaldea, the vine and the olive and other fruit-trees flourished, while the hills were covered with oaks, firs, and other valuable trees. It was in this region that the vine was first cultivated, and the tradition seems to be preserved in the Hebrew story of Noah’s vineyard (Gen: ix. 20). In the genealogies preserved in the Bible, Elam is classed as Semitic (Gen. x. 22), together with Assyria. This classification is rather linguistic than ethnic, but recent discoveries have shown that the earliest Elamite inscriptions were modelled on those of Babylonia, and written both in Sumerian and Semitic Babylonian. It is unfortunate that we are as yet unable to fix any definite date for these inscriptions, although the archaic * De Morgan, “ Recherches sur les Origines de l’Egypte,” tom. ii. pp. 40-46. De Candole, ‘ The Migration of Plants.” 10 THE FIRST OF EMPIREae character of the writing would lead us to assign them to a period between 3000 and 2000 B.C. It would seem, as Dr. Schiel suggests, that the art of writing and the formula of the inscriptions were introduced into Elam from Babylonia—-perhaps about the time of the first INSCRIPTION OF KARIBU-SA-SUSINAK. Babylonian dynasty ; but during the time of Sargon I. and Naram Sin the Babylonian influence must have been fairly considerable. Among the inscriptions found at Susa are several which are exactly like those of the Babylonian viceroys. As an example, I may quote the inscription on a brick of THE LANDS OF NIMROD II Ardu-Naram Susinak (the servant beloved of the god Susinak). It reads *=— “To the god Susinak his lord for the life of Idadu, the viceroy of Susa, Wardu-Naram Susinak, son of Kal-Rukhuratir, the walls with bitumen of old were not cemented, new walls with earth a princely house, after him he has made, and for his life t he has caused it to be made.” This inscription is pure Semitic Babylonian, as is the name of offering. the man, who dedicates his work as a votive Among the inscriptions from Susa is a very long and interesting tablet of Karibu-Sa-Susinak (favourite of Susinak), which is modelled on Babylonian lines. It is in columns; the first one, which is mutilated, can be easily restored from other inscriptions of this king. Col. I. Col. II. Gol! VI. To Susinak his lord Karibu Sa Susinak, viceroy of Susa, son of Simbi ?—Iskhug? viceroy of Susa, High priest of the land of Elam, When for the citadel its gate he had made, for the gate of Susinak his lord. Then also the canal of Sidaur he opened, His seat before it he placed, and its gate with planks of cedar wood he made. One sheep for the interior—one sheep for the approach (as offerings) each day he appointed. With music the men of the city as a festival day shall make, and shall cause songs to be sung. Twenty measures of pure oil he gave to make bright the gate. Four silver #zagz he gave An incense censer of silver and gold for a sweet odour, he gave A great sword he gave, an axe with four blades and decorated them with silver.... * Schiel, “Textes Elamite Semitique,” tom. ii. p. 72. + “ Ana balatu su” is the usual votive formula of Babylonia. 12 THE FIRST OF EMPIRES The inscription concludes with an invocation calling down the curses of Susinak, Samas, Bel, Ea, Sin, and other gods on those who injure this decree. Another remarkable monument of the early Semitic ij. Mf Pen v Gi} a St Mi /) ‘\ l, Ue wf , Ties ae, MY, es Lee oe th > MSG ROCK SCULPTURE OF ANU-BANINI. dominion in Elam and the adjacent lands is the fine stele found at Zohab in the Luristan mountains, which was set up by Anu-Banini, King of the Lulubini. Here both the art of the sculptor and the text of the accompanying inscription are copied from the Babylonian. THE LANDS OF NIMROD 13 The inscription, which is much mutilated in some places, reads— “ Anu-banini, the mighty King, the King of Lulubi, who his statue, and the statue of Nini (Istar) on Mount Batir caused to be set up. Whosoever these figures, and this written tablet shall obliterate, (May) Anu and Anunit and Bel and Beltis, Adad, Istar, and Samas, . . . the god of battle curse him with an evil curse. Destroy his seed, and from the upper sea, to the lower sea of the Ocean, his ancestors and his offspring obliterate.” The fact that these inscriptions were placed in public places, and written in a Semitic language, would certainly indicate that there was a population of Semites to read them, and it was the knowledge of this fact which led the Hebrew writers to class Elam among the descendants of Shem. The discoveries made by M. de Morgan at Susa have added much to our knowledge of the history of Elam, but the problem is still far from being solved. The history may be divided into three periods— (1) The Semitic period, when Babylonian influence was very powerful from about B.C. 3800-2000. (2) The Kassite period (B.C. 2000). (3) The Anzanite period (B.C. 750 to Persian conquest). The Kassites, a powerful body of mountaineers, swept over Elam and Babylonia, establishing a powerful line of kings in the latter kingdom, whose power was not over- thrown until the time of the middle Assyrian Empire (B.C. 900-700). Inscriptions of victors bearing Kassite names, and those of Kassite gods, have been found at Susa. The fall of the Babylonian dynasty in B.c. 742 led to the rise of the Elamite or Anzanian line of kings, 14 THE FIRST OF EMPIRES whose power rivalled that of Assyria, and whose final overthrow was accomplished by Assurbanipal in B.C. 649, when he sacked and burnt Susa. The destruction of the capital did not, however, obliterate the Anzanian population and power, for Cyrus, before his conquest of Astyages, claims the title of King of Anzan, and so dominant an element was this people in the population of Elam, that the second column of the Persian trilingual inscriptions is written in a late form of their language. The type of these later Elamites is well known to us from the Assyrian monuments, and it shows a mixed SUMERIAN HEAD. race, probably partly Semitic, partly blended with some of the mountain tribes of Western Persia, the ancient Gutium, the Goim of the Hebrews, a body of warlike tribes, whose descendants are now represented by the Bakhtiaris, among whom the late Sir Henry Layard spent several years of his life. The language of these later Elamite and Anzanian tribes is an agglutinative tongue, with some slight relations to the Sumerian, but best classed as an Alarodian dialect. The writing, which first appears in Anzanian letters found at Nineveh, and probably, therefore, of the time of Assur- banipal (B.c. 668-625), is a modification of the cursive Babylonian.* * See Weissbach, in “‘ Beitrage zur Assyriologie,” Band V. THE LANDS OF NIMROD 15 The next region over which the power of the First of Empires was extended was the kingdom of Assyria. The Biblical account of the foundation of Assyria (Gen. x. 11) clearly makes it a colony from Babylonia, for we read, “ Out of that land (Babylonia) he (Nimrod) went forth into Assyria, and builded Nineveh and Rehoboth-Ir, and EARLY ELAMITE OR KASSITE HEAD. Calah, and Resen between Nineveh and Calah: the same is a great city.” The account is somewhat difficult to harmonize with the evidence of the monuments. That Assyria, and its ancient capital Assur, was a colony from Babylonia, every brick and inscription proves. The writing, the religion, the civilization, are all clearly from the Southern Empire. The passage becomes more easy 16 THE FIRST OF EMPIRES of explanation if we revise it to read “and builded Nineveh—the city of broad streets*—and Calah, and Resen between Calah and Nineveh.” The arrangement of the cities then forms in chronological order—Assur, marked by the ruins of Kileh-Shergat, on the west bank of the Tigris, opposite the mouth of the Lower Zab ; Calah—the Kalkhu of the Scriptures—at the junction of the Upper Zab and the Tigris ; and Nineveh, at the junction of the Khauser and the Tigris opposite Mosul. These cities represent three epochs in Assyrian history— (1) Assur, the Early Empire (B.c. 2300-900). (2) Calah, the Middle Empire (B.C. 900-721). (3) Nineveh, the Sargonite Dynasty (B.c. 721-625). The valuable passage in the opening of the Code inscription of King Khammurabi shows that Assur and Nineveh were flourishing in his time, and were probably ruled by viceroys (fates), appointed by the Babylonian king. The geographical position of the kingdom of Assyria is very important as exercising very considerable influence on its history. Considerably higher in elevation than the Babylonian plain, the climate was much cooler. On the southern edge the tableland of Iran abuts on that of Armenia, and then stretching to the south-east, it bounds the river valley of the Tigris on the east. From the vast successive ranges, the Zagros of the Greeks, flow the Lycus and Caprus (Upper and Lower Zab), the Adhim and Diala, and many lesser streams. The water which these streams convey to the plain between the Zagros and the Tigris, together with the elevation of the soil, softens *In the Inscriptions of Esarhaddon, “the broad streets” of Nineveh are often mentioned. THE LANDS OF NIMROD L7 the heat, and allows olive trees and vines to flourish in the cool air on the hill-slopes, sesame and corn in the valleys between groups of palms and fruit-trees. The backs of the heights which rise to the east are covered with oaks and other trees. As we pass south, and nearer the Elamite frontier, perhaps the Diala, the plain becomes more level, and the soil is little inferior to that of Babylonia in fertility. In one important feature Assyria differed from Baby- lonia. Long chains of hills traversed the plain, and stretched here and there, as far as the borders of the two rivers; while the last buttresses of the mountains of Kurdistan came very near the banks of the Tigris. These hills contained limestone of two kinds, one fine, hard, close- grained, the other softer, and more friable. In the plains, gypsum serves as a foundation for the wide banks of clay that spread over the country. Alabaster is to be met with in great quantities, often but little below the soil.* Not only was a stone suitable for building purposes easy to be obtained in Assyria, but wood, limited in Chaldea almost entirely to the date-palm, was to be obtained from the mountain ranges of Kurdistan and Armenia; and at an early period the axe of the Assyrian tree-feller was at work among the cedars of Lebanon and Amanus. With this wealth of material at hand, we get a certain amount of difference between the construction and decoration of the palaces of Assyria and those of Chaldea ; but not by any means to such a degree as was possible. With stone under his very feet, the Assyrian still built his palace walls of brickwork, and raised lofty platforms of brick and earth like those of the ancient cities of the south, * Perrot and Chipiez, “ History of Art in Chaldea and Assyria,” vol. i. p. 121. 6) io THE FIRST OF EMPIRES a instead of choosing, as he might have done, natural eleva- tions. The rooms of his palaces were still long, narrow galleries, like those of the Assyrian rooms of the British Museum. In fact, as MM. Perrot and Chipiez remark, the Assyrian palaces, especially the earlier buildings of the Midan Empire (B.C. 900-720), bear every appearance of having been designed by Chaldean architects. The As- syrian civilization was, until almost the last days of empire, fa mere veneer, and of a very thin kind. The Assyrian never invented anything; not only for its foundation, but for its writing, religion, science, and literature, apart from history, he was indebted to the Chaldeans. If any other proof of the Babylonian origin of Assyria was needed, it would be found in the testimony of every brick or edifice uncovered by the spade of the explorer. The early history of Assyria is still obscure, owing in a great measure to the lack of systematic explorations on the older sites, such as Kileh-Shergat, the ancient Assur, and the lower strata at Nineveh,* but the notices of the land found in the Babylonian records confirm the Hebrew writer’s state- ment as to its relations with that country. The valuable passage in the opening of the code text of Khammurabi throws a most important light on this subject. Here the king says, “(I am he) who settles the tribes, who directs by law, who restored to the city of Assur its propitious winged bull, making it bright with splendour. The king who, in Nineveh, in the temple of Dub-Dub, made splendid the emblems of Istar.” This passage, and the reference in one of the royal letters to the removal of troops from Assyria, clearly indicate that at the time of * A full account of all that is known of Assyrian early history is given in “Annals of Assyria,” vol. i., edited by Dr. Budge and L. W. King, M.A., and published by the British Museum. THE LANDS OF NIMROD 19 Khammurabi (B.c. 2285) Assyria was a dependency of the Babylonian kingdom. This fragment shows that both Assur and Nineveh were then founded. No mention is made of Calah. The Babylonian origin of the ancient capitals of Assyria is best attested by the names them- selves, for none of them admit of explanation by Semitic philology. In the older inscriptions of the jpatesz, or viceroys, who ruled at Assur under their Babylonian over- lords, the name of that city is written Ny VF yr HET >]s >< (Ey. (Pal-bi(kz)), “the dwelling of life ”— a name which bears every indication of being derived from Babylonia.* Another important point bearing on the * In King’s “Seven Tablets of Creation,” p. 199, there is a mytho- logical fragment which appears to contain a legend of the foundation of Assur. It is very mutilated, but we have mention of Adad, or Rimnion, to whom there was a temple in ASsur, later restored by Tiglath-pileser I. Here we have small fragmentary lines—“ Ansar 20 THE FIRST OF EMPIRES Babylonian relations is the topographical position of the chief Assyrian cities; they succeed one another in chrono- logical order from south to north—Assur, Calah, Nineveh —which would seem to indicate that they were successive stations of a gradual expansion of Babylonian power northward. Such an expansion certainly took place as early as the reign of Sargon of Agade—that is, about B.C. 3800. The discoveries at Nippur, Suga, and Sirpurra have amply vindicated the historical character of the reigns of Sargon and Naram-Sin, and the dates on contracts of his age recording expeditions against Elam, Guti, Zakhara, and other states, can certainly not be imaginary. In the tablet of astronomical omens in the British Museum, relating to the reign of Sargon and his son, we have mention of two expeditions against Martu or Amurru—that is, Phoenicia and Palestine—and Sinai. A statue of Naram-Sin was found at Mardin, in Northern Mesopotamia, which would seem to indicate arule over that region. It is not, therefore, improbable that Assyria was then colonized from the south. Naram-Sin is stated to have conquered Subarti—that is, Northern Mesopotamia; so his conquering army would have passed through Assyria. Another piece of collateral evidence as to the connection between Assyria and Babylonia during the conquering age of Sargon of Agade is found in the fact that Sargon the Tartan, who certainly (ASSur) opened his mouth and said,. . . above the deep, the abode of (Ea), opposite E. Sara” (there wasa temple called by this name in As&Sur) “ which I have created.” A little further on we read, “ Upon the earth which thy hands have made . . . raise, and the city of ASsur (Pal-bi(k2)) thou shall proclaim its name.” It would seem as if we have here an attempt on the part of the Assyrian scribes to build up a legend of the divine foundation of ASSur, using the Babylonian creation legends as a model. THE LANDS OF NIMROD 2a bore another name before he came to the throne—possibly the Jareb of Hosea v. 15—chose the name of the great ethnic hero of the Semites. A. mythological poem, which records the exploits of the plague-god Ura, or Nerra, gives us a very fair descrip- tion of the geographical horizon of the Babylonians in the epic age. Where the spread of the epidemic is described, and of war and anarchy associated with it, we read— “ Thus spake Ura the warrior : Sea-coast against sea-coast (Syria), Subartu against Subartu (N. Mesopotamia), Assyrian against Assyrian, Elamite against Elamite, Kassite against Kassite, Sutu against Sutu (Kurdistan), Kutu against Kutu (Luristan), Lulubite against Lulubite, Country against country, house against house, One is to show no mercy to another, They shall slay one another.” With regard to Nineveh, its Babylonian origin is most clearly indicated. The writing of the name with the ideo- gram>z]] >7y<] Ml a ¥ 58 THE FIRST OF EMPIRES up to the great table-land of Iran. From their primitive home under the slopes of Mount Elvend, it was carried to the lowlands bordering on the Tigris, and watered by the Karun, Disful, and other streams—the ancient Anzan, or Susiania, a corn-producing land of almost equal richness to the Chaldean plain—and from thence transferred to Babylonia, where it underwent still further modifications. CITADEL MOUND OF SUSA. We now come to the difficult question of the race who were the inventors of this mode of writing. This work, which deals solely with the life of Chaldea, is not the place for a discussion on the various phases of the Sumero- Akkadian question, which has so long divided Assyri- ologists into two hostile camps; but fresh evidence of an important character having been obtained by the explora- tions of M. de Morgan at Susa, we can now deal with the subject briefly. BABYLONIAN CIVILIZATION 59 The evidence of the pictorial characters seems, as I have shown, to clearly point to their invention in the regions to the east of the Tigris, and in a mountainous region where the fir and other conifers grow. The region of Susiania, the modern Khusistan, under the ranges of the mountains of Kurdistan and Luristan, has, from the remotest ages, attracted man by its fertility. Ample proof is afforded of this by the excavations made by M. de Morgan in the ancient tumulus of Susa. Here, by cutting tunnels in the mound at various heights above the plain, the explorer discovered a series of towns and settlements, reaching back to the beginning of the historic and far into the prehistoric ages. (1) The virgin soil, a pebbly ridge formed by the rain torrents from the highlands. (2) First settlement, 10°93 metres above the plain. Hand-made pottery, with red and brown decorations, similar to that found in the prehistoric settlements in Egypt at Ballas, Nagada, etc. (3) Second settlement, 14°30 metres above the plain. Traces of huts having been destroyed by fire. Pottery of similar style to first settlement, but not so numerous. Large quantities of worked flints and numerous flint teeth of wooden sickles, similar to those made in Egypt.* (4) Third settlement, 16°80 metres above the plain. Also destroyed by fire. Here enormous heaps of the sickle teeth were found, indicating that agricultural implements had been piled in heaps, and the wooden frames decayed. Some of the flints bore traces of bitumen fastenings. Stone-made heads also found. (5) First town, 21:25 metres above the plain. Here * See sickle with teeth (figure), Petrie’s “ Khahun and Gorub,” PY VI. 60 THE FIRST OF EMPIRES traces of burnt walls were found; also tanks and wells, lined with terra-cotta pipes of large size. No traces of writing. (6) First Anzanian town, 29 to 30 metres above the plain. Traces of palaces and other edifices burned with fire and razed to the ground. Bricks inscribed with the names of Elamite rulers. This was the city destroyed by Assurbanipal in B.C. 640. Here we have set before us in regular sequence the © history of this important site. The plain of Anzan—for such was the ancient name of this region—was always celebrated for its corn-growing qualities, and indeed is so to the present day. Strabo, writing of the fertility of this region, states that wheat produced a hundred and some- times two hundred-fold. De Candole, the botanist, would make this region the indigenous home of wheat.* The origin of the settlements is clearly shown in the immense number of sickles found, which indicate that the site was occupied and then left, the sickles being piled in heaps, Two of these hut settlements had been destroyed by fire —perhaps by raids from Babylonia—and then replaced by a small town. The historic records of Chaldea go back to a period of some five thousand years before our era. The first town at Susa is probably contemporary with the lowest strata at Nippur and Tello, both of which are long prior to that age. What antiquity are we to assign to the primitive settlements which precede it? Among the objects discovered at Tello are two remark- able statuette heads in good preservation. One of these presents a distinct Mongol type. The high cheek-bones, flat face, small olive eyes, and the brachycephalic cha- racter of the head, all go to ally it with the northern * Migration of Plants. BABYLONIAN CIVILIZATION 61 Mongol type.* The second head presents a fuller type of face, while both head and face are closely shaved. The second head I take to be a mixed Semitic and Mongol type. The prominence given tothe barber (ga//adz) in the early inscriptions indicates that shaving was a general custom. The Semites made their appearance in Babylonia at a very early period, as shown by the inscription of Mani8stu-su (B.C. 4500), and fortunately we possess sculp- tured representation of Semitic rulers at a period as early as B.C. 3800. The two monuments of Naram Sin, the statue from Mardin, now in the Imperial Museum at Constantinople, and the fine stele found by M. de Morgan at Susa, clearly set forth the Semitic type. We find clear, well-cut, aquiline features, and long hair and beard, the direct opposite of the Sumerian heads. We have also in the British Museum a portrait of the great king of the Arabian dynasty of Babylon (8.c. 2200), Khammurabi, which shows the same characteristics. As we have a mixture of races in Chaldea in ancient times, so also we have then, and indeed always, a variety of tongues. Chief among them is one agglutinative dialect, possessing all the mechanism of a Turanian language; the other pure Semitic, written phonetically in most cases, and having close affinities with Hebrew and Arabic. Turning our eyes eastward, on the other side of the Tigris we find a perfect conglomeration of races, tribes, and tongues. To the Babylonians this region was known as the land of Gute, the Goim or Nations of the Hebrews; and later, as the land of the Zab-manda, or Barbarians, Elamites occupied the plain, while Kassites or Cosseans occupied the mountains, and later the Mards, or Amardians. * Kean’s “Man, Past and Present,” p. 275. “Ethnology,” ° > al /5 Sy, Pp 301, 302. 62 THE FIRST OF EMPIRGS In the genealogical table of Genesis x. 10, Elam is classed as the eldest son of Shem, but this is to be attributed to the conquest of the land by the first Semite dynasty, about B.C. 3800. The early Elamite type is not known to us, but the later is accurately represented in the sculptures of Assurbanipal.* Here we have every indication of a mixed Semitic and Mongol race. As also in the Kassite, where the Mongol element is more pronounced. If the beard of the figure of Marduk-nadin-akhi were removed, the resemblance to the Tello head would be very close. Another feature which does not appear to have been previously noticed is the very characteristic turban, or head-dress. Now, among Orientals, the last change made in costume is in the head-dress. In India, Persia, Syria, or Egypt, the native upper classes may adopt European dress, but the turban, or fez, is still retained. The Sumerian head-dress,s made more ornate, as be- came a king, is the royal cap of the Kassite king. It appears again in the head-dress of the Elamites,* and several modifications of it may be seen in the sculptures, and it is in use to-day among the mountain tribes of Luristan.f The ancient Sumero-Elamite type is not lost, for it survives to this day among the Bakhtyari, among whom Layard spent many years. They are a fierce body of warlike tribes, owing allegiance to no one. They are not homogeneous, embracing many blended nationalities: the base, however, being a fusion of the Mongol and Semite. According to Houssay,§ the type * See Assyrian Basement Slabs. + Dieulafoy, “‘ Acropole de Suse,” pp. 97, 98, III. { Layard’s “ Early Travels.” § “Acropole de Suse,” p. III. BABYLONIAN CIVILIZATION 63 is brachycephalic, and should be attached.to the Mongol race, while that writer, as well as Layard and De Bode, agree in an admixture of Semitic, reproducing the ancient Elamite type. In the course of centuries, and before the various waves of invasion that have swept over the Susa- nian plain, the aboriginal races have been driven to the mountains and highlands. The same may be noticed in Syria, where I have seen, in the Taurus and Western Armenia, men whose features and figures are exactly those of the Hittites in the sculptures of Carchemish or the scenes on the walls of Karnak. Hence it is not sur- prising that the ancient Elamite type survives among the mountains of Luristan. As to the question of the primitive Mongol or Turanian inhabitants of Mesopotamia being the inventors of the pictorial writing, there is much division of opinion among Assyriologists. Oppert, Sayce, Lenormant, Hommel, Haupt, Pinches, all agree with Rawlinson, George Smith, and my- self in regarding it as certain. On the other hand, Pognon, Guyard, Dangin, Hilprecht, Jastrow, and others follow Halevy in regarding the origin as Semitic, the system being a “species of cryptography,” the deliberate invention of the priests in their desire to produce a method of con- veying their ideas that would be regarded as a mystery.* This theory might be tenable, to some extent, if this so-called cryptographic writing were confined to religious or magical texts; but when we have historical texts, royal hymns engraved on statues such as that of Khammurabi, in the British Museum, as well as commercial and legal documents written in it from B.C. 2000-3000, there is no demand for the element of mystery. It is also argued * Jastrow, “‘ Religion of Babylonians,’ p. 23. t King’s “Inscriptions of Khammurabi,” p. 40. 64 THE FIRST OF EMPIRGS by Jastrow and others* that the cuneiform syllabary is Semitic. This is perhaps true in the modification of Sumerian words for their use as phonetics. The whole mechanism of the primitive picture and ideographic writ- ings is totally contrary to any known example of Semitic invention. The alphabet most associated with these people is that of Phoenicia, which is certainly a system borrowed or adapted from that of some other nation, possibly the Egyptian; but, in the light of more recent discoveries, probably either from the A*gean islanders or Cretans, or perhaps from the Minean traders. The rash statement of Jastrow, that both the religion and culture of Babylonia is the product of the Semitic mind, is a com- plete error, The family organization, the position of woman, the civic administration, the magic and demon- ology, with the creed of animism which underlies the religion, the elaborate numerical system derived from a most primitive basis, are all opposed to what we know of the Semitic nations. It will be more correct, in the face of the evidence I have quoted, to ascribe the beginnings of Chaldean and the associated civilizations to the slow, plodding, and in- ventive Mongolian, while their modification, adaptation, and propagation throughout Western Asia may be ascribed to the Semites. The Sumerians, who in many ways resembled the Chinese, never were an aggressive people, the only wars recorded in the most ancient inscriptions being those among the small civic kingdoms, or against the neighbour- ing state of Anzan. But with the advent of the Semites a great expansion took place. In the time of Sargon and Naram Sin we have expeditions against Syria, Sinai, and * Jastrow, “ Religion of Babylonians,” p. 24. BABYLONIAN CIVILIZATION 65 even—as there is every reason to suppose—an expedition to the island of Cyprus, while to the east Babylonian armies penetrated into the mountains of Kurdistan and Luristan, and conquered Elam. Still more important than the warlike expeditions was the trade and commercial relations opened up with the surrounding nations. With the rise of the dynasty of Agade we find trade with the whole of Western Asia commencing, and it continues to increase in the hands of the Semites until, by the time of the Arabian dynasty and the age of Khammurabi, the commercial law of Babylon was that of the whole Oriental world. Those traders spread the culture and civilization of Babylon, and the cuneiform writing also, until, by the fifteenth century before our era, the cuneiform writing had become the script of trade and diplomacy for all Western Asia and even parts of Asia Minor, as shown by the cuneiform tablets found at Tarsus and at Pterium, or Boghaz Keui, or the Halys. In time this gave place to the Phcenician and Asia Minor scripts, but the cuneiform writing continued in use to within a very few years of the Christian era. The recently published commentaries on the creation tablets* and the magicalf and astrological inscriptions in the British Museum show that cuneiform writing was used and understood as late as B.C. 84, while the university at Borsippa with the Jewish college there flourished until many years later. This preservation and expansion of Babylonian learning was entirely the work of the Semites ; but the majority of the works were founded on Sumerian originals. Whatever doubt there was of a Sumerian literature is now set at rest by the valuable series of purely Sumerian hymns recently purchased by * King’s Seven Tablets of Creation.” t Thompson, “ Devils and Evil Spirits of Babylonia.” F 66 THE FIRST OF EMPIRES the British Museum.* Until far more conclusive evidence is forthcoming to the contrary, we must still regard the ground-work of Babylonian civilization as of non-Semitic origin. THE LEGENDS OF CIVILIZATION. In addition to the evidence of the monuments, we must not neglect the valuable traditions of the beginnings of civilization which have come down to us. Of these, two especially are of special interest when compared with monumental evidence. The first is in the fragments of Chaldean origin which have been preserved by the Greek writers from the lost history compiled by the Greco- Chaldean writer, Berosus; the second source is the valuable legend of civilization preserved in the Hebrew writing (Gen. iv. and part of x.). Both these traditions are but echoes of the older Chaldean inscriptions pre- served on the tablets, but they are of interest as showing how rich a folk legend grew up on the subject. The traditions both place the dawn of civilization in that mythic age of gods and heroes prior to the deluge. The deluge forms a dividing-line between the mythic age and the beginnings of history, and to both Chaldean and Hebrew writers it was areal event: for in a list of royal names in the British Museum we record, “ These are the kings after the deluge (abubz), who according to their relative order wrote not.” And again, in another hymn to the * The Sumerian Hymns to Mullid, Nerunugal (Nergal), Mer (Adad), Enzu (Sin), Dumuzi (Tammuz), and other gods, published in “Select Inscriptions,” Pt. XV., prove most conclusively that Sumerian was a language, not a system of cryptograms, for many of the words are spelt out phonetically and vowel harmonics introduced. BABYLONIAN CIVILIZATION 67 holy river, we read,* “ The deluge they (the gods) sent not before thou wert.” The references to antediluvian times in the Hebrew writings are very few and obscure,f but the record of the development of civilization is a valuable and a remarkable document. The account of Berosus is as follows :— “A great multitude of men of various tribes inhabited Chaldea, but they lived without any order, like the animals. Then there appeared to them from the sea, on the shore of Babylonia, a fearful animal of the name of Oan. Its body was that of a fish, but under the fish’s head another head was attached, and on the fins were feet like those of a man, and it had a man’s voice. Its image is still preserved. The animal came at morning and passed the day with men ; but it took no nourishment, and at sunset went again into the sea, and remained there for the night. This animal taught men language and scietice, the harvesting of seeds and fruits, the rules for the boundaries of land, the mode of building cities and temples, arts and writing, and all that relates to the civilization of human life.” { The graphic description which the ancient Chaldean historian gives of this strange creature enables us to identify it clearly with the fish-headed god Ea, so often figured in the sculptures, and on gems and seals. Ea, whose sacred city was Eridu, the Eri-dugga of the Sumerians, was the oldest god in the Babylonian pantheon. The name of Eri-dugga (-=]] &.) means “the holy or sacred city,” and the name was borrowed by the Semites as Eridu. The ruins are marked by the mounds of * King, “Seven Tablets of Creation,” p. 129. t+ Only an Old Testament reference, and this in the Deutero- Isaiah, can be noted in Isaiah liv. 9, ‘‘ the waters of Noah.” t Berosus, “Fragments,” 1st ed. (Miiller). 68 THE FIRST OF EMPIRGS Abu-Sharain, about seven hours south-west of Mughier, the ancient Ur of the Chaldees. In remote times the waters of the Persian Gulf reached the walls, boats started from its quays. The city is described as being situated in the holy region of “the mouths of the rivers” (¢va pi nart), and the tradition is preserved in the modern name of the city, which means “the father of the two mouths.” The name of Ea, the patron god, is probably the origin of the Oan or Oannes of Berosus, though the exact reading of the characters (>] EN]! Jf. E-a) is not quite certain ; but as the name means “god of the house of water,’ and as Ea’s most important title was “lord of the deep,” the identification seems almost certain. The various elements of civiliza- tion which the mysterious fish-man taught the ancient inhabitants of Babylonia are all clearly represented in the epithets and titles applied to him ; or in the various divine children he was father of, or the emanations from himself. FIGURE OF FISH-HEADED aon. He is called “king of the deep,” “the wise god,” “he who knows all things,” “the lord of deep knowledge,” “the divine lord of laws;” and in the tablet of warnings to kings against injustice “the laws of Ea” are mentioned. We know both from the Sumerian and Semitic creation legends that he was a god of agriculture, ‘the bestower of BABYLONIAN CIVILIZATION 69 planting, founder of sowing, the creator of grains and vegetables, who causeth the green herb to spring up.” Although he is nowhere called the god of writing and letters, it was his son Nebo, “the scribe god,’ who was “the god of tablet writing and the lord of the stylus, the patron of the scribe cast.” Ea also appears as the god of the arts. In the inscription of Nabu-apal-iddina (B.c. 880), in the British Museum, we find Ea as the craftsman god, assisted by four other minor divinities. These are Nin- igi-nagar-gid, “the superintendent of the measures ;” Gushkinbanda, “the brilliant chief,” as lord of the metal- workers ; Nin Kurra, “lord of the mountain,” as chief of the stone-hewers ; and Nin Zadmin, “lord of the sculptor.” So it will be seen that almost every one of the elements of civilization attributed to Oannes finds its counterpart in the titles of Ea or his associates. The fish form assigned to this god is to be traced to the once maritime position of Eridu. Adapa, the fisherman, whose legend is found on the Tel-el-Amarna tablets, was a fisherman, and his adventures form a pretty mythic story. Adapa was the son of Ea, and therefore but a reflection of his father He is, moreover, called in one of the magical texts, Adapa, the ruler of Eridu.* The legend states that Adapa was fishing in the sea for his master Ea, when the south-west wind, the hot fever-laden wind from Arabia, swept him into the sea. The words of Adapa are given— “ Anu said to him, ‘Adapa, why hast thou broken the wings of the south wind?’ “Adapa answered and said to Anu, ‘My lord! For the house of my lord I was fishing in the midst of the sea. The waters lay still around me, when the south * Thompson, “Devils and Evil Spirits of Babylonia,” vol. i. pe be 70 THE FIRST OF EMPIRES wind began to blow, and forced me underneath. Into the dwelling of the fish it drove me. In the anger of my heart I broke the wings of the south wind.’” * The south-west wind is represented as a bird, or as a demon with wings and a head like a sun-perished skull. For his offence of breaking the wings of the wind, and preventing it from blowing for seven days, Adapa is summoned to heaven to the presence of Anu, to explain his conduct. Adapa, who is semi-mortal, being son or man of Ea, is told by his divine protector that if he goes to heaven he will be offered certain things which will render him like unto the gods{ and unable to return to earth. Ea said to Adapa, “When thou comest before Anu, they will offer thee the food of death (tz): do not eat it! They will offer the waters of death: do not drink. They will offer thee a garment: put it on! They will offer thee oil: anoint thyself! The order that I give thee, do not neglect. The word that I speak to thee, take to heart.” On his arrival in heaven he is met by two gods, who guard the gate of heaven—Tammuz and Giz-zida. The mention of these two gods as the guardians of heaven is important. Tammuz (--] = ~!J%*.), the son of life, was the god of fresh, verdant nature, and a tree-god, as the Lydian myth of Atys, borrowed from Babylonia, shows. Giz-zida (~] =] ~]/ = ]J.), the firm tree, or tree of life, and was especially the god who presided over the growth of trees. So these two tree-gods are the guardians of * Text in Winckler Thon-Tafelfund von El Amarna iii., 166a. Translations by Jastrow, “ Babylonian and Assyrian Religion,” pp. 554, 555 ; and King’s “ Assyrian for Beginners,” in parts, pp. 123, etc. + Perrot and Chipiez, “Chaldean and Assyrian Art,” vol. ii. p. 81. BABYLONIAN CIVILIZATION 71 the gate of heaven. But those two gods were especially connected with Eridu, and were no doubt represented by the two brick pillars which stood before the gate of the BLOCK OF PILLARS. city, the bases of which Mr. Taylor found during his casual explorations of Abu Sharien.* These resemble the * Journ. R.A.S., xv. pl. ii. 72 THE FIRST OF EMPIRES pillars found by De Sarzec before the shrine in the temple of Nin Sugir at Sirpurra. On his departure from earth to heaven, Ea had told his servant to wear a mourning dress, and so, when he arrives at the gates of heaven, the two guardian gods say to him, “Why art thou thus attired? For whom hast thou put on mourning ?” To this question he replies, “Two gods have dis- appeared from earth, therefore do I wear a mourning garment.” “Who art the two gods who have disappeared from earth?” Tammuz and Giz-zida looked at each other and broke into lamentation. This reference to the disappearance or death of the two gods of Eridu refers, of course, to the death of the two tree-gods of the spring under the storms of winter, then they disappear to return with the spring and summer, for the fourth and fifth months, Duzu and Ab (June to August), are dedicated to Tammuz and Nin Giz-zida. On the arrival of Adapa in heaven, he is offered the food and drink of /z7e by Anu, but refuses to take them, and so does not become immortal. It is important to notice that that which was the food of death to Ea is the food of life to Anu. Jastrow makes the very important suggestion that “the desire of the creator Ea to prevent his creature (Adapa) from gaining immortal life and becom- ing like unto the gods, is very much the same as we find in Genesis iii, when Yaveh, who creates man, takes precaution lest man eat of the tree of life, and “live for ever.” In this he is probably correct. The legend of Adapa confirms the Oannes tradition by making Ea the patron of fishermen, and also shows Eridu BABYLONIAN CIVILIZATION 73 to have been the centre of a tree-worshipping cultus, which is interesting when we study the Hebrew legend of civilization. One valuable confirmation of this idea is found in the line “Within it are Samas and Tammuz, but the god Giz-zida* was another form of Samag, and we have seen that these were the local tree-gods of Eridu. The sacred grove was common to almost all the religions of the old world, and the existence of such a grove in the mythology of Eridu is quite to be expected. The grove was situated in the holy land—the land of im- mortality of the Babylonians, the mystic region at the mouth of “the rivers” (¢va pi narz). Of the sanctity of this region we have ample proof in the Deluge tablet (Col. V.), where Samai-napi&ti (and his wife), the Chaldean Noah, are translated, where we read— “ Hitherto Samas-napisti has been mortal, But now Samaé-napi&ti and his wife Shall be gods like unto us.f Samas-napisti shall dwell in a far-distant place at the mouth of the rivers. They took me and placed me in a far-distant place at the mouth of the rivers.” The Hebrew legend of civilization, which we find in Genesis, iii., iv., is essentially the work of the Yahavist writer. He is, as Renan remarked, a decided pessimist. He alone it is who records the story of the Fall, the expulsion from Eden, the fratricide by Cain, and who treats the attempts of man to adapt himself to the changed circumstances as an exercise of free-will not pleasing to Yaveh. It is, moreover, to be noticed that * Jastrow, “Religion,” p. 51. t+ Compare the words in Gen. iii. 22, addressed to Adam and Eve. 74 THE FIRST OF EMPIRES the whole of the genealogy belongs to the descendants of Cain. The whole tradition of the Garden of Eden, with its trees of life and knowledge, is based on the Babylonian tree worship, especially associated with Eridu. The Yaveh of Hebrew tradition is an agricultural god, who plants his garden in Eden. The name Eden is the Sumerian Edina (=8*Y ><] --] =]yJs.. Lamga = Sin, the moon-god. But Lamga is again explained as equivalent to Na-ga-ar (Nagar, “the artisan”), a word of Sumerian origin, so that as Ea was the artisan, god of Eridu, so Sin held the same position in Ur. The two wives of Lamech are certainly lunar names—Adah, “the brightness,” and Zillah, “the shade.” Of the connection between moon-worship and pastoral life we have many proofs from the inscriptions. In a very beautiful hymn to Nannar, the moon-god of Ur, the pastoral Semitic is clearly maintained. The moon is called “the mighty bull (dur zkdu), great of horns, perfect of form, with long flowing beard, bright as crystal.” The moon-god is often represented on the seals—an old man with a long flowing beard. The hymn proceeds— “Tn heaven, who is exalted? Thou alone art exalted. On earth, who is exalted? Thou alone art exalted. Thy word is declared in heaven, and the spirits prostrate themselves. Thy word is declared on earth, and the spirits of earth kiss the ground. Thy word streams out on high like a storm-wind spreads abroad, and fertility is poured out.* Thy word is established on earth, and vegetation sprouts forth. Thy word spreads over stall and sheepfold, and life is increased.” The two personages born of Lamech and Adah are evidently eponymous heroes of the shepherd class—the one typical of the pastoral life, the other the patron of music, which has always been associated in ancient culture systems with the shepherd. Two small fragments of old-folk poems, which have been incorporated into the * A reference to the cool rain and night dews. G 82 THE FIRST OF EMPIRES Babylonian epic, may be quoted here as repeating again the rivalry between the shepherd and the agriculturalist. Gilgames is rebuking the goddess Istar for her cruel treatment of her lovers. After a reference to the death of Tammuz, the poem says *— “Thou didst love a shepherd of the flock, Who continually poured out for thee libations ; On each day he slaughtered kids for thee, But thou didst smite him and turn him into a leopard ; So that his own sheep-boy hunted him, And his hounds tore him to pieces.f * * * * * * * Thou didst love Isullanu, a gardener of thy father, Who continually brought thee sweet dishes, And each day adorned thy table for thee. Thou didst cast thy eye upon him, and turn his mind, saying, “O my gardener youth, let us enjoy thy strength, Put forth thy hand and take mine.’ But the gardener spake unto thee, saying, ‘What is this thou askest of me? (some lines obscure.) : When thou didst hear those words thou didst smite him and turn him into a dwarf.” These two fragments belong to the very oldest age of Babylonian literature, and were no doubt popular folk- legends, like the Song of Mama and other archaic poems, recently published by Mr. L. W. King.t In Babylonian mythology no god has as yet been identified as the special patron of music, but we know that music formed an important part of the temple service, and figured very prominently in the cult of Tammuz, “the youthful spring sun-god.” Among the sculptures found in Babylonia are two of special value as illustrating the Hebrew tradition of the invention of musical instruments. In the lower * Sixth book or tablet of the epic. t+ Here we have, perhaps, the original of the Greek fable of Acteon. { “Select Inscriptions,” Part XVI. Plates 1-9. BABYLONIAN CIVILIZATION 83 strata at Nippur there was discovered a terra-cotta plaque, on which a pastoral scene is represented—a shepherd playing a lute, while his dog is looking up, and no doubt accompanying his master with the usual canine howls. Beside the shepherd is a sheep. This is certainly the earliest representation of pastoral music.* The second ) STALE ee re a a ee | 7 Ti Ve <= SSE EEE SHEPHERD AND DOGS. sculpture, which belongs to a later age, but which is unfortunately unaccompanied by any inscription, was found at Tel-lo, the ancient Sirpurra, and represents a Babylonian orchestra. Here we have a clear illustration of the Hebrew story of Jubal’s invention of music. “Jubal was the father (originator) of all such as handle the harp and pipe” (Gen. iv. 21). In the upper tier we have men with cymbals and pipes, while others appear to be singers, who clap their hands in unison, as so often represented * Hilprecht, “ Explorations in Bible Lands,” p. 529. 84 THE’ FIRST OF EMPIRES in the Egyptian sculptures. The harp in the lower tier is of very primitive construction, and yet exhibits some MUSICAL INSTRUMENTS, c77ca B.C. 3000. attempt at adorn- ment. The front pillar appears to have rested on the back of two bulls, while, as in the early Egyp- tian harps, the strings, of which there are ten, are far back.) The harpist uses his hand, and not a plectrum, as do the Assyrian harpers. We now come to the most im- portant develop- ment of civiliza- tion—the work- ing of the metals. As Ihave already said, there was no age in Babylonia when two metals, silver and copper, were not worked. Long prior to the age of Sargon of Agade (B.c. 3800) the arts of cast- ing and working both of these metals were known, and, BABYLONIAN CIVILIZATION 85 from the artistic finish of such objects as the silver vase of Entemena, or the bronze lance from Sirpurra, had been long practised. The Hebrew tradition attributes the invention to Tubal-cain (»p-baim), or Tubal “the smith.” Here the Hebrew writer, or possibly some later FIGURES OF THE FIRE-GOD. editor, confused by the forms of Jubal and Jabal, has, I should say, written Jubal for Gibil, the name of the Babylonian fire-god, who bears the title of “the smith and lord of the metal-workers,” In all ancient religious systems the fire-god holds an important position. Fire was so essential to man in his 86 THE FIRST OF EMPIRES daily life, and so associated with his material and spiritual welfare, that it was naturally regarded as divine and heaven-born. Fire, as heaven-born, was represented by the lightning; and so we find the heaven-fire as the messenger of Anu. The lightning was called “the sword of heaven ; the sting of heaven.” The earth-fire was produced by the fire-stick, the Aryan Pramantha, the Greek Promethenos, The use of the fire-stick in Babylonia is clearly indicated by the ideograms used for fire—->] r]-1. (“cross wood”), or -arl, which is explained as “ kindling wood,” “re- volving wood;” and the ideograph in its archaic form (No. 42 in table) represents the lower fire-stick with the kindling wood beside it. The name Gibil, which in the Hebrew tradition is corrupted into Jubal, is represented by >) ar! -YaQ. (“god of the fire-reed”). Fortunately we possess some valuable statues of the fire-god, which most conclusively prove the use of the fire-stick. The position of the fire-god as the patron of metal- working is well illustrated by a hymn to this god in the British Museum— “The fire-god, the prince, who is mighty in the land ; The warrior, the son of the deep, who is mighty in the land. O fire-god, by thy holy flame thou makest light in the darkened house. Thou determinest the destiny of all living things ; Of copper and lead thou art the purifier, Of silver and gold thou art the benefactor.” The worship of the fire-god in Babylonia presents considerable resemblance to that of Agni in the Vedic hymns. He is lord of the sacrifice ; as by his sacred flame he purifies all things. As the bright, darting lightning, he is the messenger of the gods ; above all, he is the champion of light, and the all-powerful enemy of darkness, and of BABYLONIAN CIVILIZATION 87 the black gods and their priesthood of witches and sor- cerers. In the valuable series of tablets on witchcraft recently published by Dr. Talqvist, the fire-god is the most powerful agent in overcoming the spells of witch and wizard. And I may quote one very fine example— “O fire-god, great god, counsellor of the great gods, Guarding the sacrificial gifts of all the spirits of heaven ; Founder of cities, renewer of sanctuaries ; * Glorious light, whose command is supreme ; Messenger of Anu, carrying out the decrees of Bel ; Obedient to Bel, counsellor, exalted among the spirits of earth ; Mighty in battle, whose attack is powerful ; Without thee no sacrificial feast is spread in the temple.” Such is the result of the comparison of the Hebrew legend of civilization with the ancient records of Baby- lonia ; and to any candid critic it must appear impossible to not admit the indebtedness of the writer to Babylonian records. The names, many of them Sumerian, are those of Babylonian towns or divinities. There are passages, such as the curse of Yaveh upon the earth and other fragments, which seem almost quotations from Babylonian records; and the Babylonian tone is quite beyond dispute. The mention of iron, which was probably not known except in the form of meteoric iron until certainly B.C. 1500, indicates its late origin, but whatever conclusion may be arrived at, the whole account is so tinged with the mythic elements as to be wholly incompatible with a Mosaic origin. * A reference to the sacred hearth and ever-burning fire of the temple. CEAP TTR Sk EGYPT AND CHALDER HE very early connection, which is now proved by monumental evidence, between the old Sumerian kingdoms and the stone and copper producing peninsula of Sinai, naturally raises the question of a possible connection between the former and the earlier dynastic Egyptians. The astonishing discoveries made by M. de Morgan, Professor Petrie, M. Amelineau, and others, in the Nile valley during recent years, have thrown an entirely new light upon the beginning of Egyptian civilization. But a few years ago the starting-point of Egyptian history was marked by the pyramid of Medum, the burial-place of Senefru, the first king of the Fourth Egyptian Dynasty (B.C. 3700). Now, not only are the names and the me- morials of the principal Pharaohs of the three preceding dynasties restored to us, but the archeologist has carried his campaign far back into the dim, dreary veldt of the prehistoric age, and the story of Nile-land has undergone a retrospective enlargement beyond all former expecta- tions. Where the history recorded in picture hieroglyphs ends, there begins the silent story gathered from the lone cemeteries on the fringe of the Lybian hills, where many thousand years ago the aborigines of the Nile valley laid 83 EGYPT AND CHALDEA 89 their dead to rest in shallow graves, veritable last resting- places. The fine example of these prehistoric burials in the first mummy-room of the British Museum, accompanied by no writing, yet tells a strangely interesting story. The crouching figure, with its drawn-up knees and arms, in the attitude of sleep, shows that there was even then in the minds of these first Egyptians a belief in an awakening ; PYRAMID OF MEDUM. the pots and cups, once filled with food, the flint weapons, the slate talismanic figures, found in the graves at Ballas, Nagada, and other prehistoric cemeteries, indicate a belief in a “larger hope,” if not in a resurrection, at least in a great hereafter, of which life was but the antechamber. The prehistoric civilization of Egypt is better illustrated by specimens of pottery, weapons, artistic ornaments, than that of almost any other race. Thousands of graves have been opened, and their rere) THE FIRST OF EMPIRES treasures collected for our enlightenment. This is not the place to deal with the ethnology of this race, but all views are most fairly set forth by Dr. E. A. W. Budge in the first volume of his “ History of Egypt.” It will be sufficient to say that they were a fair-skinned race, with brown or reddish hair, and of medium height. In some departments of their artistic work they have never been surpassed by any other people of the neolithic age, to which period we must assign their civilization. No people ever executed finer work in the making and finishing of their flint knives and weapons. FLINT KNIVES AND WEAPONS The flint bangles and armlets show a wonderful skill in the manipulation of so difficult a material as flint,* while the curious slate figures of animals, birds, etc., show a strong graphic instinct and accurate modelling of animal forms. The representations of the human form are very crude, more so than any found in Chaldean art, but a late prehistoric ivory, representing a woman and child, has considerable merit. It is in their pottery that these pre- historic inhabitants of the Nile valley display an astonish- ing degree of skill, and a good appreciation of beauty of form and outline. The earliest ware is red, with a black glazed band round the mouth of the jar, this being produced by placing the mouth of the pot downwards in the kiln, and heaping the ashes over the part burnt black. The pottery is all hand made, and the fine col- lection of this ware in the Annex of the Egyptian * For an interesting series of specimens illustrating the making of an armlet, see British Museum Guide to Antiquities of the Stone Age, Plo Ve FLINT TOOLS FROM EGYPT. 92 THE FIRST OF EMPIRES Department of the British Museum shows many beautiful examples. There is one vase in this collection (No. 30981) of which I give a drawing, as it certainly enables us to solve the interesting problem of the way in which man learned to make pottery. It is a small yellow-grey clay vase, not too well baked. The outer portion is very rudely etched with a pattern of crossed lines resembling basket- work. It has all the appearance of having been covered with straw or grass basket-work when wet, and which has left an irregular series of marks upon it. It has, in fact, just such an appearance as the clay lining of a thrush’s nest presents when the nest is removed and the clay retained. Here, then, we see the interesting sequence which led to the making of pottery, and the use of the basket-pattern decoration in the earliest forms, with its conventional variations in later stages of artistic decora- tion. It is as follows :— Man learned the art of basket-making from a bird’s- nest; the clay-lined bird’s-nest suggested the water-tight, clay-lined basket; cooking destroyed the outer part, leaving a baked pot, decorated with a basket pattern ; hence the use of this early form of ornament. The sequence is here illustrated. OS oe y BIRD’S-NEST BASKET AND BASKET POT. There was a large vase found in the lowest strata at Nippur, the pre-Sargonide deposits, and therefore at least EGYPT AND CHALDEA 93 as old as B.C. 4500, which shows this same basket origin, with the rope-like strengtheners. Notwithstanding their skill in the working of flint and the making of pottery, there were many elements of civilization which they had not acquired. They had no know- ledge of the art of writing, or the working of metals ; the few fragments of copper wire, etc., found in some of the late neo- lithic tombs at Ballas and Na- gada being probably driftings VASE FROM NIPPUR. from outside. Their houses were probably of wood, or reed shelters, and they certainly had no knowledge of the art of brick construction. Another important point is the fact that they do not appear, according to M. de Morgan, to have cultivated cereals, their food being chiefly fish and animals taken or killed in hunting. They dressed in the skins of animals killed in the chase, and the art of weaving appears to have been unknown. The fringed dresses figured in Budge’s “History of Egypt” (vol. i. p. 145) were probably tabs or tails of skin sewn on. The paintings in a tomb found at Hieraconpolis may belong to the very earliest dynastic age, and these show animals being caught in traps, while harpoons of bone and flint were used for catching fish. With the rise of the dynastic period, that is, the age represented by the tombs at Abydos, the great tomb at Nagada, and the art remains, slate tablets, etc., from Hiera- conpolis, we find the most astonishing development in the civilization of the Nile valley. Among the most important changes we notice the following :— 94 THE FIRST OF EMPIRES (1) The art of writing. (2) The making of bricks and the construction of tombs evidently modelled on domestic houses. (3) Extensive use of clay for jar sealings and other purposes. (4) The use of the cylinder seal. (5) The use of copper, and the presence of gold and copper as well as precious stones. (6) The employment of stone for building and paving, which had been quarried and worked. (7) The use of staircases to enter tombs. (8) The style of architecture non-Egyptian, such as crenelated walls and buttresses. ; (9) The use of funeral stele to mark the tomb area. (10) Cultivation of cereals and other plants. (11) Burial of food, furniture, and probable immolation of servants with burial. (12) Worship of an anthropomorphic god, Osiris ; and a definite pantheon. (13) Grouping of tombs round the central tomb, or temple tomb, of the god. The majority of these new elements are of such a nature as to prevent our looking upon them as natural developments which grew up in the Nile valley. The writing, even of the earliest inscriptions, shows clear in- dications of having been long in use; the employment of phonetics and determinations clearly show the purely pictorial forms of the archaic cuneiform as shown in the Table (p. 57), and the Egyptian hieroglyphics ; but it is impossible to agree with Professor Hommel in regarding the Egyptian as derived from Babylonia. Pictorial systems of writing usually reflect the environment of the people using them, and in this respect there is a vast difference EGYPT AND CHALDEA 95 between the two systems. To take only a few examples. The Babylonian sign for water (])) represents raindrops ; the Egyptian, won (the sea waves). The Babylonian sign for heaven, s% (a star); the Egyptian, — > (the cover- ing vault of heaven). The Babylonian land sign, +“ (a mountain) ; the Egyptian, —— (the flat surface of the Nile valley). The Babylonian sign for god, “a star ;” the Egyptian, “an axe;” and many others might be quoted. If there is any relation between the two systems, it must be traced to some parent system far back in antiquity, and of such a system we know nothing. All authorities are agreed that the dynastic Egyptians, whether they consisted of one or more immigrations, came from the east. Tradition points to the land of Punt, that is, the Somali coast, and probably the opposite shores of the Red Sea, as the source of one band of colonists. These we may identify with colonists who entered the Nile valley by the Keneh Kossair road through the Wady Hammanat, and whose earliest remains were found at Koptos. They bring with them the worship of the ithy- phaltic god Amsu-Min, whose fetish-pole, decorated with ostrich feathers, Red Sea shells, and swordfish, was found upon the archaic figures discovered by Professor Petrie. We have no real knowledge of the civilization of these immigrants, and certainly many elements in the preceding table cannot be assigned to them. It is of no use to look to the Lybian side for any important influence; we must therefore look elsewhere. The most important help is afforded us by the brick- work and the extensive use of clay. The art of brick- making could never have originated in the Nile valley, for Nile mud, although it will make bricks, is by no means a first-class material. Again, the construction of tombs, 96 THE FIRST OF EMPIRES such as those of Zer, Mer-neit, shows that the people who constructed them had long been in the habit of erecting brick buildings. The brick-builders of the ancient world par excellence were the Babylonians, and it is to them that we must turn ROYAL TOMB OF NAGADA. to see if any similarity can be found between the work at Abydos and that of the most ancient edifices of Chaldea. In the first place, as to the bricks themselves, there is an important point to be noticed. We are so familiar with the large square tile-brick of the post-Sargon times in Babylonia, that we are not inclined to think of any others. The excavations at Nippur have revealed an interesting series of evolutionary stages in the brick- making of Babylonia. _ On this point I may quote the EGYPT AND CHALDEA 97 words of Professor Hilprecht: “In the earliest Sumerian stratum we recognize six phases of historical development by means of the different kinds of bricks employed. The first is characterized by an entire absence of baked bricks, and the exclusive use of adobes. The earliest bricks are very small, flat on the lower surface, and strongly rounded on the upper side, with generally also a thumb-mark. They look more like rubble or quarry stones, in imitation TOMB OF MER NEIT. BUILDING OF UR NINA. of which they were made (Gen. xi. 3), than the artificial products of man.” * Professor Hilprecht has given the sizes of these small pre-Sargonide bricks, and their dimensions are 8} x 523 x 21,10} X 7 X 23; while Professor Petrie gives the dimen- sions of the Abydos bricks as 89 x 4°5 X 3 and 9°6 x 4'9 X 3 the average. Thus we see an almost complete agreement in the style of brick employed. Now as to the earlier tombs. They are large square buildings, accessible only from the top, exactly resembling the great brick edifices of the age of Ur Nina at Tello in Sirpurra, and where the construction of these edifices is compared, resemblances are most striking. * « Texplorations in Bible Lands,” p. 542. H 98 THE FIRST OF EMPIRES These Chaldean buildings, of which examples were found at Tello or Nippur, were chiefly used as record chambers and treasuries, and were entered only through the roof by a species of manhole.* In the treasury of Ur Nina, discovered by De Sarzec at Tello, as shown above, there was a curious passage running round the inner wall, as in the tomb of Per-ab-sen at Abydos (Petrie, “ Royal Tombs," il ips Indeed, although there was a difference in the purpose of the Chal- dean and Egyptian buildings, one cannot help being struck by the very marked simi- STAIRCASE IN TOMB OF DEN. larity of design. Next, we must notice a decided affinity in the style of architecture in the extensive use of buttresses and recess panels, as in the great tomb supposed to be that of Mena, found by M. de Morgan at Nagada, and which might, in general plan, be taken to be a Chaldean building.t * Hilprecht, ‘‘ Explorations in Bible Lands,” pp. 390-92. + The double walls were of special importance. They excluded the heat of summer and winter humidity, and thus kept the stores dry, while both in Egypt and Chaldea they protected the buildings from being broken into from outside. t See illustration, p. 96. EGYPT AND CHALDEA 99 This also is to be seen in the enormous recesses in the tombs of Zet at Abydos.* The use of the staircase was known very early in Chaldea, and in the building of Ur Nina at Tello, which we cannot reasonably place later than B.C. 4500, and possibly earlier, we have a good example which we may compare with that in the tomb of Den. There was a very complete staircase discovered by Mr. Taylor at Eridu. STAIRCASE AT ERIDU. The new-comers not only exhibited in their extensive use of brick-work a knowledge of the value of clay, which could hardly have been acquired in the Nile valley, but they used clay very extensively for other purposes, especially for closing and stopping the large jars con- taining funeral offerings, and the peculiar conical shape of the large stoppings calls to mind the clay cones of Babylonia. The cylindrical seal was undoubtedly a Chaldean invention, and was in use certainly as early as B.C. 3800, as we have many seals of the period, including that of * Petrie, ‘ Royal Tombs,” Part I. p. 63 100 THE FIRST OF EMPIRES Ibni Sarru, his librarian. Of the use of the seal at this period, a most interesting proof is afforded by the dis- covery of a number of pieces of clay impressed with seals at Tello; these have been published by M. Thureau Dangin,* and the following are the best examples. These seals are by no means primitive in workmanship, and therefore presuppose a long use of this important object. SEALS B.C. 3800. +t The seal found in the tomb of Zer shows a distinct resemblance to the Babylonian examples of the oldest type, and seems to be another connecting-link between these two ancient civilizations. With the cylinder seal came the brick stamp, which was in use in Babylonia at a very early period, those of Sargon and Naram Sin (B.C. 3800) having been found at Nippur. * Thureau Dangin, ‘‘Tablettes Chaldéenes Inédites,” Pt. VII.- VIII. + As these seals bear sculptured representations of the heroic deeds of Gilgames and his companion Ea-bani, as recorded in the Chaldean epic, it is evident that that poem was as old as the age of Sargon I. ‘LdADa ‘ALSVNAC LSI ‘VM 10 STVAS AVTO Cape ae SS PEER SIN ON Se ATL PSR 202 wPilar> — Fe Rape a : Na ad ns Saat aia . > EGYPT AND CHALDEA 103 Another innovation, which we may attribute to foreign, and possibly Chaldean, influence, was the funeral stele. The Babylonians looked upon the stele as one of the most sacred objects, as protecting the rights of both the dead and the living to the land or the grave. Ina curious funeral text in the British Museum,* with which I shall deal more fully anon, the King says, “ The grave- stone which marked his resting-place, with mighty bronze I sealed to its entrance.” The setting up of these steles, as marking boundaries and commemorating events, was one of the Babylonian customs. On the very archaic inscribed cones of Ente- mena, Viceroy of Sirpurra, about B.C. 4500, we have mention of steles set up to mark the frontiers of the civic kingdom.t The Babylonian steles were of two kinds, the mai] ~<] SS J}. (aban narua, or “worked stones”), similar to the limestone stele at Abydos, or the stele of Mer Neit, and the boulder, or rough stone, only sufficiently shaped to receive the inscription. These were called JE =x] Y7. (kudurrz), or “ boundary stones,” no doubt the survival of the “ boulder stone” once set up to mark private property, like the Hebrew stone of witness. The stele of Per-ab-Sen found at Abydos bears a close resemblance to this class of stele. It is here placed side by side with a Babylonian example. It is evident that the persons who carved and shaped EARLY BABYLONIAN SEAL. = Seep. Pili. f See p. 125. 104 THE FIRST OF EMPIRES these steles had had considerable experience in the art of working stone, of which the prehistoric Egyptians had no acquaintance whatever. Such work must have required metal tools, and these, both practical and in miniature, STELE OF PER-AB-SEN (ABYDOS). BOUNDARY STONE OF METI-SIKHU (B.C. 1300). as funeral deposits, were found in large numbers at Abydos.* This custom of the placing of models of * Petrie, “ Royal Tombs,” II. p. 28. EGYPT AND CHALDEA 105 implements in use on earth in the tombs of the dead was also current in Chaldea, for Mr. Taylor found in the ruins of Abu Sharain, the ancient Eridu, small clay models of hoes, sickles, nails, and other tools, which had, no doubt, been deposited with the dead.* The nearest copper-producing region to Egypt was the peninsula of Sinai, and here, from remotest ages, men had quarried for hard stone and copper, and also for the much-prized turquoise, the mafka of the Egyptians, the samu, or “blue stone,” of the Babylonians. To this region Ur Nina had sent for hard stone, and for hard woods, and until late the region was well wooded with acacia and other trees, these having been destroyed for making charcoal.f These expeditions would be about B.C. 4500, most probably earlier, so that Egypt and Sinai would then meet in these regions. Some seven centuries later Naram Sin conquered the land of Maganna, while about B.C. 2800 Gudea was obtaining porphyry, diorite, and other hard stones from this region for making his statues. Perhaps we may see a distinct conflict between the two most ancient kingdoms, when Senefru (B.C. 3700) drove out the foreigners from Sinai and _ regained possession of the mines. In his inscription he states that he drove out these foreigners (the Annu) and took possession of the mines. That the builders of the tombs at Abydos had considerable knowledge of the art of quarrying hard stone is shown by the granite paving in the tomb of Den Setui, the fourth king of the First Dynasty at Abydos,t and the stone * Taylor, J. R. A. S., vol. xv. (1855), p. 415, e¢ seg. + Harper, ‘‘ Bible Lands,” p. 457. ft Petrie, ‘“‘ Royal Tombs,” II. p. 9. 106 THE FIRST OF EMPIRES inner chamber of the tomb of Zer. In the tomb of Zer, whom we may identify, according to Professor Petrie, with Teta, the second king of the First Dynasty, we have some valuable evidence as to this early quarry-work. He says, “The blocks of stone are all fresh quarried, being soft, and dragging under the tool when dressed. The natural cleavages are used as far as possible, and often half a face will be a cleavage, and the rest hammer- dressed. All the adze-dressed faces were entirely dressed. The adze had a short handle, as seen by the radius of the curvature of the cuts; and the cutting-edge was of flint, not copper, as seen by examining the marks of dressing with a magnifier.”* Here, then, we have an interesting example of the stone and metal ages, for the stone could hardly be quarried with flint tools, but was dressed with them. But this overlapping of the stone and bronze ages in Egypt is often seen until much later times. Ina quarry of the time of Teta of the Sixth Dynasty, which I visited in 1893, both bronze chisels and stone hammers for dressing were found. There is another but later feature in Egyptian arche- ology which we may probably trace to the influence of this Sinaitic mining population. The inhabitants of that region were divided into two classes: the Annu a nN or “stone cutters,” and the Mentiu hf tp. or “cave dwellers ”—the “troglodytes.” Just as the brick-built and chambered tomb presupposes a people dwelling in brick- built houses, so the rock-cut tomb indicates a cave-dwelling population, and it is difficult to see where else than Sinai we are to look for these. So the evidence of a connection * Petrie, ‘‘ Royal Tombs,” II. p. 13. BOYER MAND CHALDEA 107 between Sinai and the early dynastic builders at Abydos seems established ; and if this connection existed, it also implies a contact with the oldest civilization of Chaldea— certainly from B.C. 4500 to B.C. 3800. I now come to the most important new feature—the introduction of wheat and other cereals. As M. de Morgan has shown, wheat was not found in the pre- dynastic tombs of Egypt, nor is it indigenous to that land, but was introduced into the Nile valley from the east. The botanical researches of De Candole,* Dr. Schweinfurt, and others, have shown that the indigenous home of wheat was on the western slopes of the Persian Apennines, and the discovery of the harvest settlements in the lower strata at Susa, with the heaps of sickle- teeth, would show that cereals were cultivated here prior to their introduction into Babylonia. There is no trace of cereals in deposits of the prehistoric graves, though some of the later graves, which perhaps overlapped the dynastic age, at Ballas and Nagada, contain sickle-teeth and corn-rubbers. The Egyptian corn-god was Nepera (a Ri ©), a name which has a foreign sound, and which seems to me to be derived from the Babylonian eburu (“in-gathering, produce of the field, harvest”). As we have seen, in Babylonia the growing of corn was associated with Asari, that is, Ea, and later Merodach; and so in Egypt we find it associated with Osiris, from whose body wheat is represented growing.| The oldest divinity of corn in Babylonia was the goddess Wissaba (--] EEtxay ), whose name is a compound ideogram, meaning “corn- gathering,” and which is explained in the Semitic by Serakh (“the harvest goddess ”). This goddess we find * Candole, “ The Origin of Cultivated Plants.” { Lanzoni, “ Mythological Dict.,” pl. 46. 108 THE FIRST OF EMPIRES invoked by the earliest Babylonian rulers. Another introduction of the harvest-god by the immigrants from Western Asia would be most natural. With the advent of the dynastic Egyptians we have a very considerable change in the funereal customs. Here DEMON OF SOUTH-WEST WIND. we see again a very close similarity to the Babylonian methods. Much light has been thrown upon Babylonian eschatology recently, especially by the publication by Mr. Thompson, of the British Museum, of the Babylonian EGYPT AND CHALDEA 109 tablets on Demonology and Magic.* These valuable inscriptions belong to a very early age, and were copied and translated by the Semitic scribes. The soul, accord- ing to the Babylonians, was called ekimmu (EV¥ XY =8.), “that which is snatched away,” and which in all its essential features resembles the Egyptian ka =) or double. Closely associated with the ekimmu was the wtiuk (=I [.), which seems to have been a transparent form, or double, of the dead. In the magical tablets the uttuwk is said to come forth from the grave like “a wind-gust,” an idea which seems to me to be derived from the “ dust- clouds,” or “whirling pillars of dust,” like water-spouts which often float over the deserts and cemeteries in the East. Like the Egyptian fa, the ekimmu lived on the funeral offerings which were placed in the tombs. If these were not supplied, the restless spirit wandered forth in search of food, or was compelled to subsist on the garbage of the streets. These starving spirits were a great terror to the living, and much of the magical literature consists of exorcisms against them. We read, for example— “The gods who seize upon man Have come forth from the grave. The evil wind-gusts Have come forth from the grave. To demand the payment of rites and pouring out of libations They have come forth from the grave. All that is evil, in their host like a whirlwind has come forth.’ The state of the unburied one, or one whose funeral offerings were not maintained, is well described in the Chaldean epic (tab. xii.)— * Thompson, “ Babylonian Devils and Evil Spirits,” p. xxix. e¢ seg. I1O THE FIRST OF EMPIRES “The man whose corpse lieth in the desert, Thou and I have often seen such a one ; His spirit resteth not on earth. The man whose spirit hath none to care for it, Thou and I have often seen such a one. The dregs of the cup, the leavings of the feast, And that which is cast into the street, are his food.” In the tablet of the descent of Istar into Hades the same state of the neglected dead is referred to. Where Allat or Eris-Kigal, “the bride of the pit,” the wife of Nergal, the god of death, threatens to punish one, saying— “T will curse thee with a terrible curse. Food from the gutters of the city shall be thy nourishment. The sewers of the city shall supply thy drink. The shadow of the wall shall be thy seat. Exile and banishment shall crush thy strength.” The most dreaded punishment to be inflicted on a man was to lie unburied on the field. In the curses which form the epilogue of the code of Khammurabi, we read, “May Istar create trouble and rebellion for him, strike down his warriors, so that the earth drinks their blood, and heaps of the corpses of his army may she heap (upon the field) ; may his soldiers never have graves.” The fate of those that had no funeral rites is again given in a magical text— “Whether thou art the ghost of one unburied, Or a ghost that none provideth for, Or a ghost that none pour libations for it, Or a ghost that has no posterity.” * Here we have an exact agreement with the custom of ancient Egypt, and the necessity for funereal offerings, and for pure and good things for the deceased in the grave. * That had no relations to provide the funeral offerings. EGYPT AND CHALDEA III This dread of impure food is constantly repeated in the Book of the Dead and in the funeral inscriptions. For example, we have a chapter (LII.) called ‘‘the chapter of not eating filth in the underworld,’ where we read, “That which is an abomination unto me let me not eat.” Again, “ Let me not eat filth, let me not drink foul water. I eat of that which the gods eat, I live upon that which they live upon, I eat of the cakes which are in the hall of the lord of sepulchral offerings.” Or take the beautiful prayer in the funeral stele in the possession of Lady Meux— so TAB TULB RA TU blesc ee Nts toto ee ry “May they give funeral offerings of bread, beer, oxen and fowl, incense, cool water, wax and linen bandages, all pure and pleasant things, that heaven gives or earth produces, or the Nile brings forth from his storehouse, the sweet north wind to the soul of the deceased.” The funeral customs of Babylonia, like those of Egypt, were stereotyped at an early period, and changed but little. Among the inscriptions in the British Museum is a very interesting tablet which describes the funeral of an Assyrian king, possibly, I think, Esarhaddon. It reads— “Within the grave, the secret place, in kingly oil I laid him. The gravestone which marked his resting- place with mighty bronze I fastened its entrance. I protected it with an incantation ; vessels of silver and gold 112 THE FIRST OF EMPIRGS such as my father loved, all the furniture that befitted the grave, the due right of his sovereignty, I displayed before the sun-god. And beside the father who begat me I set them on the grave. Gifts unto the princes, unto the spirits of earth, and to the gods who inhabit the grave, I presented.” * Here we have all the essential features of the Egyptian royal burial—the placing the body in oil, some form of embalmment, the erection of the funeral stele, and the lavish gifts of funeral furniture and offerings to the gods of Amenti. The displaying of the treasures to the sun-god, who, like the Egyptian Ra, was the god of the resurrection, was a species of consecration. As yet we have not found any trace of an Assyrian royal tomb or of a Babylonian one of a king of either the Middle or Late Empire; but that the burial customs very closely resembled those of Egypt there seems very little doubt. A great light has been thrown upon ancient burial customs of the Babylonians by the explorations at Nippur, so splendidly carried out by the American expedition under Dr. Hilprecht, and by the German expedition under Dr. Koldoweh at El Hibba. The burials were of two kinds, “body graves” and “ash burials,” but in both cases fire was employed, though in later times it was only pontial or symbolical. The process seems to have been as follows :— The selected spot was first levelled, and remains of any previous cremations removed. The body was then wrapped in reed mats, laid on the ground, and covered over with rudely formed bricks or a layer of soft clay. The latter was quite thin in the upper parts, but thicker * King’s “ Babylonian Religion,” p. 48. BGY PE, AND (CHALDEA: 113 near the ground, so that as little resistance as possible was offered to the heat attacking the body from above, while at the same time the covering retained the solidity necessary to prevent too early a collapse under the weight of fuel heaped upon it. Weapons, utensils, cylinder seats, food and drink, and similar objects, were deposited at various times in the tomb. In many cases the ashes were merely collected in a heap and covered with a kettle- formed vessel. These resemble the heap burials at Hu and El Amrah in Egypt. Burials of this kind are called “ ash graves,” and are the more common and more ancient at Serghul and El Hibba. The urns of common people were deposited anywhere in the mound, while rich families had special houses erected for them. In the pre-Sargonide necropolis found by Hilprecht at Nippur most interesting discoveries were made. The explorer says, “I gathered sufficient evidence to show that all these ashbeds, occurring in a stratum twenty-five to thirty feet deep, on all four sides of the ziggurat (stage-tower), are to be regarded as places where human bodies had been cremated. The thousands of urns discovered above and below them, and as a rule badly crushed, but in some cases well preserved, are funeral vases in which ashes and bones left after the cremation, together with objects once dear to* the person, together with food and drink, were placed and buried. The fragments of walls and rooms repeatedly met with in this lower strata, and always containing whole or broken urns, are the remains of tombs or funeral chambers.” + A curious feature of these ancient necropoli was the * A curious parallel with Egypt was found by Taylor at Eridu, in the burial of clay models of tools, axes, sickles, mattocks, etc., in the tombs. + Hilprecht, “ Explorations in Bible Lands,” p. 456 e¢ seg. I 114 THE FIRST OF EMPIRES discovery of drains communicating with tombs and wells in the cemetery to supply the deceased with the much- desired “ pure water.” More important than the discovery of these towns of the dead was their arrangement. It was noticed at El Hibba and Serghul by Dr. Koldoweh, and by Dr. Hilprecht at Nippur and other sites of the pre- Sargonide age, that the centre of the necropolis was always marked by a ziggurat, or stage-tower. This raises J a - 1 er eee fe i pe Ce PRIESTS SSS CHALDEAN TOMB FROM MUGHIER (UR). the important question, was the stage-tower really a tomb of great importance—either that of a god or a divine king? If so, then we have a most striking parallel to the arrangement of the Egyptian necropolis grouped round the tomb of the king or god. At Sakkara, round the stepped pyramid; at Medum, round the tomb of Senefru ; at Abydos, round the reputed tomb of Osiris. Strabo (16, 5) speaks of the great stage-tower of Babylon —the ziggurat of E. Sagil, the temple of Bel Marduk— as “the sepulchre of Bel.” So in like manner Diodorus PGYEE AND CHALDEA 115 informs us that Semiramis built a tower in Nineveh, as a tomb of her husband Ninos. Among the inscriptions found at Nippur was one recording the restoration of the great stage-tower by Assurbanipal, which is translated by Dr. Hilprecht.* “E gingu (the house of the tomb), the stage-tower of Nippur, the foundations of which are placed on the breast of the ocean, the walls of which had grown old and fallen with decay, I built that house with baked bricks and bitumen, and completed its construction.” Here, then, the stage-tower at Nippur is called “the tomb ;” and therefore the tomb of Mullil, or Bel. Ina curious magical inscription recently published by Mr. Thompson f this is also shown, where we read, “ The evil spirits from the tomb have come forth, from the house of Bel have they come forth.” We know of other stage- towers that were also tombs. Gudea (B.C. 2800) speaks of the tomb-chamber of cedar he made for Nin Sugir in his temple of Lagash, or Sirpurra. From the code of Khammurabit we know that the stage-tower of Ai in Sippara was a tomb, for the king says, “ (I am he) who clothed with verdure the tomb of the goddess Ai (the bride) in Sippara ;” while Nabonidus speaks of the stage- tower of the temple of the sun-god of Larsa as “his noble tomb.” § It is evident that, like the pyramids of Egypt, the stage-tower, which formed the nucleus of the Babylonian temple, was regarded as the tomb of the god. * The question of the stage-tower tombs is very fully discussed by Dr. Hilprecht in “ Explorations in Bible Lands,” pp. 456-469. I only use such portions as relate to comparison with Egypt. t “Select Babylonian Inscriptions,” Pt. XVII. pl. 25, ll. 1, 2. $~ Code, Col. II., Il. 26-28. § P.S.B.A., 1889, p. 42. 116 THE FIRST OF EMPURiS The resemblance between the stepped pyramid at Sakkara and the Babylonian stage-towers is so striking that the connection between the two seems undoubted when we consider the arrangement of the necropoli in the two lands. It must be remembered, too, that this belief was current in the very oldest days of Chaldean civilization, and with some the belief in a tomb of Osiris at Abydos was a standard doctrine of the Egyptian religion, and is FUNERAL COUCH, referred to constantly in the Book of the Dead and other religious texts. In the pyramid texts of the sixth dynasty (B.C. 3200) we have Abydos spoken of as the “place where Osiris” was interred, and it was the desire of all pious Egyptians to rest near the tomb of Osiris, if only for a time. Probably at a very early period there had been a special tomb dedicated to the god, then afterwards represented by the temple. At the time of the eighteenth dynasty (B.C. 1600) the traditional tomb seems to have been lost, and so the tomb of King Zer was transformed into the resting-place of Osiris, and in this M. Amélineau EGYPT AND CHALDEA 117 found the remains of a stone bed or couch on which the body of Osiris was represented. This couch of Osiris is constantly represented on the monuments and papyri. Usually we find the god lying on the couch, or rising from it with renewed life, while Isis and Nephthys stand at the head and foot. We cannot help comparing this scene with the funeral couch represented in the Babylonian funeral tablet referred to above, of which an enlarged drawing is given here. Here we see that Isis and Nephthys are replaced by two figures of Ea, or priests of that god, who are in the act of raising the dead to life. Herodotus, describing the shrine of the tomb-tower of Bel Marduk in Babylon, says, “On the highest tower is a large temple, and in the temple a large and beautifully prepared bed, and beside it a golden table. There is no image there, nor does any one watch there through the night, except a woman of the country, whom, as the Chaldean priests say, their god has chosen out of all the land.” Here the father of history is quite correct, for Assurbanipal speaks of the gold and jewelled couch he made for Marduk, while the chosen bride of Marduk was, no doubt, the wife of the god or sister of the god spoken of in the code of Khammurabi (sect. 182). Sufficient has now been said to show the marked resemblance between the early civilization of the Nile and Tigro-Euphrates valley, and to suggest that those important changes which mark the rise of dynastic Egypt are to be attributed to intercourse with the older culture of Chaldea. CHAPTER IV THE CITY KINGDOMS “ And Cush begat Nimrod : he began to be a mighty one upon the earth. He was a mighty hunter before the Lord : wherefore it is said, Like Nimrod a mighty hunter before the Lord. And the beginning of his kingdom was Babel, and Erech, and Akkad, and Calneh, in the land of Shinar.”—GEN. x. 8-Io. the early days of the Babylonian empire, for although we have a large number of inscribed records extend- ing back to nearly five thousand years before the Christian era, and which contain brief historical statements chiefly relating to local wars and border raids, it is not until the rise of the first Semitic dynasty under Sargon of Agade, probably Akkad, that we begin to get any material of a really historical character. The discoveries made by the American expedition at Nippur, and by M. de Morgan at Susa, have shown that the records of this period, long regarded as mythical, have a real historic basis and value. It is now clearly proved that those energetic Semitic rulers Sargon I. and his son Naram-Sin spread the power of the First of Empires over the greater part of Western Asia. Although, at present, it is not possible to construct a complete history of the early dynasties of the Babylonian empire, there are inscriptions accessible which enable us to trace the main features of its growth and development 118 | T is not intended in this chapter to write a history of THE CITY KINGDOMS 119 until the final consolidation under the first dynasty of Babylon, B.C. 2300. The valuable passage at the head of this chapter is like that which I have dealt with in the legend of civiliza- tion, one which has been written by a writer who was acquainted with the main features of Babylonian civiliza- tion and history, for it contains a curious retrospective synopsis of the chief epochs in Babylonian history. Taking the latter portion of the quotation, we find that the Hebrew chronicler has given four distinct periods in the history of the kingdom, each represented by a city, which was then capital of the period. His sequence is Babel, Erech, Akkad, and Calneh, a similar arrangement to that we have noticed in his account of the Assyrian kingdom ; and his arrangement is retrospective from the times of the first Babylonian dynasty— 1. Babel See a ROMEO, ZEOO), 2. Erech eae er 5 Bi Cy 3000-2300: Baeikkad, or Agade ... 5» B.C. 3800-3500. AaCalnen or Nippur 7... » B.C. 4500-3800. This interesting sequence is not all, for there is a valuable record of the very earliest days of the empire also. The genealogy of Nimrod, which has long been a puzzle, seems at last to admit of a definite solution. The discoveries at Nippur show that the earliest seats of rule in Babylonia were Sirpurra (Tello), under a very short dynasty of kings, of whom the most important were Urnina and Urkagina; and the city of Kis ((x< <5), under a dynasty of powerful and warlike rulers. The power of this city, as I have already stated, lasted until the confederation of the various city kingdoms under the 120 THE FIRST OF EMPIRES first Babylonian dynasty. The very earliest inscriptions of Babylonia, probably about B.C. 5000, are those found on broken vases in the pre-Sargonide strata at Nippur, and these record the wars between the kings of Kiengi, or Sumir—the Shinar of Genesis—and the “hordes of Kis.” * The earliest of these relate to a certain Ensaggus- anna, “the wise lord of heaven,” as Dr. Hilprecht renders it, who spoiled the city of Kis, to which is applied the epithet “the city of the evil heart.” The warfare lasted for a long time. We have a record of a Sumerian victory where the king of Kish, Ene-gul, was defeated, and his city, teeming with malignity, spoiled, and his statue of bright silver and his spoil dedicated to Mullil, the god of Nippur.t The most important inscriptions of the kings of Kish are the obelisk of Manistu-su, which has been so often referred to in this work, and the long and very archaic inscriptions engraved on a set of hard stone vases found at Nippur. These inscriptions are perhaps our oldest historical records. Much of the text is taken up with religious matter, but here and there we get fragments of historical matter. “To Mullil, king of the world, Lugalzaggisi, king of Erech, king of the world, priest of Anu, minister of Nisaba (corn-god), son of Ukush, patesi of Gizukh.” The monarch then describes the various gods who favoured him, and then proceeds to give us a little fragment of history. “‘Mullil, the lord of the world, made him to prosper, * T am inclined to think these epithets of “evil heart,” full of malignity, applied to Kish, indicate that the people and their lords were intruders who had forced their way into the land. t+ I cannot agree with Radau, in ‘‘Early Babylonian History,” p- 124, in regarding this victory as one by one of the rulers of Sirpurra. THE CITY KINGDOMS 121 and gave him the kingship of the whole earth. When, then, he had entrusted to him the rule of lands from the rising to the setting of the sun, he subdued all from the Upper Sea (Mediterranean) to the Lower Sea of the Tigris and Euphrates,” TN ne Tens | EN OBELISK OF MANISTU-SU. This most ancient ruler exercised dominion over the cities of Ur, Erech, and Larsa. The kingdom of Kish was certainly the oldest in Babylonia. The ruins of Kish are represented by the mound of El Oiehmar, about eight miles south-east of Hillah. It is a mound of great size, according to Kerr Porter, who 122 THE FIRST OF EMPIRES visited the site ; it is about two hundred and eighty yards in circumference, and rises to a height of over one hundred and fifty feet above the plain. It is a mound which dis- plays every indication of vast antiquity, far exceeding that of Babylon, and its position, commanding the whole of the fertile plain of Middle Babylonia, makes it a site of great military importance. Although the mound has been visited by several travellers, none seem to have thought it worth while to make a drawing of it. But Kerr Porter and Bellino, who visited the ruins in the early part of last century, brought away some bricks, the inscriptions upon which enable us to identify it as the site of Kish.* One brick, with the partly obliterated name of a Babylonian king, gives us two important names, the temple of Mete- ursag (the adornments of the warrior), and the name of the god Zamama, the Babylonian god of war. Now, from the long introduction to the inscription of Khammurabi, we know that this was the chief temple of the city of Kish. Other small corn tablets in the British Museum, obtained by Dr. Budge, also state that this was the site of Kish. Now, Kish is the Biblical Cush.t The kings of this city were overlords of all the other cities of Babylonia, where fateszs, or viceroys, ruled under them. Among the cities most associated with Kish was that of Marad,f the site of which is marked by the mound of Tel-Edé, a little north-cast of Erech. This city is mentioned on the obelisk of Manistu-su, and the kings of Kish claimed the title of Nin-Marad, “lord of Marad.”§ In this title we have the origin of the name of Nimrod. This identification is * Ker Porter, “ Travels,” vol. ii. Pl. 77, No. 1. + Gen. x. 8. : | § = PEP EY FEY CED. Pa Clny 7) KINGDOMS 123 confirmed by the curious fact revealed in the epic that Gilgames, the great ethnic hero of the Babylonians, was a native of Marad; and thus we have an additional proof tending to confirm our identification of him with Nimrod. The history of this period is chiefly composed of records of border wars and corn-raids. The most im- portant records come from the city of Sirpurra,* or Lagash, the ruins of which are marked by the mounds of Tello, TEL-EDE. and have been most systematically explored by the French explorer M. de Sarzec. The most interesting monument of this period is the famous stele of the Vultures, now in the Louvre, which records the victory of E-annadu, viceroy of Sirpurra, over the people of Giz-ukhu, a small city kingdom represented by the mounds of Iskha, a little north-east of Tello. The scenes depicted on the stele are on the obverse—a figure of E-annadu, with a huge club in his hand, while he grasps a large net, which is full of captives, whose heads, pro- truding through the meshes, he is engaged in crushing * ry ~Ge EW -EY CE. 124 THE FIRST OF EMPIRES with his mace. On the reverse we have a series of battle- scenes represented—the king going forth in his chariot drawn by asses; the soldiers marching in solid phalanx after him, clad in armour, which seems to be composed of leather, with plates of metal sewn on. The next scene represents the battlefield after the fight, and the vultures pecking the heads of the enemy. It is from this scene, the first portion of the stele discovered, that the monument takes its name. Another group represents the burial of the dead. The bodies of the dead are piled head and toe one above the other, and men are carrying baskets of earth with which to cover them. If the dead were not buried, but left uncared for, they became terrible wandering evil spirits, haunting men. The scene is well explained by the following extract from a cone found at Sirpurra :— Cou. I.—To Mullil, king of the world, the father of the gods, upon his righteous command .. . Enlil, king of the lands, the father of the gods, upon his righteous command, Ninsugir and .. . marked off the boundary (of the land) by a well. Mesilim, king of Kish, upon the command of his god Kadi, on the boundary (?) of their territories, on that place a stele he erected. Ush, patesi of Gishukh, according to evil intentions acted ; that stele he took away; into the territory of Shirpurra he went. Ninsugir, the hero of Enlil, according to his (Ninsugit’s) righteous command, with Gishukh a battle he made (z.e. Mesilim). Upon the command of Enlil a scourge he brought over (them). The dead ones in a place of the field he buried. Eanatum, patesi of Shirpurra, the ancestor of Entemena, patesi of Shirpurra, and (with) Enakalli, patesi of THE CITY KINGDOMS 125 Gishukh, marked off the boundaries of the land by a canal, Cou. II.—and a canal from the great river to the Guedin he made to go. A stele on this canal he inscribed. The stele of Mesilim to its place he restored. Into the territory of Gishukh he did not go ravaging. On the Imdubba of Ninsugir, and on the Nammurdaki- garra, a sanctuary of Enlil, a sanctuary of Ninkharsag, a sanctuary of Ninsugir, a sanctuary of Utu, he built. On corn for Nina, on corn for Ninsugir, 1 karu upon the men of Gishukh as tax he placed, and as tribute he put upon. 400 great karu (= 1,440,000 gur) he made to bring. He made order not to spoil that grain. Urlumma, patesi of Gishukh, of the boundary canal of Ninsugir, of the boundary canal of Nina, which (Eannatum) had made to go out, their steles into the fire he cast and took away. The sanctuaries dedicated to the gods, (which) on the Nammurdakigarra had been built, he destroyed, Cou..11I.—the lands he ravaged, the boundary canal of Ninsugir he crossed over, Eannatum, patesi of Shirpurra, in the Heldgener of the territory of Ninsugir upon the dogs he poured out his terror. Entemena, the beloved son of Eannatum, sent them under the yoke. Urlumma he made to return ; up to the very midst of Gishukh he crushed him. 60 men of his army on the side of the Lummasirta he left ; of that soldiery its bones on the plains he left. His dead ones (ze. Urlumma’s) in five places he buried. At that time Ili, the patesiat over the Gishukhites, he made to accept. Cot. IV.—The boundary canal of Ninsugir, the boundary canal of Nina, the Imdubba (?) of Ninsugir, which goeth to (the side of) the Tigris.” The British Museum possesses some curious clay steles, inscribed with very archaic characters, recording the name and titles of this king E-anna-du. 126 THE FIRST OF EMPIRES This inscription reads :-— Cou. I.—E-anna-du, viceroy of Sirpurra, endowed with power by Mullil, nourished with the holy milk of the goddess Ninkharsag, the chosen one of Ninsugir, Cou. II.—son of A-kurgal, viceroy of Sirpurra, he placed his yoke on the land of Elam, he placed his yoke on the land of Gisgal, and he placed his yoke on the land of Gizukh. The rest of the inscription refers to the making of a well, of which these large bricks appear to have formed the BRICK STELE OF E-ANNA-DU, cornice. In addition to the brief records which these inscriptions contain of local wars, they afford much in- formation as to the great public works which those rulers THE CITY KINGDOMS 127 undertook. The construction of canals was vigorously pushed on, and we find that at this time a regular network was established throughout Southern Babylonia. These canals were most perfectly constructed, in many cases being lined with brickwork, and some of them continue in use until the present day. A traveller recently passing through one of the small navigable canals near Tello saw some bricks protruding from the bank, and one of them bore the name of Eannadu, so it must have been there for six thousand years. The next most important kingdom was that of Agade, or Akkad, which was the seat of a short-lived but very powerful dynasty of Semitic kings. The site of this city is still unfortunately not known, but it must have been in the neighbourhood of Sippara, in Northern Babylonia. The dynasty was founded about B.C. 3800, by a certain Sargon (the legitimate king). Of this ruler we possess a number of inscriptions on bricks, cones, and door sockets, which show that his rule extended over the whole of Babylon, including Sippara, Nippur, and Sirpurra. The British Museum possesses a fine mace head of this king, which is inscribed with a dedication to the sun-god of Sippara. I have already referred to several of the wars of this king, which show that his power extended over the greater part of Western Asia. One expedition mentioned is of much interest: “Over the sea of the setting sun (Mediterranean) he crossed for three years ; in the (land) of the setting sun (he rested), and his hand conquered every place; to form one kingdom he united. His image at the land of the setting sun he erected. Their spoil he caused to pass over into the country of the sea (Syria).” This seems certainly to point to an expedition to Cyprus. There is no reason why the Babylonian king should not 128 THE FIRST OF EMPIRES have made his way to that island, which he would see from the slopes of the Lebanon. The military greatness of Sargon was surpassed by that of his son Naram-Sin, of whom we possess several most interesting records. The most important of these is a fine stele found by M. de Morgan at Susa, where it seems to MACE HEAD OF SARGON I. (B.C. 3800). have been carried by the Elamite king Sutruh Nakhunte II, B.C. 1300, who cut an inscription of his own upon it. Here we have a most astonishing monument for so remote an age (B.C. 3800), and which affords a very remarkable proof of the early development of art in Babylonia. The scene represents a campaign in a mountainous country. The Babylonian soldiers are climbing the hills THE CITY KINGDOMS 129 through forests, while the enemy hide themselves among the trees. Behind the king, who has reached the summit, are the bodyguard, armed with long spears and carrying STELE OF NARAM-SIN, FOUND AT SUSA-. standards. The king, who stands on the summit of the mountain, is represented in all the glory of war. His helmet is decorated with horns; he wears a short tunic reaching to the knee, and decorated with fringe, and his K 130 THE FIRST OF EMPIRES feet are shod with sandals; he appears to be armed with short javelins, one of which he has hurled at a fallen foe, upon whom he places his foot. Behind the fallen enemy is another, who raises his hands in supplication. ROYAL GROUP ON STELE. This group is particularly interesting, for it appears to have formed the model on which all subsequent rock sculptures in this region were copied. We find almost a similar group in the statue of Annubanini, the king of the Lububini, and the same is repeated in the great rock- sculpture of Darius at Behistun, and even continue in the THE CITY KINGDOMS 131 sculptures of the Sassanian kings until after the Christian era. This monument appears originally to have been set up in Elam at a place called Sipir, mentioned in other inscrip- tions along with Yamut-balim and Ansan. During the reign of Sutruk-nakhunte (c7vc. B.C. 1300) it was thrown down and brought to Susa and placed in the royal palace. The inscription of Naram-Sin was mutilated, but sufficient remains to show that it records an expedition against the land of Lububini to the north-east of Susa. The Elamite king then cut upon the cone a long inscription of his own in the Anzanian tongue, in which he dedicates the monu- ment to his god Susinak. In the same way the column of Khammurabi was mutilated, by an erasure, to receive an inscription of this vandal king. A statue of Naram-Sin was also discovered at Mardin, in Northern Mesopotamia, indicating his rule over that region. The historical character of the reigns of Sargon and Naram-Sin has been questioned by some scholars, but there were found at Sirpurra some documents which afford a new light upon the subject. These were a series of contract tablets, dated in the reigns of those kings, and recording certain events. Such dates to commercial documents can hardly be fictitious. The dates are— I, Sargon made an expedition against Elam and Zakhara, opposite to Giz-ukh. 2. Sargon made an expedition against the West land (Amurru). 3. The year when he took captive Sarlak, king of Gutium. Other tablets record expeditions against Magan, Sinai, Kis, Nippur, and other towns, which prove beyond doubt the historical character of this king and his wars. 132 THE FIRST OF EMPIRES Both Sargon and Naram-Sin carried out extensive building operations at Nippur, and the great boundary wall of his temple, dedicated to Mullil, or Bel, was discovered by the American explorers. There is a great break now in the continuity of Babylonian history, extending over nearly a thousand years, and when next the thread is resumed, we find that the city of Ur, now represented by the ruins of Mughier, on the west bank of the Euphrates, is the capital. MUGHIER—UR. Ur was one of the most important cities in Chaldea, and as ancient as the dawn of the empire. It was the chief centre of moon-worship ; indeed, curiously enough, the only sacred city of the moon in Babylonia. The temple here was called the “house of the great light,” and was restored and decorated by most of the Babylonian rulers until the fall of the empire. It is much to be regretted that so little exploration has been made on this important site, which is of special interest to Biblical scholars as being the birth- place of Abram. Sir Henry Rawlinson and Mr. Loftus made some explorations here, and obtained many inscribed THE CITY KINGDOMS 133 bricks of Ur-bau* and Dungi,f two rulers who flourished about B.C. 2800 ; also they found inscriptions of Nebuchad- nezzar and Nabonidus, recording their restoration of the temple. The lack of material from Ur itself is, however, STATUE OF UR-BAU. amply compensated for by the large number of inscriptions that have been discovered of the two chief rulers of this early dynasty of kings of Ur at Sirpurra. The kings of Ur were lords paramount over this sacred city of the god eS 1 ey ~W- 134 THE FIRST OF EMPIRES Nin-Sugir,* and both built and deposited votive offerings there, while Gudea, the viceroy probably of Ur-bau, carried out most extensive operations there. Among the objects found at Sirpurra was a fine diorite statue of Ur-bahu. Upon it is a long inscription recording the building of a portion of the temple of Nin-Sugir. The statue is a remarkably fine piece of work, the modelling of the torso and the muscles of the arms being very true to anatomy ; and when we remember the hard- ness of the stone, it is a-wonderful piece of work. We know little of the history of this king, but his building activity was very great. He it was who restored the temple of Mullil, or Bel, at Nippur, which had apparently fallen into ruin after the time of the dynasty of Sargon of Agade. He built the great stage-tower at Ziggurat, which rose above the sacred edifice; and his work is wonderfully preserved. Inscriptions of Ur-Bau and his reign. No. 1. Ona statue -— Come . To the god Ninsugir, . the powerful warrior . of the god Ellilla. Ur-Bau, . the patesi . of Shirpurra-ki, . the offspring begotten . by the god Nin-dgal, . chosen by the immutable will of the goddess Nind, . endowed with power by the god Ninsugir, - named with a favourable name by the goddess Bau, 12. endowed with intelligence by the god En-ki, Cou. II.— I. covered with renown by the goddess Ninisi, 2. the favourite servant of the god who is king of Gish- galla-ki, * me] BET EIS SEND _— me OW ON AM BW YN Hw 4 5 6 7 THE CITY KINGDOMS 135 . the favourite of the goddess Duzi-abzu. . Iam Ur-ba; . the god Ninsugir is my king. . The site of . . . he has excavated. . The earth thence extracted, like precious stones, he has measured (?) ; 8. like a precious metal he has weighed (?) it. Cot. III.— 1. According to the plan adopted he has marked out a om large space ; into the middle (of it) he has carried this earth, and he has made its mundus. . Above, a substructure, 6 cubits high, he has built. . Above this substructure . the temple E-Nind, which illumines the darkness (?), 30 cubits in height, . he has built . for the goddess Nin-kharsag, the mother of the gods. Cou. 1V.— £ Oo WN & Om vt 5 . Her temple of Sugir-ki . he has constructed. . For the goddess Bau, . the good lady, the daughter of Anna, . her temple of Uru-azagga . he has constructed. . For the goddess Ninni, the lady august, the sovereign (?), . her temple of Gish-galla-ki . he has constructed. . For the god En-ki, the king of Eridu, . his temple of Sugir-ki CoL. V.— Lal be OO ON Aum £W WN a) . he has constructed. . For the god Nin-dara, the lord of destinies (?), . his temple he has constructed. . For the god Nin-dgal, . his god, . his temple . he has constructed. . For the goddess Nin-mar-ki, . the good lady, . the eldest daughter of the goddess Nina, . the £sh-gu-tur (2), the temple of her constant choice, . he has constructed. 136 THE FIRST OF EMPIRES The brilliant explorations of M. de Sarzec at Tello brought to light what may be described as the oldest palace in the world. The building is of particular interest as showing how conservative the East is in regard to its domestic architecture. The palace of Gudea covers an area of about half an acre, and, like most Chaldean build- SES ee 5 ae 3 oh a - snsecssneaatinny a PALACE OF GUDEA AT TELLO. ings, is built with the angles to the cardinal points. The walls are of great thickness, twelve, and sometimes twenty feet, and are on the external face broken up by crenelated buttresses. The chief entrance is on the south-west side. Here the remains of a broad pavement were discovered, and immediately before the entrance was a large stone tomb for lustration, the sides of which were sculptured with figures of women holding water-jars. This was the THE CITY KINGDOMS 137 absu, or sea, in which all cleansed themselves before enter- ing the royal abode. The entrance was flanked by guard chambers, and in most cases double, to prevent unauthorized entrance or exit. Passing through the gateway, we enter a broad quadrangle, surrounded by buildings on all sides. The royal quarters are on the right-hand side, consisting of three large rooms, in which, no doubt, the viceroy received his officers and subjects. These formed the selamlik, or state rooms. Connected with this portion was a small group of ee chambers, guarded by a (2 iimmilimmailemd fey gultesseots = b> Sea |S SS SSS | double gateway. Fromthe | 5h . Reo i smallness of the sai RAS MAC a Pen their arrangement, indicat- ing strict seclusion, these were, no doubt, the harem, or women’s quarter. The north-east angle of the building was occupied by an important group of buildings. These were grouped round a stage-tower, the sides of which were decorated with crenelated buttresses, and there were the remains of a staircase leading to the upper stories. This portion, no doubt, was the private temple attached to the palace, and dedicated to the god Nin-Sugir. Here a most interesting discovery was made. In front of the entrance to the temple the explorer found two bases of large brick columns of most ingenious construction. These pillars represented certainly the two tree-gods Tammuz and Giz-Zida, who guarded the entrance to heaven, and were probably found in most Babylonian temples. In these pillars we have probably the origin of the similar objects Yakin and Boaz, which stood in front of the temple of Solomon. 138 THE FIRST OF EMPIRES Returning tothe quadrangle, we find the two remaining sides surrounded by chambers, which, from the objects found in their pottery, arms, tools, etc., were occupied by soldiers and servants. The most interesting feature of this edifice is the way in which it presents the same arrangement as the modern house of an Eastern official of high rank—the selamlik, the harem, the private mosque, and the servants’ quarters and stores. The most interesting discovery in the palace was that of several statues of the viceroy Gudea, all of which are covered with inscriptions. One of the best of these represents the king seated, with PLANS ON THE KNEES OF THE SITTING STATUE OF GUDEA. a tablet or drawing-board on his knee, on which is beauti- fully drawn the plan of an edifice ; while by the side of the plan is the burr or graver with which it is drawn, and the scale to which the plan was drawn also. This plan, as will be seen, represents, apparently, a small temple or fortified building. Beside the tablet is the burr or graver with which the plan was drawn, and on the edge of it a bevelled and graduated scale. This scale is most important for my argument. It has been carefully measured by the most accurate of mathematicians, Pro- fessor Flinders Petrie, and it works out to a cubit of 20°63, the Egyptian cubit, and not the Babylonian cubit of 21°, and the statue itself is found to be worked to this scale —a manifest proof of the influence of Egyptian teachers. THE CITY KINGDOMS 139 The placing of the plan on the knees of the statue is again remarkable, and seems to me to show undoubted Egyptian influence. The name of Gudea means, in Semitic Assyrio-Babylonian, the prophet, or “the deliverer of judgment.” The god Nabu, or Nebo, from whom the king derives his name, corresponded to the Egyptian Tehuti, or Thoth, “the measurer,” the scribe of the gods. Although Thoth was the measurer or weigher, he was not the god of mathematics and science; these duties fell to the god I-em-hotep, or Imonthis, the son of Ptah, who was identified by the Greeks with Aésculapius, who is always represented as seated with a papyrus spread out on his knees, in exactly the attitude given to Gudea in this statue. And it is as the architect, the mathematician, that he appears in this group. The attitude, the scale, the source of material, seem to me undoubtedly the result of a close contact with the artistic schools of Egypt.* The statue is covered with a long inscription, which records the erection of the temples in Sirpurra. Its chief interest centres in the valuable details it gives of the various countries which Gudea laid under contribution for the materials. From Kimash, Central Arabia, came gold, copper, and hard stone; as also from Magan or Sinai. The latter also produced woods of various kinds. From Gubin, perhaps Koptos, came hard woods ; perhaps from the Upper Nile and from Amanus cedar ; while limestone came from Barsip, the Tul Barsip of the Assyrians, the modern Kalat Nijdim, near Carchemish, on the Euphrates. The fleets that Gudea despatched certainly appear to have sailed round Arabia to the Gulf of Akabah, and so established at that time (B.C. 2800) a Red Sea trade. Among the objects obtained were several beautiful * See illustration, p. 41. 140 THE FIRST OF EMPIRES shells engraved with designs. This trade in engraved shells was very extensive at this time, for there are several of this date bearing the cartouches of the Egyptian kings in the British and other museums. We know little of the history after this period until we come to the period of the great Elamite invasion, which overran the country, and paved the way for the use of the first Babylonian dynasty and the consolidation of the Babylonian empire. CHAPTER V THE GARDEN OF THE ORIENT “And the Lord God took the man, and put him into the Garden of Eden to dress it and to keep it.”—GEN. ii. 15. ABYLONIA was certainly the birthplace of agri- B culture. Although, as the discoveries at Susa show, there were settlements upon that site at a period prior to the earliest settlements in Babylonia, they do not appear to have been of a very permanent character. The débris of the settlements preceding the first town show that the buildings were of wood, and only occupied during harvest. The large number of sickle-teeth found in heaps seem to show that this early agricultural implement had been stored away for future use, and on the destruction of the settlement the wooden frames had decayed, and left the teeth in heaps. In Babylonia, the earliest records, such as the obelisk of ManiStu-su, or the cone of Entemena, both dating from about B.C. 4500, show that considerable progress has been made—indeed such progress that affords evidence that the farming industry had been carried on for centuries. The discoveries in Elam and Chaldea, however, have a special interest in the light which they throw upon some of the earliest stages of agri- culture. The primitive settlers, who descended from the highlands into the plains bordering on the east bank of the 141 142 THE FIRST OF EMPIR@S Tigris, no doubt found wheat growing wild, and were attracted to its edible character from the fact that birds ate freely of it. At first man was content to pluck the ears of wheat and rub them between his hands, but when a large quantity had thus to be treated the process became both tedious and unsatisfactory. Cutting with a flint tool produced better results, but in course of time it occurred to some prehistoric genius to vastly aid the process. The cutting of grass and the reaping of corn require a semi- circular instrument cutting towards the person holding the top of the corn, as is seen in the Egyptian sculptures. The early forms of the sickle found in Egypt and Chaldea show most unmistakably the origin of this useful implement. The first sickle was the lower jaw of the sheep or ox, most probably the former, on account of the lightness, and with this the process was much improved. It was, how- ever, too expensive a process to kill a sheep for each pair of reapers, so in due course a wooden model of the lower jaw was made, into which the flint teeth were inserted exactly in the same manner as those in the natural jaw. It is to be noticed, on comparing the two in this plate, how closely the natural model has been followed, even to the larger flints corresponding to the back teeth, and the cutting power being from the larger end. The modelling of the haft follows most closely the form of the termina- tion of the jaw-bone. Most of the early agricultural imple- ments were very primitive in their origin. The plough is called “the scratching wood,” while the ideogram for “to dig” is but a development of the hoe, and represents a stone celt tied on to a stick. When we come to the earliest agricultural records of Babylonia we find a considerable advance. The earliest inscription relating to farming is the obelisk of Pe TGA DEN OH EE ORIENT 143 King Manistu-su of Kish. This interesting monument, which has been often referred to, is a kind of land- mark of the royal estates, on which the details of area and price are inscribed. I have dealt with some of the Lee Tm Th ZY ‘A 4 fe | 2 — tee | LY 25 ee) , )Y D 4, ZY SNe 1), YK Ss \ Zou) UG Weal = —— SON — = {I1) WOODEN SICKLE (EGYPT). (2) SHEEP’S JAW-BONE. most important features of this inscription already, but others, which deal with the management of estates, may now be considered. The first point to be noticed is the careful measurement of the land, and the calculation of the area, and the value by the corn tariff. The land is 144 THE FIRST OF EMPIRES calculated by the gaz, a word which is explained by padanu, the Arabic feddan, an acre and a ninth; while corn is measured by the gur, the Hebrew Zor, or eight bushels. Now, the degree of exactness exhibited in these calculations shows that the system must have been long in use. Not only was the estate carefully measured, but the boundaries were marked and recorded. Thus for one estate we read (col. 6, lines 5-15)— “Bounded on the north by the sons of Kutus, on the south by the hill of Gunizi, on the east by (the land of) Mesalim, son of the King, and on the west by the town of Bar-ki (Barsip?), in the district of Baraz-edin, of the town of Kish.” Another estimate is given (col. 13, lines 15-25)— “Bounded on the north by the canal Zi-kalama (“life of the world”), on the south by Bit Gisimanu, on the east by the canal Amastiak, on the west by the land of Amal- isdugal.” In the face of such accuracy, it is not surprising to find that the land surveyor was an important official. And the name he bore was Gan-gid-da (mY *~- =]!), “the field measurer,” or rather, literally, the ‘‘man who measures with a cord.” * The interesting evidence of this inscrip- tion is confirmed by the discovery of a most interesting series of plans of estates, certainly the oldest examples in the world, as they date from the reign of Sargon (B.C. 3800). These tablets, unfortunately much broken, were discovered by M. de Sarzec at Tello,and have been recently published by M. Thureau Dangin. The first of these (a) represents a small estate, which is called the field of Zida, the chief (wz ga/), through which run two canals—one the central, called the canal //-tabsz ; * Compare the Hebrew and Arabic 727, a measuring-line. (2) Ki yin \ vw \ ~S \at \| ri SURVEYS OF ESTATES, B.C. 3800. 146 THE FIRST OF EMPIRES the other, the name is lost. The land adjoins on the left the field of Ezir. On the obverse is the endorsement presented by Ili-gamil the scribe. The next fragment is interesting for the careful way (4) in which the scribe has denoted the river, and at the bottom are the words “ the corn-field.”. In another fragment (¢) we appear to have a pond denoted, which measured “seven and a third sar.” Not only were these Babylonian surveyors able to draw accurate plans of estates, but even of houses as well (d). There are several very elaborate plans of a later date, especially one of several fields of the age of Gudea, now in the Imperial Ottoman Museum at Constantinople. The Greco-Chaldean historian tells us that the fish-god Oannes taught men the “rules for the boundaries of land and the mode of building cities and temples,” and of the antiquity of this scientific knowledge in Babylonia the monuments afford ample proof. Another valuable piece of evidence as to the antiquity of agriculture in Babylonia is furnished by the names of the months, which we find in the oldest calendar— that in use for legal and commercial documents in the time of Sargon I. (B.c. 3800) ; and in a slightly modified form a thousand years later, in the reign of Gudea (B.C. 2800). The names are proof that we have to deal with a famous almanac. 1. The month when the corn raises its head (Spring Equinox). 2. The month when the fields are bright. 3. The month when the cattle are in the fields 4. The month of the god Nesu. 5. The month of sowing. 6. The month when they eat flour (?) Pip sGAKCDEN OF DHE ORIENT 147 . The month of Tammuz (the youthful sun-god). The month of the Festival of Dungi. g. The month of the goddess Bau (goddess of fertility). 10. Obscure. 11. Obscure. 12. Month of corn-cutting. This agricultural character continued to the last, but it became obscured by religious influence; but such names as “the months of sowing, corn-cutting, opening of dams, copious fertility, or the fulness of the year,” still maintain the old character. To cultivate the land was an imperative duty, not only to man himself, or to his master, but to the State and religion; for it was the cultivation of the land that produced the revenue of the State, and the wealth of the temples, and provided the offerings of the temples. There therefore grew up in Babylonia at a very early period—certainly prior to B.C. 3800—a most elaborate and perfect fiscal or revenue control, by which the wealth of the country could be estimated to the most minute extent. No such system existed in any ancient country ; perhaps it was most nearly approached by the administration of Egypt in the time of the XVIII" dynasty, under the priests of Amen. The revenue returns were supplied by the gos temples, for the temple was the treasury and revenue office of the district; and until the consolidation of the empire, and the centralization of the administration in Babylon about B.C. 2300, each district had its own revenue returns. For the purposes of ascertaining the wealth of the country an accurate survey and census of the country was necessary, and, astonishing as it may seem, this was perfected at a very early period in Babylonia, and by B.C. 2500 we find it in a most finished condition. 148 THE FIRST OF EMPIRES Our knowledge of this ancient Revenue Board is derived from a wonderful series of some thirty thousand tablets found at Tello or Sirpurra, and dated in the reigns of the kings of the second dynasty of Ur, who reigned from B.C. 2500-2300. The tablets were found in two long galleries, and had been arranged on shelves, which had decayed, so the tablets had fallen, but remained heaped up in layers five or six deep. Of the great collection, number- ing many thousands, the British Museum has secured the major portion, which are now exhibited in the new Baby- lonian room. There are also collections in the Louvre, the Imperial Ottoman Museum at Constantinople, and in the Museum of the University of Pennsylvania. - This latter museum possesses also a collection of similar tablets for Nippur. The tablets refer to the administration of temple property, to agriculture, stock raising (especially the returns of the temple herds), the produce of farms and gardens in the district. First in order come a series of bun-shaped tablets, many of which, having been stored in jars, are in most astonishing preservation, looking as fresh as if they had only just come from the kiln. These tablets are the returns of a cadastral survey of the district. The one here given is the survey of an estate of seven fields. Each field has been carefully measured and the area calculated, the nature of the crop and the estimated value given. Where land is fallow, or of an inferior quality, its condition is stated. On the reverse is a calculation of the amount at which the estate is assessed, and the rent which is paid for it. The inscriptions are of too technical a character to be of interest to the general reader, but it is important to state that where the calculations have been worked out, as some have by Dr. Oppert and M. Dangin, their accuracy is most astonishing. CADASTRAL SURVEY OF AN ESTATE, He Cr KX mace ia i a! ’ 7 V ST ae en a . J ~ 1 ‘ f A ‘ - « nied, CHE GARDEN OF THE ORIENT I51 These documents record a survey which appears to have been made at intervals of about six or seven years. From these were compiled the larger tablets, which contain the revenue returns of the different districts. Some of these are wonderful specimens of clay documents, the finest measuring 18 inches by 103, and containing sixteen columns of writing. The translation of the first column will be sufficient to show the method of entering these accounts. Col. 1. (600 x 2) + (60 x 3) + 30 = 1410 gur of corn, royal standard. The field of Aballa. (600 x 3) + (60 x 2) + 422 = 19622 gur. Totals. On the bank of the old canal. 1410 (60 x 8) + 50 + 2 = 5302 gur. 1962? The field of Dungi-zi-kalama. 5302 (60 x 9) + 40 = 580 gur. 580 The plantation (?) of Bazi-gilla. 3161 (60 x 5) + 16 + 1 = 316! gur. —- The field of Dumzi. 4799 Making in all 3600 + (600 x 2) = 4800 — 1 = 4799 gur. This is astonishing mathematics for nearly five thousand years ago. The corn in the second column appears to be measured in boats, and we are told that is the corn which Ur Nina collected for the house of Nin Sugir, the document being dated in the year of “Bur Sin the king”’ (B.C. 2500). As to the way in which the cattle census was taken, the following tablet affords a good example. It is the inventory of stock in the charge of a certain Amil-Bit-Ana (man of the house of Heaven). 152 THE FIRST OF EMPIRES 184356. “3 70 i me et —wesies ee a poems Ft oer ia Tr EH Sr Bored Pelee 7” fete «< of . Re = bE ar €f KR FEST i Be <1 pe ere #-SKR = INVENTORY OF CATTLE. Translation. (50-1) 49 Ewes. 3 Great Sheep. 25 Rams. 11 Weaned lambs. 20 not weaned do. 4 Goats. (112) Presented. Deductions. 3 Great Sheep, 1 Ewe, 1 Ram. 2 Great Sheep for scribe as wages. Less 5 Rams (killed for food possibly). Account (30 — 1) = 29 for wages Expended 5. The account of Amil-E-Anna (man of the house of Heaven), in the city of Nina (a quarter of Sirpurra). The year of Bur Sin the king. In the same way careful inventories of asses and oxen were drawn up, and, in fact, every animal in the country must have been registered in the tax-collector’s books, and hE GaxrDEN OF THE ORIENT 153 the owner had to account for their not being presented for the census. Some points of interest are brought out by these tablets. First we notice that wages of the shepherds were paid in kind,a custom which explains the payment of Jacob in the same manner by Laban (Gen. xxxi.); but in the earlier time of Khammurabi shepherds appear to have received a wage calculated on a corn tariff of 8 gur (64 bushels) per annum. BABYLONIAN CATTLE. From these revenue chambers come other tablets, show- ing that butter, honey, milk, wool, and even vegetables, were carefully * inventoried by the scribes, wool being priced by the talent. One very important point to be noticed is that, although we have several thousands of these tablets, we have no mention either of the horse or the camel in any of them. The horse was essentially the animal of war, and is called frequently by the epithet “the horse glorious in war,” and neither in Babylonian nor Assytian records have we a representation of a horse used for labour. The ox and the ass were the beasts of burden * In the possession of Miss E. Paget, Manchester, is a tablet, giving receipt for eggs, pigeons, flowers, and honey sent to the temple. 154 THE FIRST OF EMPIRES and draught. The camel does not appear until the twelfth century, yet we know how largely the camel figures in the history of the Hebrew patriarchs.* Farming in Babylonia was no amateur occupation, but carried out by a prescribed code of rules of great antiquity. # Fragments of this Farmers’ Year-book have been preserved to us, and are now in the British Museum.f I have selected some of them; the broken state of the tablets and the obscurity of some of the Sumerian terms render a complete translation impossible. “Tn the sixth month (Ellul) of the year, the farmer establishes his tenancy. He agrees upon his bond. He completes his bond. When the time of working comes, he ploughs, rakes, and divides it. For every sixty measures of grain the farmer takes eight.” Farming was usually an affair of partnership between the ground landlord (de/ ekf) and the farmer, and the proportions were usually half, third, or quarter shares. This subdivision of the land is regulated by the code of Khammurabi (clause 46), where we read, “If he has not recovered the produce of his field, either for one-half or one-third, the corn that is in the field the farmer and the landlord shall share according to the terms of their bond.” The rules as to a half-share partnership are preserved in the year-book. “If a farmer takes for a half-partnership with the * The camel probably entered the Euphrates valley from the north- east, originally from the slopes of Central Asia, and possibly was known in Aram-Naharaim, in the neighbourhood of Kharan, before it was introduced into Babylonia. { Translated by G. Bertin in “ Records of the Past,” New Series, vol. ill. pp. 79, e¢ seg. THE GARDEN OF THE ORIENT sss landlord, everything is equal—man as man, house as house, seed as seed.” “When harvest-time comes, the master sends from his place an ox for threshing the corn, and the corn of the field he takes.” We fortunately possess several of these deeds of partnership, and they confirm these rules; thus— “Four feddan a field within the field of the sun-god, the field Arad-ulmas-sittum, son of Taribum, from Arad- ulmas-sittum, the master of the field, Arad-ulmas and Anul-adad, sons of Usatim, this field for cultivation on rent for one year have hired ; one with the other an agree- ment has established. In the day of harvest they shall reap as right and left (equally) the corn, the rent of the field they shall pay, the agreement they shall close, the property jointly they shall possess. “(Date) 22nd day, month Sukul (June and July), year of Ammiditana the king.” Another example— “13 feddan a fallow field, the field of Ili-baim (?), the shepherd, son of Ilu-baili (?), the land of Ilu-baim, the shepherd, the landlord, Ili-ikisam ... for cultivation on rental for one year has hired. On the day of harvest all that there is they shall harvest, for each ten feddan six sur (48 bushels) of corn to the store of the sun-god, as rent, he pays; on account of the rent of his field two shekels of silver is received. “Dated month Tisri (?), 20th day of the year of Ammi- zadugga the king.” The freedom granted to women in Babylonia allowed them to hold and manage their own estates, and this was especially the case with priestesses of the temples, who traded extensively. 156 THE FIRST OF EMPIRES The opening is obscure. “From Akhatani, priestess of Samaég, daughter of Samas-khazir Agir-Adad, son of Libit-Nerra, for one year has hired ; the rent for each year three and a half shekels of silver he shall pay . .. on the 4th day of the month Isin Adad * he enters into possession, on the month Simitun * he quits it.” The “ day of harvest” was the settling day of the year ; rent, taxes, everything of the nature of credit, had to be paid at the time of harvest, which usually commenced about April or May in Babylonia. Interesting proof of this is afforded by the loan tablets of the age of Khammurabi in the British Museum. ‘ “51 shekels of silver until the gathering of harvest, a loan according to his tablet . . . which Arad-Sin from Apil-ili-su, son of Khainiddina, and Akhazunu his wife, received. In the day of harvest, in the month Sadutuini, a receipt he takes, the corn they pay.” Sometimes the loan was made from the temple or communal store, which advanced seed-corn to the farmer ; a fine example is in the Berlin Museum. “300 ka of seed from the storehouse of the sun-god until the harvest, which from IItani, the priestess of the sun-god, the daughter of the king (marat sarrt) Seritum, son of Ibni-Martu, has received. In the time of harvest, in the month of corn-cutting (Adar?), he shall bring it ; if he brings it not, it will be (to him) as the yoke of the king.” The yoke of the king was the Babylonian form of penal servitude. It will be at once apparent how completely these deeds * These month-names belong to an old calendar, and cannot be identified with certainty. THE GARDEN OF THE ORIENT 157 confirm the clauses in the code of Khammurabi relating to farming. The Babylonian system of farming appears to have been of three kinds: (1) the partnership ; (2) land hired and rent paid in kind; (3) the land entrusted to farmers to cultivate, the landlord finding seed, implements, etc., and paying the farmer a wage and an allowance from the produce. Labour seems to have been plentiful, being partly found by slaves and serfs dwelling on the land, and by labourers. As we know from the code (sec. 273), the hired labourer was paid “from the beginning of the year to the fifth month six sé of silver per day, from the sixth month to the end of the year five se.” The se was 34, part of a shekel; but in addition to this pay the landlord had to find the workman in food, and apparently also some articles of clothes, such as a loin-cloth. The long inscription of ManiStu-su, although in parts very obscure, affords very interesting light. When the king purchased the estates near Kis, he made a kind of covenant with tenants and the workmen on the estate. We read (col. 19, 15-30), “In all, thirty-two slaves of Marad, dwellers on the land, and six hundred slaves in Gazani, with food he shall nourish.” In addition to this, the tenants appear to have each had “a robe of favour” (KU SU SE-GA = gubat magari) given them. Probably, as at the present day, any transaction of importance in the East is accompanied by a present of clothes, especially when one of the parties is of high rank. The workmen appear to have received a “loin-cloth,” called KU SU UL A-PAL (“the robe of the irrigator”). If this was the system in B.C. 4500, it probably continued until later times, We must remember that living in Babylonia was cheap, and, as this was so, the actual payments for labour, though they seem to us low, were really ample. 158 THE FIRST OF EMPIRES We possess some of the original contracts for labour which give the rate— “Adad Sarru, the son of Ibni Sama, has from Babul Samas his brother, Adad-iduma, the son of Sin-rimeni, hired for one year. For his hire six shekels of silver he shall receive, and at the commencement one shekel of silver.” “ Mar-Sippar has from Manawartum his mother, Marduk- nazir, the son of Allabanu, for one year hired. All the loan for the year is two and a half shekels for the year, half a shekel 18 se he receives.” Here the payment is made to the owner of the hired man, but a small payment was also given to himself. In some cases the hiring was from the man _ him- self ; as— “Naram-ibi-Su by name has from himself Idin-ittu for six months hired. All the hire for six months is two shekels of silver (which) he receives.” The man who hired a servant was responsible for his keep to his master, and for any loss or injury to him, for in a tablet of domestic laws we read — “If a man a workman has hired and he has died, or has been stolen, or has fled, or has become sick, his hand for each day shall measure one half a measure of corn.” The land laws which we find in the code of Kham- murabi (B.C. 2258) are evidently those which have been in use for a long time, and present a close resemblance to those of Mohammedan India. Thus in Babylonia fallow land paid nothing for three years, and in the fourth it paid at the rate of one gwr (8 bushels) per feddan. In India nothing was paid in the first year, a little in the second and third, and in the fourth year the fixed rent commenced THE GARDEN OF THE ORIENT 159 (XLIV.). As in Babylonian, so in Mohammedan law, where there is a mortgage on land or crops (XLVIII.) the landlord has primary claim. One of the most interesting features of this code also is the fact that a stranger could hold land (XL.). This would seem to be the clause which enabled Abram to acquire and hold the field in which the cave of Machpelah was situated (Gen. xxiii.). Indeed, the whole of this transaction of the purchase from Ephron the Hittite has a remarkable Babylonian stamp. The patriarch declares himself “a stranger and a sojourner in the land” (ver. 4). Notice the use, too, of the common Babylonian term “the full price,’ found in all contracts, and the transaction being carried out “in the gate of the city” (ver. 11), while the mention of the delimitations of the property resembles those occurring in the contracts of the age of Khammurabi. The land laws of Babylonia became those of Western Asia generally, as the commercial laws had also. The Hebrews probably found the same laws in force in Canaan when they occupied the land, and they form the basis of the rules of land tenure and agriculture in force among the fellahin of Palestine at the present time. In the main, land was held in Babylonia to be crown property, and, as the numerous land grants show, the king had very arbitrary powers in giving estates to those whom he wished to reward, or in depriving those who offended him. There was, however, another system by which the land was the property of the local god,and bound to support his house and household; hence the elaborate system of revenue returns attached to the temples, such as those of Bel at Nippur, and Nin-Sugir at Sirpurra or Lagash. Vast estates were attached to the temples as glebe, or wdékz/, and the management of them was productive of great 160 THE FIRST OF EMPIRES wealth to these sacred edifices. The stores of corn, dates, wool, and other commodities in the sw¢tum, or storehouse, of the temple, enabled the priests and priestesses to do an extensive trade, and to enrich themselves as well as the temple. One of the most remarkable features of Babylonian life was the land right granted to women, and especially to priestesses, a body most rigidly secluded under other systems. We find them owning houses and land, and trading freely in them. They were extensive money- lenders. We also find them as litigants in the law courts, and adopting children. The fiscal system of Babylonia embodied two taxes, known to us from Hebrew legislation as the dues of “ first- fruits and tithes;” but we have no trace of the year of Jubilee, which seems to follow upon the Sabbatical system of the priestly code. In conclusion, we may say that the land and agricul- tural system of Babylonia was organized at a very early period, certainly prior to B.C. 3800, and underwent but little modification in later times. It, moreover, seems to have been introduced into Syria and Palestine at an early period, when, after the conquest of Canaan, the Hebrews adopted it. The system approaches most closely to that of the Mohammedan rulers of India, and it may be possible that it was from the remains of the system which survived until after the Christian era in Babylonia that the recep- tive Mohammedans borrowed. So perfect a system could not have passed unnoticed. The hordes of Islam, when they conquered Iraq Arabi, still a land of vast fertility, in A.D. 642 had no land law of their own. To adopt the existing laws would be most natural. From Bagdad the law spread to India. The old law of Mesopotamia of THE GARDEN OF -THE ORIENT 161 the days of Khammurabi is still the basis of the law of the Arabs of the valley, as it is also of the fellahin of Palestine and Syria, * and, indeed, all Moslem land. * On this, see a valuable paper by the Rev. J. Neil, M.A., on “Land Tenure in Palestine in Ancient Times,” in the 7vansactions of the Victoria Institute, vol. xxiv. I, 2. CLAY MODELS OF AXE AND SICKLE FROM ERIDU. 3- PICTORIAL BABYLONIAN SIGN ‘‘ TO DIG.” 4. EGYPTIAN MATTOCK. 5. CORN RUBBER (SYRIA). CHAPTER VI “KHAMMURABI THE GREAwS HE rescue of the name and fame of Khammurabi, | the great ruler and lawgiver of Chaldea, from the oblivion of centuries, is, indeed, one of the greatest triumphs of archzological research. No cycle of myths had grown around his name preserving to sub- sequent generations his traditional greatness as the “ father of law,” as the name of Minos had been preserved in Greek tradition. A few years ago some few contracts dated in his reign, and some interesting votive inscriptions, were all that remained to record his existence. Now the historian of his epoch-making reign is as well equipped as the modern biographer of a monarch of the Middle Ages. Historical epitomes of his reign, thousands of dated legal and commercial documents, a concise canon of the chief events of his time, and lastly his own private letters, are now accessible to us. The Babylonians, great literati as they were, had not the faculty for writing long historical inscriptions. In this respect they differed from the Assyrians, whose chronicles are now well known to us, but which often, when tested by contemporary records, are not found to be as accurate as we should expect. To the historian of the ancient East, the brief but accurate canon in- scriptions, or the summaries, such as preface the code 162 “KHAMMURABI THE GREAT” 163 inscription, are far more important and dependable than the grandiose records of the Assyrians. The summary of the events in the early part of the reign of Khammurabi, and of those which immediately preceded it, which is found in the opening lines of the code text, is of great value. PORTRAIT, KHAMMURABI (BRITISH MUSEUM), TRANSLATION, I. When the supreme god, the king of the Anunaki Bel, the lord of heaven and earth, who decreed the fates of men, assigned to Merodach, the first-born son of Ea, the divine lord of righteousness, the host of man- kind entrusted to him, and exalted him among the Igigi. 104 THE FIRST OF EMPIRES II. They called Babylon by its illustrious name, and made it great among the four quarters of the earth, and founded within it an everlasting dynasty, which, like unto heaven and earth, its throne is founded. III. Then in that day, I (myself), Khammurabi, the noble prince who feared my God, justice in the land for witness, plaintiff, and defendant, to destroy the tyrant, and not to oppress the weak, like the sun-god to blackheads, I promulgated, enlightening the land, the god, and Bel to the seed of men, for well being proclaimed my name. RUINS OF THE TEMPLE OF BEL. IV. Khammurabi, the prince called by Bel, am I, the one who perfects abundance and plenty, enriching with all things Nippur and Dur-an-(ki), the glorious provider of E. Kur (temple of Bel).* V. The hero king who restored to Eridu its shrine, who purified the channel of E. Apsu.t VI. Who made battle on the four quarters of the world, exalting the renown of Babylon, and making glad the heart of Merodach its lord, who each day presents (himself) in E. Saggil.t * Mountain House. t House of the Deep. {t House of the Lofty Head. “KHAMMURABL THE GREAT” 105 VII. The royal scion whom Sin has created, who enriched Ur, the humble, the reverent, who pours out wealth to E. Ser-gal.* VIII. The reverent king, attentive to Samas, the mighty one who laid (the foundation) of Sippara, who clothed with verdure the grave of the goddess Ai (the bride), who decorated E. Babbar, which is the abode of heaven. 1X. The avenging warrior of Larsa, who restored E. Babbar ft for Samas, his helper. X. The life-giving lord of Erech, who established waters of fertility for its inhabitants, who exalted the summit of E. Anna,t making perfect the beauty of Anu and Nana. XI. The divine protector of the land, who gathered together the scattered people of Isin, who heaped up abundance in E. Gal Makh.§ XII. The dragon of the capital, own brother of Zamana, who firmly established the dwellings of Kish, who wrapped in splendour E. Me-te-ursag,|| and redoubled the great treasures of Nini (Istar). XIII The guardian of Kharsag Kalama, the grave of the enemy, whose help brought about victory. XIV. Who increased the wealth of Kutha and for E. Sillam,** the mighty bull who gored the foe. XV. The beloved of Tutu, who made glad Borsippa the glorious (city), the unwearying one toward Ezida.}{ The divine king of the capital. * House of the Great Light. t+ House of Light. + House of Heaven. § The Noble Palace. || House of the Warriors Adornments. { House of the Mountain of the World. ** House of the Shade. tt The Established House. 166 THE FIRST OF EMPIRES XVI. The wise and intelligent one, who made wide the pasture-lands of Dilbat, who heaped up the granaries of Urus. XVII. The strong, the lord of insignia, sceptre, and crown, with which he clothes himself, the chosen one of Mama, who established the ceremonies of Kesh, who made rich the holy feasts of Nin-Tu. XVIII. The prudent, the beneficent, who provides pasture and watering-places for Sirpurra and Sugir, who provided great free-will offerings for the temple of Nin- gorsu. He who captures the enemy. XIX. He who fulfils the oracles of Khallabi, who made glad the heart of Anunit. The noble prince, the lofty of whose hand (prayer) is accepted by Adad, who pacified the heart of Adad, the warrior of Karkar. XX. Who caused to be replaced the adornments of E. Ud-gal-gal.* The king who gave life to the city of Adab. XXI. The director of E. Makh,t the hero of the capital, the warrior without rival, who dowered with life the city of Maskan-sabri, who gave abundance to E. Sit-lam. XXII. The wise, the capturer, who all the robbers has taken, and delivered the inhabitants of Malka from destruction, and made firm their home among plenty. XXIII. Who for Ea and Damkina, who magnified his rule, for all time, appointed pure sacrifices, who subjected the villages on the Euphrates to Dagan his creator, and who benefited the inhabitants of Mera and Tutul. The glorious prince who makes bright the face of Nini (Istar), who establishes holy meals for Nin-Asu, * House of Bright day. t The Noble House. “KHAMMURABI THE GREAT” 167 who cared for the inhabitants in their affliction, and appointed them a portion within Babylon in peace. XXIV. The shepherd of mankind, whose deeds are good before Anunit in E. Ulbar, within Agade the noble. XXV. The settler of the tribes, who rules the land, who restored to the city of Assur its propitious clossus (winged bull), who made bright the flame. The king who in Nineveh in E. Dup Dup, and made bright the emblems of Istar. XXVI. The noble one, who humbles himself to the great gods. The descendant of Sumu-la-ilu, the mighty son of Sin-muballit, the everlasting offspring of majesty, the mighty king, the sun-god of Babylon, who sent far light upon the land of Sumir and Akhad, the king obeyed in all four quarters of the earth, the favourite of Istar. Iam that one. The importance of this inscription cannot be too highly estimated, as it contains records of both religious and political events in Babylonia. The opening paragraphs afford us a most important light upon the movement which led to the elevation of Babylon to the position of both a religious and political capital, and to a rank which it maintained for thousands of years. It is evident that the exaltation of Babylon to be above all other cities was a move to obtain a special city for the new dynasty. Although, as we have already seen, Babylon had existed from Sargonide age (B.C. 3800), being mentioned on one of the dated contracts of the period, when we read, “ The year when Sargon made the platform of the temple of Annuit, and the platform of the temple Ai in Babylon, and Sarlak, King of Gutium, he spoiled,” it had furnished no line: of kings until 168 THE FIRST OF EMPIRES the rise of this dynasty of Arab rulers. Hitherto Ur and Erech, or, earlier still, Agade, and in the primitive times Kish, had been the seats of government. The chief religious centres had been Nippur, with its temple of Mullil, or Old Bel, in the north, and Eridu in the south, where the important god Ea was worshipped. We now see a new and important change. Maullil, or the Bel of Nippur, hands his authority over to Merodach, the first- born son of Ea. This passage is most valuable, as we find this same transference very strongly emphasized in the creation legends, which began to take literary form during this period. : In the seventh tablet, a work probably older than the main body of the Epic, we read this: the “Lord of the World, Father Bel, has proclaimed his (Merodach’s) name; this title, which the spirits of heaven repeated, did Ea hear, and his heart rejoiced, and he said, He, whose name his fathers have made glorious, shall be even as I, and the codification of my decrees he shall control, all my laws he shall make known.” Here, then, we see how the power of these two older gods was transferred to the local god of Babylon, Merodach, a god of whom we have heard very little until now. For the Merodach of the Magical Litanies of Eridu, known by the old Sumerian name of Asari-mulu-dugga—Asari, the good being, the exact equivalent of the Egyptian “ Osiris,” un nefer, “the good being”—is very different from the national god of Babylon. This sonship, however, which exists between Ea of Eridu and Merodach, may imply that this later city was an offshoot from the old religious centre on the Persian Gulf. In the old Sumerian creation legend™* this, indeed, * King, “ Creation Tablets,” p. 129. “KHAMMURABI THE GREAT” 169 seems to be implied, for this text has undergone very considerable editing in later times. Here we read— “All lands were sea. At that time there was a movement within the sea, Then Eridu was made, E. Sagil was built— E. Sagil, where in the midst of the Deep the god Lugal-dul Azaga dwelleth.” Immediately after this the editor introduces the words, “The city of Babylon was built, E. Sagil was finished,” as if to place the new E. Sagil on a footing with the old one, the “house of the deep.” We find Khammurabi referring to this ancient shrine directly after the mountain house (ekwr) of Bel of Nippur, “the hero king who restored to Eridu its shrine, who purified the channel of the ocean” (par. v.). It is very important to notice the order of the cities in this portion of the inscription: we have Nippur, Eridu, Babylon, apparently an intentional sequence. Having affiliated the new capital with the oldest religious seats, he next proclaims its divine appoint- ment to be the seat of his royal line. “They (the gods) called Babylon by its illustrious name, and made it great among the four quarters of the earth, and founded within it an everlasting dynasty, which like unto heaven or earth its throne is founded.” It was the same religious movement which has occurred among all the great nations of antiquity. In Egypt when the local Theban god Amen became Amen Ra (“king of all the gods”) ; among the Hebrews when Yaveh became the one supreme god, and the Hebrews his chosen people, Jerusalem his city. From this time on Merodach became more, and not only the “supreme god, king of the gods of heaven and earth ;” but gradually all the minor deities became absorbed in his person and godhead, and a stage of national monotheism was reached. 170 THE FIRST OF EMPIRES This movement culminated in the mad attempt of Nabonidus to formally indicate this supremacy by break- ing up the local schools of religious teaching, and moving the gods and their palladia to Babylon, in B.C. 539, an action which contributed more than anything else to prejudice the Babylonians in favour of the Catholic-minded Cyrus. In the light of this wonderful record of the real foundation of the Babylonian Empire, it is most curious to look some seventeen centuries ahead and note the words in the cylinder of Cyrus, which form the death sentence of this “ First of Empires”: “The gods of Sumir and Akkad, who, to the rage of the lord of the gods, Merodach had caused to enter within Suanna (Babylon), by the command of Merodach the great lord, in peace in their dwellings I caused to dwell in the abodes pleasing to the heart. All the gods whom I caused to enter into their towns, each day in the presence of Bel and Nebo, for the prolongation of my days may they ask, and may they call to mind my favourable decree, and may they speak to Merodach my lord, for Cyrus thy worshipper, and Cambyses his son.” To return now to Khammurabi’s text. It is to be noticed that it is in the main a peaceful document. We have only one direct reference to military affairs ; this, however, is important, as (pars. xi.-xiii.) it manifestly refers to some great battle which took place near to Isin and Kish, old local strongholds, which had given the new dynasty considerable trouble. In this respect this docu- ment agrees with the too fragmentary chronicle of this king published by Mr. King, for it is not until the thirtieth year of the king’s reign that there is any mention of war, and it is there an expedition against Emutbalim, or Elam. Both these events, the taking of Kish and the fall of Isin, TCE AVMURAB I TEE (GREAT 7a we considered most important events, for the former, which occurred in the thirteenth year of the reign of Sumula-ilu, the grandfather of Khammurabi, affords a date for five years, and the latter, taken in the seventh year of his father, Sin-muballit, was commemorated for thirty years after, so they were regarded as great historic military events. The passage must now be quoted in full— “The protector of the country, who gathered together the scattered people of Isin, who heaped up abundance in E. Gal-Makh, the dragon of the capital, own brother to Zamama, who founded the abode of Kish, who wrapped in glory E. Me-Te-Ursag, the one who doubled the treasures of Nini, the guardian of Kharsag Kalama, the grave of the enemy who, with his allies, accomplished his desire.” The site of Kish we know to be the mound of El Oheimer, a little south-east of Babylon, a site which exhibits every indication of being of great antiquity.* The patron deity of Kish was Zamama (“the god of war and battle”), and the name of the temple J/e-Te-Ursag (“the house of the adornments of the warrior”) bears this out. We do not know where Isin or Nisin was, but it must have been between Kish and Erech. Here the temple was that of Kharsag Kalama (“ the mountain of the world”’), dedicated to Nini, or Istar. There is another passage in the text which seems to associate Khammurabi with this region ; and with a great battle taking place there, it is the terrible curse invoked upon the one who injured this stele or violated the laws. “May Zamama, the great warrior, the firstborn son of E. Kur (the temple of Nippur), who marches on my right hand on the battlefield, break his weapons ; may she turn day into night for him, and bring his foes upon him. * See pp. 121-2. 172 THE FIRST OF EMPIRES “Istar, the lady of wars and battles, who draws forth my weapons, my gracious protecting spirit, who loveth my rule, in her angry heart, in her mighty rage, may she curse his rule, and turn his good fortune to affliction ; on the battlefield may she shatter his weapons, disorder and revolt may she create for him ; may she smite his warriors, and pour out their blood, that the ground may drink it ; the heaps of the dead of his army may she heap up on the field ; may his soldiers find no graves; may she deliver him into the hands of his enemies and imprison him in the land of his foes.” Although not historical, this passage seems to associate these two divinities, Zamama and Istar, with some great event either in the reign of Khammurabi or immediately preceding his accession to the throne. Still more important is the grand pean of praise engraved upon the statue of the king, the lower portion of which is now in the British Museum. Indeed, it has very much the appearance of a song of accession, like the hymn to the Egyptian king, Amen-em-hat I.* “Bel hath bestowed lordly rank on thee, For whom dost thou wait? Sin (moon) hath dowered thee with princely power, For whom dost thou wait ? Ninip hath given thee the sword of supremacy, For whom dost thou wait ? Istar hath given to thee the war and battle, For whom dost thou wait? Samas and Rimmon are thy guardians, For whom dost thou wait?” ue “‘Jéstablish thy might In the four quarters of the earth. * Petrie, ‘‘ History of Egypt,” vol. 1. p. 230. ——— ae “KHAMMURABI THE GREAT” I NI Oo May thy name be proclaimed. May thy widespread people Address supplication to thee. May they bow down their faces In reverence before thee. Let them celebrate Thy great glory. May they tender obedience Unto thy supremacy.” Col. IV. “ He hath established, He hath made glorious to future days The greatness of his power. Khammurabi, the strong warrior, The destroyer of his foes. He is the hurricane of battle, Sweeping the land of his foes. He bringeth opposition to naught, He putteth an end to insurrection. He breaketh the warrior Like an image of clay.” This beautiful text has every appearance of being a grand song of praise to one who had just accom- plished some great feat of arms, such as the over- throw of the Elamites, who had so long oppressed the land.* It is now time to see if we can find any trace of this great victory which had so impressed itself on the annals of the period. In this inscription, which I have given at the commencement of the chapter, we have (par. xii.) a short phrase which has every appearance of history. As the value is great, I give the transcribed text in full. * As the inscription is bilingual in Semitic Babylonian and Assyrian, it was evidently intended to be read by all the king’s subjects. 174 THE FIRST OF EMPIRES El Ns cee EN SENT SEW tt > YY Sal Sal = SEI] =) --] ~. -=]]), “servant,” so the name means “servant of the moongod.” The form Eriv-Aku would appear in Hebrew in the form Arioch (8, Gen. xiv. I-19). So that there is every reason for identifying this king with the king of Larsa, of which he was ruler, mentioned in Genesis xiv. We have several inscriptions of this ruler, and many tablets dated in his reign. The most important text is one upon a bronze figure exhibited in the British Museum, which 176 THE FIRST OF EMPIRES was a votive offering by Eri-aku and his father, the Elamite king Kudur-mabug. Here we see the king, who is evidently acting as viceroy of his father, claiming rule over Nippur, Ur, and Larsa, and also the general title of Sumir and Akkad. There is no mention of Babylon. Larsa was evidently the seat of his rule. There is now to be noticed the fact that, throughout the whole of the canon of dates for the reigns CYLINDER OF ERI-AKU (RIM SIN). preceding the reign of Khammurabi, there is no mention of Larsa, which shows that it was not one of the cities which the early kings of the dynasty ruled, or endowed its temple. Yet we find Khammurabi doing so, and using an important epithet in describing his relation to it. He speaks of himself as “the avenging warrior (karrad gamil) of Larsa, the restorer of the house of light, for the sun-god his helper (7227 sz).” So it was not until the overthrow of the rule of Eri-aku that the kings of Babylon could exercise authority in Larsa. The same applies to the city of Nisin, which seems to have “KHAMMURABI THE GREAT” 177 been under the rule of the Elamites also. For the king calls himself the “divine protector (z/z zalulu) of the land, who gathered together the scattered people of Nisin, who heaps up abundance in the house of the noble palace.” The tablets of Rim Sin are many of them dated in the year of the taking of Nisin, thus, the fifth year (B. 47), sixth (B. 50), seventh, eighth, ninth, and up to the twenty- eighth, so the event was one of great importance in the annals of the ruling house of Larsa. In the chronicle we find the seventeenth year dated as the year in which the city of Isin was taken. This date I take to apply to the recapture of the city by Sin-mu-ballit, the father of Khammurabi, and not to the event which gives the era to the tablets of Rim Sin. The fall of Nisin, then, given on these tablets from Larsa, would have taken place early in the reign of Apil Sin. Taking all these data together, it seems evident that there was a great battle fought near Kis and Kharsag Kalama, in which Rim Sin, or Eri-aku, and the King of Elam were defeated, and the power of the Arabian dynasty established, and in this great victory Khammurabi was the leading spirit. If, then, we make Eri-aku, or Rim Sin, the contemporary of Sin-mu-ballit the father, we have a much more reasonable solution of the difficulties in-the history of this period, than in rele- gating the defeat of the Elamites to the latter part of the reign of Khammurabi. A great deal of ingenious philological energy has been expended on the identification of the allied kings who invaded Palestine in the age of Abram, and were defeated by him ; and the identification of Khammurabi or the variation Ammurabi, with the Amraphel there mentioned, is boldly asserted, so much so that one august N 178 THE FIRST OF EMPIRES person speaks of him as the “ friend of Abram.” But of all the attempts which have been put forward, none has really been found sound. In the bilingual list of kings, Khammurabzis rendered by Kimta rapastum. An ammu, or Khammu, is regarded as the equivalent of the Hebrew Am, and taken to be the name of a divinity—the Moon, according to Hommel. But on the evidence of the great code associated with the name of this ruler, it seems to me the translation in the bilingual list can be much better explained. The word Khammu, from the root Khamamu, means “law.” This is beyond doubt when we look at some examples. There is a passage in the legend where Zu steals the tablets of law and destiny from the god Bel, which reads, “I will seize the tablets of destiny and the laws (¢erzte) of all the gods. I will legislate (akhmum).... Again we meet with the words Kha- mimat gimir pars, “the dictator of decrees applied to Istar.”* Both Ammu and Khammu are no doubt cog- nates, and we find the former used in the code text (Col. IV. 53, 54), “who directs the law, to adjudge deci- sions (ammz).” Sothat the reading of the name is but a variation or a paraphrase, “the great Decider of Law,” and “the law is widespread,” where Azm7z is for Kintz (“law ”), So, also, this reading supplies us with a concise rendering of the Ammz sadugga of the same list, Kimta Kittim (“the law is established ”).f I now come to the question of the real Amraphel. It cannot be Khammurabi, for in his reign he was overlord of all Chaldea, and appears at no time in alliance with any king of Elam or his viceroy. ‘ In the dynastic tablet published by Pinches (P.S.2.A., * King, “Seven Tablets of Creation,” p. 225. + We may compare the use of 227 in modern Arabic names. “KHAMMURABI THE GREAT” 179 May 6, 1884), we have the name of S7z-muballit, the father of Khammurabi, written in a short form, in ideograms, Amar (<<), Pal (= J*), the reading of which is Sin- muballit. Here we have an almost exact equivalent of the Hebrew “Amraphel.” This king, as far as his chronicles are accessible to us, was not so powerful as his great son, and so, possibly, his rule only extended over Sumir, or Shinar, and his name to his Sumerian subjects would be Amarphal, or Amraphel, king of Shinar, or Sumir. In this position he would be contemporary with the Elamite dynasty ruling at Larsa, and with the Elamite overlord, possibly Kudur-lagamar (servant of Lagamar), who, no doubt, also had relations with the people of Kuti, or Guti, that is, Kurdistan (the Goim, or Nations), and such an alliance as is recorded in Genesis xiv. would not only be possible, but highly probable, in his reign. At present it is impossible to establish any fixed chronology for this period, but some approximate estimate may be formed. Assurbanipal states that the Elamite king Kudur Nak- hunti had carried away the statue of Nana 1635 years before the campaign in B.C. 650-49. Now, if we assume this to be the invasion which established the line of Elamite rulers at Larsa, and also that Assurbanipal was reckoning from the end of that rule, we have a date which agrees with several other authorities. Berossos, the Chaldean historian, who certainly had access to cuneiform records, states that “astronomical observations commenced at Babylon ;” they may have been ordered 490 years before the age of Phoroneus, consequently in B.c. 2243, which would fall in the reign of Khammurabi, and his alteration of the calendar and insertion of an intercalary month implies astronomical observations. 180 THE FIRST OF EMPIRES According to Stephanos of Byzantium, Babylon was built 1002 years before the date of the siege of Troy, which was in B.C. 1229, according to Hellanikos, that is, in B.C. 2231. Altogether it is not unreasonable, therefore, to place the reign of Khammurabi approximately at B.C. 2285, which would make it last B.c. 2285-2231. The only monumental catch-date is that given by Nabonidus in his cylinder that Burnaburias lived 700 years after Kham- murabi, and that Sagasalte Burias, another Kassite ruler, lived 800 years before Nabonidus. If this is the Burna- burias who was the correspondent of Amenophis III. in B.C. 1450, this would give us 2150 B.C., but we must treat this as a round number, Until further data are accessible, we may therefore, on fair grounds, place the reign of Khammurabi B.C. 2285-2231. This would give us for the dynasty the reigns as follows :-— Sumu-abu_... oo .» 23070Ee Sumu-la-ilu oe 1 2202mEne Zabu ae Se . 2347 Bie Apil Sin i pe .., 2330 Sin-muballit Aa .. 230 5aBe Khammurabi ve ... 220 5iaees Of the Elamite rulers of this period we know the names of four, but their order is not certain. These are Simti-Silkhak and his son Kudur-mabug, and Eriaku, viceroy of Larsa, son of the latter viceroy of Larsa, Kudur Nakhunte, who carried away the image of Nana, or Istar, from Erech ; and we may reasonably include Chedorlaomer, or Kudur Lagamar, in the list, on the authority of Genesis Xiv. We may therefore conclude that at the end of the reign, “KHAMMURABI THE GREAT” 18I and possibly during a partial regency of Khammurabi, the Elamite and his allies were defeated near Kish in a great battle, and the foreign rule came to an end. It is in regard to the spoils of this victory, the captured goddesses of Emutbalim, that Khammurabi writes to Siniddim the famous letters in the British and Constanti- nople Museums. I give the translations of these important documents, “Unto Sin-iddinam,—Thus saith Khammurabi, be- hold, I am now sending unto Kikerili-su the. . . officer and Khammurabi-bani the courier, that they bring hither the goddesses of the country of Emutbalum. Thou shalt cause the goddesses to travel in a processional boat as in a shrine, that they may come to Babylon. The band of women shall follow after them. For the food of the goddesses thou shalt provide sheep, and thou shalt take on board food for the provision of the band of women for the journey, until they reach Babylon. And thou shalt appoint men to draw the rope, and picked soldiers, that they may bring the goddesses to Babylon in safety. Let them not delay, but speedily reach Babylon.” This letter needs no explanation as to its bearing on the history of the period. In the battle in which Rim-Sin, or Eriaku, and the king of Emutbal had been defeated, the statues of certain Elamite goddesses had been taken. Like the Ark of the Covenant of the Hebrews, they constituted the palladia of the Elamites, and consequently they must be treated with respect due to their divinity. As the Philistines placed the captive Ark in the temple of Dagon (1 Sam. v. 3, e¢ seg.), in Ashdod, so Khammurabi desired so important a booty to be sent to Babylon. The 182 THE FIRST OF EMPIRES importance of the capture of national or tribal gods is a well-known fact in ancient history. It was for this reason that the Assyrians carried away the gods of a conquered people. Esarhaddon carried away the gods of the Arabs, and when he returned them, wrote his name upon them, so that they might remember him. When Assurbanipal captured Susa in B.C. 650, he brought back the statue of Istar, which had been carried away 1635 years before by Kudur-nan Khunti. From another inscription we know that the statues of Marduk and his consort Zirat-panit had been carried away by the king of Khani-rabat (North Mesopotamia), and were brought back with great ceremony by the Kassite king Aqum, or Agum-ru-rimi, about B.C. 1500. Khammurabi orders the captured goddesses to be surrounded by their own retinue and provided for like queens, They were to travel in #a-lali, that is, “ boat-like arks,” like the barks (or boats) of the Egyptian gods. And their own band of devotees (£2zret2) were to accompany them. They were to be provided with food (kurumat), for the meals of the divinities were a most important part of the temple ritual. In the great inscription of Khammurabi we find these meals mentioned. Thus we read (Col. III., 30, or par. xvii.), “establishing the ceremonies of the cities of Kes, who restored the holy meals (#akalie) of the goddess Nin Tu.” So also the king provided holy meals for Nin Asu (Col. IV., 35, par. xxiii.). These holy meals, or the daily or nightly meals, provided for the god Bel, are mentioned in the Apocryphal book of Bel and the Dragon. A body of men were told off to draw the tow-ropes, for the boats had to cross Babylonia by the canals which intersected the plain, and so towing would be necessary. The “chosen soldiers” are rather interesting, as we meet with them in the “KHAMMURABI THE GREAT” 183 Bible. The words are zabam bikhram (‘chosen soldiers ”). These are evidently the dkhorim, or “youths,” as it is rendered, from whom Joshua was selected (Numb. ix. 28), who formed the entourage of Moses. It must have been, indeed, a stately pageant, this journey of the goddesses, which, four thousand years ago, passed through the canals of Babylonia. The second letter relating to these goddesses is in the Imperial Ottoman Museum at Constantinople, and is the one in which Professor Schiel and Dr. Pinches * imagined they had found the name of Kudur-lagamar, or Chedorlaomer. It reads— “Unto Sin-iddinam,—Thus saith Khammurabi, the goddesses of Emutbalum which were in thy charge, the troops under the command of Inukh-Samar will bring unto thee in safety. When they shall reach thee with the troops thou hast in charge, and the troops thou shalt divert,j the goddesses to their shrines shall they bring in safety.” Both the text and date of this letter are a little diffi- cult to explain. Until we knew more of the reign of this king from the discoveries made by M. de Morgan at Susa, the explanation given by Mr. King seemed perfectly satisfactory. He says, “It is not improbable that, after they had been removed to Babylon, in accordance with Khammu- rabi’s instructions, the Babylonian forces were defeated by the Elamites, and that this misfortune was attributed by * Schiel, “ Rec. des Trav.,” tom. xx. p. 64. Pinches, “ Inscriptions and Records referring to Babylonia or Elam,” pp. 27-30. } King reads “destroy the people,” but I take /zfzzt-ma to mean, as in other places, “‘turn aside,” “ divert.” ¢ “ Khammurabi III.,” p. 11. 184 THE FIRST OF EMPIRES them to the wrath of the goddesses at being taken from their shrines. We may suppose that it was to appease their anger that Khammurabi decided to send them back to their own country.” I am now more inclined to think that at the time this second letter was written Khammurabi was ruling over Emutbal, and, by returning the goddesses, wished to increase his hold on the land. The code still, no doubt, was carried away as spoil by the Elamite king, Sutruk Nakhunte, about B.C. 1300, with another inscription of this king, on a black granite block, on which is an inscription in Sumerian. This may possibly be a monument of his presence in the country. The text has been somewhat imperfectly published by Schiel (‘‘Textes Elamites Semitiques,” tom. 1. pp: 84, 85). Owing to its broken nature, it cannot be clearly translated. “ Khammurabi, the mighty hero, the warrior king (ursag), King of the four quarters of the earth, who hath brought into subjection the favourite of Anu ; proclaimed by command of Bel, whose might the great gods created, and announced his name ; with his royal weapon the enemy his hand defeated ; with his host the foe his sword destroyed. the hostile lands. . . the mighty hero... . ? This inscription is much in the style of the coronation “KHAMMURABI THE GREAT” 185 hymn already referred to, and may form part of some monument erected by Khammurabi in Elam. The defeat of the Elamites and the deliverance of the land from their rule established Khammurabi on his throne. How terrible this invasion must have been is shown by many of the expressions used by the king as to the cities he benefited. The people of Isin were “scattered, and he gathered them together ;” the city of Malga, or Malka, had been pillaged, and the king “captured all their robbers, and delivered them from destruction, and made them a home among plenty.” Of other minor towns he says, “he cared for their inhabitants in their affliction, and gave them a portion within Babylon.” Perhaps the terrible effect of this invasion is best reflected in a poem which we may ascribe to this period. It relates to the sack of Erech. “ How long, O my Lady, shall the strong enemy hold thy sanctuary ? There is famine in Erech, thy princely city. Blood flows like water in E. Ulbar, the house of thy oracle. He has kindled and poured out fire like hailstorms on thy land. O my Lady, I am sorely fettered by misfortune. My Lady, thou hast surrounded me and brought me to grief ; The mighty enemy hath smitten me down like a reed. I am not wise ; with myself I cannot take counsel. I mourn day and night like the fields.* I, thy servant, pray to thee; Let thy heart be rested and thy mind at ease.” One other fragment of historical information —alas! too small and fragmentary—must be noticed. It is in paragraph xxv. of the introduction to the Code Text (Coll TVs): * Possibly a reference to the uncultivated state of the land. 186 THE FIRST OF EMPIRiS me 8 Fl Ce Ry mA SS 2 8 Bee =< 7] he -y Sl 2] = Gee rT tw =e eo Sa t WI TRANSCRIPTION. “Mu-se-bi Ki-na-tim mu-Su-Se-ir am-mi mu-te-ir Lam- massu-8u da-mi-ik-tim a-na (Alu) A-u-Sar (ki) mu-Se-ib- tim ni-bi-khi Sarru Sa ina Ni-nu-a (ki) i-na Bit DUD DUB u-Su-bi-u Simate (Ilat) Nini (Istar).” (“Who settled the tribes, who directs by law, who restored to the city of Assur its propitious winged bull, making bright with splendour. The king who in Nineveh, in the temple of Dubdub, made splendid the emblems of Istar.”) This fragment is of great historical importance, as it shows that both Assur and Nineveh were in existence in the days of Khammurabi, that is, more than four centuries earlier than any Assyrian record we possess. This passage confirms the brief message in one of the royal letters (No. 1), where we read, “Two hundred and forty men of the king’s company under the command of Nannar-iddina, and who are of the force that is in thy hand, and who have left the country of Assur and the district of Situllum.” These passages show that as early as B.C. 2250 circ. there was a military intercourse between Assyria and Babylonia, and the reference to the restora- tion of the winged bull would seem to imply its having SS AMVURABL THE GREAT” 187 been carried away as spoil of war. The earliest viceroys Photo, Eyre and Spotliswoode. ASSYRIAN WINGED BULL. of Assur, whose dates are known, are Ismi Dagan (B.C. 1840), and his son, Samsi-Ramman (B.C. 1820). The 188 THE FIRST OF EMPIRES name of st <<] =I] (eze-sz, viceroy), given to the early rulers of Assyria, shows that it was a province or colony under a suzerain, and that overlord we now know to be the ruling king of Babylon. It is to be noticed that we have the archaic spelling of Assur—Au-sar—instead of As-sur, which perhaps may be the old Sumerian form of the name; if so, it means “the city on the waters’ bank.” With regard to Nineveh, it is most certainly a Semiti- cized form of the old Sumerian name of Nina, in its usual ideographic form (=7x<] BY + 8 N s 3 > = 3 >| a v x dy : wm! ss Seite j % Why ey ——s — Qe iS ~ au » ‘\) So \ : } ~¢ ay) An x p ‘ DS N ~ F » \ (ee i — SS = Date Due Demco 38-297 he t en a er ial thea i tn ten tae et Neaee fH Sporewn pil pet iu reozcv9c0 Wil