Early Babylonian Life And Customs
In tracing the ancient history of Mesopotamia and the surrounding
countries it is possible to construct a narrative which has the
appearance of being comparatively full and complete. With regard to
Babylonia it may be shown how dynasty succeeded dynasty, and for long
periods together the names of the kings have been recovered and the
order of their succession fixed with certainty. But the number and
importance of the o
iginal documents on which this connected narration
is based vary enormously for different periods. Gaps occur in our
knowledge of the sequence of events, which with some ingenuity may be
bridged over by means of the native lists of kings and the genealogies
furnished by the historical inscriptions. On the other hand, as if to
make up for such parsimony, the excavations have yielded a wealth of
material for illustrating the conditions of early Babylonian life which
prevailed in such periods. The most fortunate of these periods, so far
as the recovery of its records is concerned, is undoubtedly the period
of the Semitic kings of the First Dynasty of Babylon, and in particular
the reign of its greatest ruler, Hammurabi. When M. Maspero wrote his
history, thousands of clay tablets, inscribed with legal and commercial
documents and dated in the reigns of these early kings, had already been
recovered, and the information they furnished was duly summarized by
him.* But since that time two other sources of information have been
made available which have largely increased our knowledge of
the constitution of the early Babylonian state, its system of
administration, and the conditions of life of the various classes of the
population.
* Most of these tablets are preserved in the British Museum.
The principal?works in which they have been published are
Cuneiform Texts in the British Museum (1896, etc.),
Strassmaier's Altbabylonischen Vertrage aus Warka, and
Meissner's Beitrage zum altbabylonischen Privatrecht. A
number of similar tablets of this period, preserved in the
Pennsylvania Museum, will shortly be published by Dr. Ranke.
One of these new sources of information consists of a remarkable series
of royal letters, written by kings of the First Dynasty, which has been
recovered and is now preserved in the British Museum. The letters were
addressed to the governors and high officials of various great cities in
Babylonia, and they contain the king's orders with regard to details of
the administration of the country which had been brought to his notice.
The range of subjects with which they deal is enormous, and there is
scarcely one of them which does not add to our knowledge of the period.*
The other new source of information is the great code of laws, drawn up
by Hammurabi for the guidance of his people and defining the duties and
privileges of all classes of his subjects, the discovery of which at
Susa has been described in a previous chapter. The laws are engraved on
a great stele of diorite in no less than forty-nine columns of writing,
of which forty-four are preserved,* and at the head of the stele is
sculptured a representation of the king receiving them from Shamash, the
Sun-god.
* See King, Letters and Inscriptions of Hammurabi, 3 vols.
(1898-1900).
This code shows to what an extent the administration of law and justice
had been developed in Babylonia in the time of the First Dynasty. From
the contracts and letters of the period we already knew that regular
judges and duly appointed courts of law were in existence, and the code
itself was evidently intended by the king to give the royal sanction to
a great body of legal decisions and enactments which already possessed
the authority conferred by custom and tradition. The means by which such
a code could have come into existence are illustrated by the system of
procedure adopted in the courts at this period. After a case had been
heard and judgment had been given, a summary of the case and of the
evidence, together with the judgment, was drawn up and written out on
tablets in due legal form and phraseology. A list of the witnesses was
appended, and, after the tablet had been dated and sealed, it was stored
away among the legal archives of the court, where it was ready for
production in the event of any future appeal or case in which the
recorded decision was involved. This procedure represents an advanced
stage in the system of judicial administration, but the care which
was taken for the preservation of the judgments given was evidently
traditional, and would naturally give rise in course of time to the
existence of a recognized code of laws.
Moreover, when once a judgment had been given and had been duly recorded
it was irrevocable, and if any judge attempted to alter such a decision
he was severely punished. For not only was he expelled from his
judgment-seat, and debarred from exercising judicial functions in the
future, but, if his judgment had involved the infliction of a penalty,
he was obliged to pay twelve times the amount to the man he had
condemned. Such an enactment must have occasionally given rise to
hardship or injustice, but at least it must have had the effect
of imbuing the judges with a sense of their responsibility and of
instilling a respect for their decisions in the minds of the people. A
further check upon injustice was provided by the custom of the elders of
the city, who sat with the judge and assisted him in the carrying out
of his duties; and it was always open to a man, if he believed that he
could not get justice enforced, to make an appeal to the king. It is not
our present purpose to give a technical discussion of the legal contents
of the code, but rather to examine it with the object of ascertaining
what light it throws upon ancient Babylonian life and customs, and the
conditions under which the people lived.
The code gives a good deal of information with regard to the family life
of the Babylonians, and, above all, proves the sanctity with which the
marriage-tie was invested. The claims that were involved by marriage
were not lightly undertaken. Any marriage, to be legally binding, had to
be accompanied by a duly executed and attested marriage-contract. If a
man had taken a woman to wife without having carried out this necessary
preliminary, the woman was not regarded as his wife in the legal sense.
On the other hand, when once such a marriage-contract had been drawn up,
its inviolability was stringently secured. A case of proved adultery
on the part of a man's wife was punished by the drowning of the guilty
parties, though the husband of the woman, if he wished to save his wife,
could do so by an appeal to the king. Similarly, death was the penalty
for a man who ravished another man's betrothed wife while she was still
living in her father's house, but in this case the girl's innocence
and inexperience were taken into account, and no penalty was enforced
against her and she was allowed to go free. Where the adultery of a wife
was not proved, and only depended on the accusation of the husband, the
woman could clear herself by swearing her own innocence; if, however,
the accusation was not brought by the husband himself, but by others,
the woman could clear herself by submitting to the ordeal by water; that
is to say, she would plunge into the Euphrates; if the river carried her
away and she were drowned, it was regarded as proof that the accusation
was well founded; if, on the contrary, she survived and got safely
to the bank, she was considered innocent and was forthwith allowed to
return to her household completely vindicated.
It will have been seen that the duty of chastity on the part of a
married woman was strictly enforced, but the husband's responsibility to
properly maintain his wife was also recognized, and in the event of
his desertion she could under certain circumstances become the wife of
another man. Thus, if he left his city and fled from it of his own free
will and deserted his wife, he could not reclaim her on his return,
since he had not been forced to leave the city, but had done so because
he hated it. This rule did not apply to the case of a man who was taken
captive in battle. In such circumstances the wife's action was to be
guided by the condition of her husband's affairs. If the captive husband
possessed sufficient property on which his wife could be maintained
during his captivity in a strange land, she had no reason nor excuse
for seeking another marriage. If under these circumstances she became
another man's wife, she was to be prosecuted at law, and, her action
being the equivalent of adultery, she was to be drowned. But the case
was regarded as altered if the captive husband had not sufficient means
for the maintenance of his wife during his absence. The woman would then
be thrown on her own resources, and if she became the wife of another
man she incurred no blame. On the return of the captive he could reclaim
his wife, but the children of the second marriage would remain with
their own father. These regulations for the conduct of a woman, whose
husband was captured in battle, give an intimate picture of the manner
in which the constant wars of this early period affected the lives of
those who took part in them.
Under the Babylonians at the period of the First Dynasty divorce was
strictly regulated, though it was far easier for the man to obtain one
than for the woman. If we may regard the copies of Sumerian laws, which
have come down to us from the late Assyrian period, as parts of the code
in use under the early Sumerians, we must conclude that at this earlier
period the law was still more in favour of the husband, who could
divorce his wife whenever he so desired, merely paying her half a mana
as compensation. Under the Sumerians the wife could not obtain a
divorce at all, and the penalty for denying her husband was death. These
regulations were modified in favour of the woman in Hammurabi's code;
for under its provisions, if a man divorced his wife or his concubine,
he was obliged to make proper provision for her maintenance. Whether
she were barren or had borne him children, he was obliged to return
her marriage portion; and in the latter case she had the custody of the
children, for whose maintenance and education he was obliged to furnish
the necessary supplies. Moreover, at the man's death she and her
children would inherit a share of his property. When there had been no
marriage portion, a sum was fixed which the husband was obliged to pay
to his divorced wife, according to his status. In cases where the wife
was proved to have wasted her household and to have entirely failed in
her duty, her husband could divorce her without paying any compensation,
or could make her a slave in his house, and the extreme penalty for
this offence was death. On the other hand, a woman could not be divorced
because she had contracted a permanent disease; and, if she desired to
divorce her husband and could prove that her past life had been seemly,
she could do so, returning to her father's house and taking her marriage
portion with her.
It is not necessary here to go very minutely into the regulations given
by the code with regard to marriage portions, the rights of widows,
the laws of inheritance, and the laws regulating the adoption and
maintenance of children. The customs that already have been described
with regard to marriage and divorce may serve to indicate the spirit
in which the code is drawn up and the recognized status occupied by the
wife in the Babylonian household. The extremely independent position
enjoyed by women in the early Babylonian days is illustrated by the
existence of a special class of women, to which constant reference is
made in the contracts and letters of the period. When the existence of
this class of women was first recognized from the references to them in
the contract-tablets inscribed at the time of the First Dynasty, they
were regarded as priestesses, but the regulations concerning them which
occur in the code of Hammurabi prove that their duties were not strictly
sacerdotal, but that they occupied the position of votaries. The
majority of those referred to in the inscriptions of this period
were vowed to the service of E-bab-bara, the temple of the Sun-god at
Sippara, and of E-sagila, the great temple of Marduk at Babylon, but
it is probable that all the great temples in the country had classes of
female votaries attached to them. From the evidence at present
available it may be concluded that the functions of these women bore no
resemblance to that of the sacred prostitutes devoted to the service of
the goddess Ishtar in the city of Erech. They seem to have occupied a
position of great influence and independence in the community, and
their duties and privileges were defined and safeguarded by special
legislation.
Generally they lived together in a special building, or convent,
attached to the temple, but they had considerable freedom and could
leave the convent and also contract marriage. Their vows, however,
while securing them special privileges, entailed corresponding
responsibilities. Even when married a votary was still obliged to remain
a virgin, and, should her husband desire to have children, she could not
bear them herself, but must provide him with a maid or concubine. Also
she had to maintain a high standard of moral conduct, for any breach
of which severe penalties were enforced. Thus, if a votary who was not
living in the convent opened a beer-shop, or should enter one for drink,
she ran the risk of being put to death. But the privileges she enjoyed
were also considerable, for even when unmarried she enjoyed the status
of a married woman, and if any man slandered her he incurred the penalty
of branding on the forehead. Moreover, a married votary, though she
could not bear her husband children, was secured in her position as the
permanent head of his household. The concubine she might give to her
husband was always the wife's inferior, even after bearing him children,
and should the former attempt to put herself on a level of equality with
the votary, the latter might brand her as a slave and put her with the
female slaves. If the concubine proved barren she could be sold. The
votary could also possess property, and on taking her vows was provided
with a portion by her father exactly as though she were being given
in marriage. Her portion was vested in herself and did not become the
property of the order of votaries, nor of the temple to which she
was attached. The proceeds of her property were devoted to her own
maintenance, and on her father's death her brothers looked after
her interests, or she might farm the property out. Under certain
circumstances she could inherit property and was not obliged to pay
taxes on it, and such property she could bequeath at her own death; but
upon her death her portion returned to her own family unless her father
had assigned her the privilege of bequeathing it. That the social
position enjoyed by a votary was considerable is proved by the fact that
many women of good family, and even members of the royal house, took
vows. The existence of the order and its high repute indicate a
very advanced conception of the position of women among the early
Babylonians.
From the code of Hammurabi we also gather considerable information with
regard to the various classes of which the community was composed and
to their relative social positions. For the purposes of legislation
the community was divided into three main classes or sections, which
corresponded to well-defined strata in the social system. The lowest
of these classes consisted of the slaves, who must have formed a
considerable portion of the population. The class next above them
comprised the large body of free men, who were possessed of a certain
amount of property but were poor and humble, as their name, muslikenu,
implied. These we may refer to as the middle class. The highest, or
upper class, in the Babylonian community embraced all the officers and
ministers attached to the court, the higher officials and servants
of the state, and the owners of considerable lands and estates. The
differences which divided and marked off from one another the two great
classes of free men in the population of Babylonia is well illustrated
by the scale of payments as compensation for injury which they were
obliged to make or were entitled to receive. Thus, if a member of the
upper class were guilty of stealing an ox, or a sheep, or an ass, or
a pig, or a boat, from a temple or a private house, he had to pay the
owner thirty times its value as compensation, whereas if the thief were
a member of the middle class he only had to pay ten times its price, but
if he had no property and so could not pay compensation he was put to
death. The penalty for manslaughter was less if the assailant was a man
of the middle class, and such a man could also divorce his wife more
cheaply, and was privileged to pay his doctor or surgeon a smaller fee
for a successful operation.
But the privileges enjoyed by a man of the middle class were
counterbalanced by a corresponding diminution of the value at which
his life and limbs were assessed. Thus, if a doctor by carrying out an
operation unskilfully caused the death of a member of the upper class,
or inflicted a serious injury upon him, such as the loss of an eye, the
punishment was the amputation of both hands, but no such penalty seems
to have been exacted if the patient were a member of the middle class.
If, however, the patient were a slave of a member of the middle class,
in the event of death under the operation, the doctor had to give the
owner another slave, and in the event of the slave losing his eye, he
had to pay the owner half the slave's value. Penalties for assault were
also regulated in accordance with the social position and standing
of the parties to the quarrel. Thus, if one member of the upper class
knocked out the eye or the tooth of one of his equals, his own eye or
his own tooth was knocked out as a punishment, and if he broke the limb
of one of the members of his own class, he had his corresponding limb
broken; but if he knocked out the eye of a member of the middle class,
or broke his limb, he suffered no punishment in his own person, but was
fined one mana of silver, and for knocking out the tooth of such a man
he was fined one-third of a mana. If two members of the same class were
engaged in a quarrel, and one of them made a peculiarly improper assault
upon the other, the assailant was only fined, the fine being larger
if the quarrel was between members of the upper class. But if such an
assault was made by one man upon another who was of higher rank than
himself, the assailant was punished by being publicly beaten in the
presence of the assembly, when he received sixty stripes from a scourge
of ox-hide. These regulations show the privileges and responsibilities
which pertained to the two classes of free men in the Babylonian
community, and they indicate the relative social positions which they
enjoyed.
Both classes of free men could own slaves, though it is obvious that
they were more numerous in the households and on the estates of members
of the upper class. The slave was the absolute property of his master
and could be bought and sold and employed as a deposit for a debt,
but, though slaves as a class had few rights of their own, in certain
circumstances they could acquire them. Thus, if the owner of a female
slave had begotten children by her he could not use her as the payment
for a debt, and in the event of his having done so he was obliged to
ransom her by paying the original amount of the debt in money. It was
also possible for a male slave, whether owned by a member of the upper
or of the middle class, to marry a free woman, and if he did so, his
children were free and did not become the property of his master. Also,
if the free woman whom the slave married brought with her a marriage
portion from her father's house, this remained her own property on the
slave's death, and supposing the couple had acquired other property
during the time they lived together as man and wife, the owner of the
slave could only claim half of such property, the other half being
retained by the free woman for her own use and for that of her children.
Generally speaking, the lot of the slave was not a particularly hard
one, for he was a recognized member of his owner's household, and, as a
valuable piece of property, it was obviously to his owner's interest to
keep him healthy and in good condition. In fact, the value of the slave
is attested by the severity of the penalty imposed for abducting a male
or female slave from the owner's house and removing him or her from
the city; for a man guilty of this offence was put to death. The same
penalty was imposed for harbouring and taking possession of a runaway
slave, whereas a fixed reward was paid by the owner to any one by whom
a runaway slave was captured and brought back. Special legislation was
also devised with the object of rendering the theft of slaves difficult
and their detection easy. Thus, if a brander put a mark upon a slave
without the owner's consent, he was liable to have his hands cut off,
and if he could prove that he did so through being deceived by another
man, that man was put to death. For bad offences slaves were liable to
severe punishments, such as cutting off the ear, which was the penalty
for denying his master, and also for making an aggravated assault on a
member of the upper class of free men. But it is clear that on the whole
the slave was well looked after. He was also not condemned to remain
perpetually a slave, for while still in his master's service it was
possible for him, under certain conditions, to acquire property of his
own, and if he did so he was able with his master's consent to purchase
his freedom. If a slave were captured by the enemy and taken to a
foreign land and sold, and were then brought back by his new owner to
his own country, he could claim his liberty without having to pay any
purchase-money to either of his masters.
The code of Hammurabi also contains detailed regulations concerning the
duties of debtors and creditors, and it throws an interesting light
on the commercial life of the Babylonians at this early period. For
instance, it reveals the method by which a wealthy man, or a merchant,
extended his business and obtained large profits by trading with other
towns. This he did by employing agents who were under certain fixed
obligations to him, but acted independently so far as their trading was
concerned. From the merchant these agents would receive money or grain
or wool or oil or any sort of goods wherewith to trade, and in return
they paid a fixed share of their profits, retaining the remainder as
the recompense for their own services. They were thus the earliest of
commercial travellers. In order to prevent fraud between the merchant
and the agent special regulations were framed for the dealings they had
with one another. Thus, when the agent received from the merchant the
money or goods to trade with, it was enacted that he should at the time
of the transaction give a properly executed receipt for the amount he
had received. Similarly, if the agent gave the merchant money in return
for the goods he had received and in token of his good faith, the
merchant had to give a receipt to the agent, and in reckoning their
accounts after the agent's return from his journey, only such amounts as
were specified in the receipts were to be regarded as legal obligations.
If the agent forgot to obtain his proper receipt he did so at his own
risk.
Dating from the period of the First Dynasty of Babylon.
Travelling at this period was attended with some risk, as it is in the
East at the present day, and the caravan with which an agent travelled
was liable to attack from brigands, or it might be captured by enemies
of the country from which it set out. It was right that loss from this
cause should not be borne by the agent, who by trading with the goods
was risking his own life, but should fall upon the merchant who had
merely advanced the goods and was safe in his own city. It is plain,
however, that disputes frequently arose in consequence of the loss of
goods through a caravan being attacked and robbed, for the code states
clearly the responsibility of the merchant in the matter. If in the
course of his journey an enemy had forced the agent to give up some of
the goods he was carrying, on his return the agent had to specify the
amount on oath, and he was then acquitted of all responsibility in the
matter. If he attempted to cheat his employer by misappropriating the
money or goods advanced to him, on being convicted of the offence before
the elders of the city, he was obliged to repay the merchant three times
the amount he had taken. On the other hand, if the merchant attempted
to defraud his agent by denying that the due amount had been returned to
him, he was obliged on conviction to pay the agent six times the amount
as compensation. It will thus be seen that the law sought to protect the
agent from the risk of being robbed by his more powerful employer.
The merchant sometimes furnished the agent with goods which he was to
dispose of in the best markets he could find in the cities and towns
along his route, and sometimes he would give the agent money with which
to purchase goods in foreign cities for sale on his return. If the
venture proved successful the merchant and his agent shared the profits
between them, but if the agent made bad bargains he had to refund to the
merchant the value of the goods he had received; if the merchant had not
agreed to risk losing any profit, the amount to be refunded to him was
fixed at double the value of the goods advanced.
This last enactment gives an indication of the immense profits which
were obtained by both the merchant and the agent from this system of
foreign trade, for it is clear that what was regarded fair profit for
the merchant was double the value of the goods disposed of. The profits
of a successful journey would also include a fair return to the agent
for the trouble and time involved in his undertaking. Many of the
contract tablets of this early period relate to such commercial
journeys, which show that various bargains were made between the
different parties interested, and sometimes such contracts, or
partnerships, were entered into, not for a single journey only, but for
long periods. We may therefore conclude that at the time of the First
Dynasty of Babylon, and probably for long centuries before that period,
the great trade-routes of the East were crowded with traffic. With the
exception that donkeys and asses were employed for beasts of burden and
were not supplemented by horses and camels until a much later period, a
camping-ground in the desert on one of the great trade-routes must have
presented a scene similar to that of a caravan camping in the desert at
the present day.
AND URFA.]
The rough tracks beaten by the feet of men and beasts are the same
to-day as they were in that remote period. We can imagine a body of
these early travellers approaching a walled city at dusk and hastening
their pace to get there before the gates were shut. Such a picture as
that of the approach to the city of Samarra, with its mediaeval walls,
may be taken as having had its counterpart in many a city of the early
Babylonians. The caravan route leads through the desert to the city
gate, and if we substitute two massive temple towers for the domes of
the mosques that rise above the wall, little else in the picture need be
changed.
LEFT BANK OF THE TIGRIS.]
A small caravan is here seen approaching the city at sunset
before the gates are shut. Samarra was only founded in A. D.
834, by the Khalif el-Motasim, the son of Harun er-Rashid,
but customs in the East do not change, and the photograph
may be used to illustrate the approach of an early
Babylonian caravan to a walled city of the period.
The houses, too, at this period must have resembled the structures of
unburnt brick of the present day, with their flat mud tops, on which
the inmates sleep at night during the hot season, supported on poles
and brushwood. The code furnishes evidence that at that time, also, the
houses were not particularly well built and were liable to fall, and,
in the event of their doing so, it very justly fixes the responsibility
upon the builder. It is clear from the penalties for bad workmanship
enforced upon the builder that considerable abuses had existed in the
trade before the time of Hammurabi, and it is not improbable that the
enforcement of the penalties succeeded in stamping them out. Thus, if
a builder built a house for a man, and his work was not sound and the
house fell and crushed the owner so that he died, it was enacted that
the builder himself should be put to death. If the fall of the house
killed the owner's son, the builder's own son was to be put to death.
If one or more of the owner's slaves were killed, the builder had to
restore him slave for slave. Any damage which the owner's goods might
have suffered from the fall of the house was to be made good by the
builder. In addition to these penalties the builder was obliged to
rebuild the house, or any portion of it that had fallen through
not being properly secured, at his own cost. On the other hand, due
provisions were made for the payment of the builder for sound work; and
as the houses of the period rarely, if ever, consisted of more than one
story, the scale of payment was fixed by the area of ground covered by
the building.
Situated on the right bank of the Tigris opposite the mounds
which mark the site of the ancient city of Nineveh. The
flat-roof ednouses which may be distinguished in the
photograph are very similar in form and construction to
those employed by the ancient Assyrians and Babylonians.
From the code of Hammurabi we also gain considerable information with
regard to agricultural pursuits in ancient Babylonia, for elaborate
regulations are given concerning the landowner's duties and
responsibilities, and his relations to his tenants. The usual practice
in hiring land for cultivation was for the tenant to pay his rent in
kind, by assigning a certain proportion of the crop, generally a third
or a half, to the owner. If a tenant hired certain land for cultivation
he was bound to till it and raise a crop, and should he neglect to do
so he had to pay the owner what was reckoned as the average rent of the
land, and he had also to break up the land and plough it before handing
it back. As the rent of a field was usually reckoned at harvest, and its
amount depended on the size of the crop, it was only fair that damage to
the crop from flood or storm should not be made up by the tenant; thus
it was enacted by the code that any loss from such a cause should be
shared equally by the owner of the field and the farmer, though if the
latter had already paid his rent at the time the damage occurred he
could not make a claim for repayment.
Built on one of the mounds marking the site of the Assyrian
city of Nineveh. The mosque in the photograph is built over
the traditional site of the prophet Jonah's tomb. The flat-
roofed houses of the modern dwellers on the mound can be
well seen in the picture.
It is clear from the enactments of the code that disputes were frequent,
not only between farmers and landowners, but also between farmers and
shepherds. It is certain that the latter, in the attempt to find pasture
for the flocks, often allowed their sheep to feed off the farmers' fields
in the spring. This practice the code set itself to prevent by fixing a
scale of compensation to be paid by any shepherd who caused his sheep to
graze on cultivated land without the owner's consent. If the offence was
committed in the early spring, when the crop was still small, the farmer
was to harvest the crop and receive a considerable price in kind as
compensation for the shepherd. But if it occurred later on in the
spring, when the sheep had been brought in from the meadows and turned
into the great common field at the city gate, the offence would less
probably be due to accident and the damage to the crop would be greater.
In these circumstances the shepherd had to take over the crop and pay
the farmer very heavily for his loss.
From a stone slab in the British Museum.
The planting of gardens and orchards was encouraged, and a man was
allowed to use a field for this purpose without paying a yearly rent. He
might plant it and tend it for four years, and in the fifth year of
his tenancy the original owner of the field took half of the garden
in payment, while the other half the planter of the garden kept for
himself. If a bare patch had been left in the garden it was to be
reckoned in the planter's half. Regulations were framed to ensure the
proper carrying out of the planting, for if the tenant neglected to do
this during the first four years, he was still liable to plant the plot
he had taken without receiving his half, and he had to pay the owner
compensation in addition, which varied in amount according to the
original condition of the land. If a man hired a garden, the rent he
paid to the owner was fixed at two-thirds of its produce. Detailed
regulations are also given in the code concerning the hire of cattle
and asses, and the compensation to be paid to the owner for the loss or
ill-treatment of his beasts. These are framed on the just principle that
the hirer was responsible only for damage or loss which he could have
reasonably prevented. Thus, if a lion killed a hired ox or ass in the
open country, or if an ox was killed by lightning, the loss fell upon
the owner and not on the man who hired the beast. But if the hirer
killed the ox through carelessness or by beating it unmercifully, or if
the beast broke its leg while in his charge, he had to restore another
ox to the owner in place of the one he had hired. For lesser damages to
the beast the hirer had to pay compensation on a fixed scale. Thus, if
the ox had its eye knocked out during the period of its hire, the man
who hired it had to pay to the owner half its value; while for a broken
horn, the loss of the tail, or a torn muzzle, he paid a quarter of the
value of the beast.
Fines were also levied for carelessness in looking after cattle, though
in cases of damage or injury, where carelessness could not be proved,
the owner of a beast was not held responsible. A bull might go wild at
any time and gore a man, however careful and conscientious the owner
might be, and in these circumstances the injured man could not bring an
action against the owner. But if a bull had already gored a man, and,
although it was known to be vicious, the owner had not blunted its horns
or shut it up, in the event of its goring and killing a free man, he had
to pay half a mana of silver. One-third of a mana was the price paid for
a slave who was killed. A landed proprietor who might hire farmers to
cultivate his fields inflicted severe fines for acts of dishonesty with
regard to the cattle, provender, or seed-corn committed to their charge.
If a man stole the provender for the cattle he had to make it good, and
he was also liable to the punishment of having his hands cut off. In
the event of his being convicted of letting out the oxen for hire, or
stealing the seed-corn so that he did not produce a crop, he had to pay
very heavy compensation, and, if he could not pay, he was liable to be
torn to pieces by the oxen in the field he should have cultivated.
In a dry land like Babylonia, where little rain falls and that in only
one season of the year, the irrigation of his fields forms one of the
most important duties of the agriculturist. The farmer leads the water
to his fields along small irrigation-canals or channels above the level
of the soil, their sides being formed of banks of earth. It is clear
that similar methods were employed by the early Babylonians. One such
channel might supply the fields of several farmers, and it was the duty
of each man through whose land the channel flowed to keep its banks on
his land in repair. If he omitted to strengthen his bank or dyke, and
the water forced a breach and flooded his neighbour's field, he had to
pay compensation in kind for any crop that was ruined; while if he could
not pay, he and his goods were sold, and his neighbours, whose fields
had been damaged through his carelessness, shared the money.
The land of Babylonian farmers was prepared for irrigation before it was
sown by being divided into a number of small square or oblong tracts,
each separated from the others by a low bank of earth, the seed being
afterwards sown within the small squares or patches. Some of the banks
running lengthwise through the field were made into small channels, the
ends of which were carried up to the bank of the nearest main irrigation
canal. No system of gates or sluices was employed, and when the farmer
wished to water one of his fields he simply broke away the bank opposite
one of his small channels and let the water flow into it. He would let
the water run along this small channel until it reached the part of
his land he wished to water. He then blocked the channel with a little
earth, at the same time breaking down its bank so that the water flowed
over one of the small squares and thoroughly soaked it. When this square
was finished he filled up the bank and repeated the process for the
next square, and so on until he had watered the necessary portion of
the field. When this was finished he returned to the main channel and
stopped the flow of the water by blocking up the hole he had made in the
dyke. The whole process was, and to-day still is, extremely simple,
but it needs care and vigilance, especially in the case of extensive
irrigation when water is being carried into several parts of an estate
at once. It will be obvious that any carelessness on the part of the
irrigator in not shutting off the water in time may lead to extensive
damage, not only to his own fields, but to those of his neighbours. In
the early Babylonian period, if a farmer left the water running in his
channel, and it flooded his neighbour's field and hurt his crop, he had
to pay compensation according to the amount of damage done.
It was stated above that the irrigation-canals and little channels were
made above the level of the soil so that the water could at any point
be tapped and allowed to flow over the surrounding land; and in a flat
country like Babylonia it will be obvious that some means had to be
employed for raising the water from its natural level to the higher
level of the land. As we should expect, reference is made in the
Babylonian inscriptions to irrigation-machines, and, although their
exact form and construction are not described, they must have been very
similar to those employed at the present day. The modern inhabitants of
Mesopotamia employ four sorts of contrivances for raising the water into
their irrigation-channels; three of these are quite primitive, and are
those most commonly employed. The method which gives the least trouble
and which is used wherever the conditions allow is a primitive form of
water-wheel. This can be used only in a river with a good current.
The wheel is formed of rough boughs and branches nailed together, with
spokes joining the outer rims to a roughly hewn axle. A row of rough
earthenware cups or bottles are tied round the outer rim for picking
up the water, and a few rough paddles are fixed so that they stick out
beyond the rim. The wheel is then fixed in place near the bank of the
river, its axle resting in pillars of rough masonry.
EUPHRATES.]
As the current turns the wheel, the bottles on the rim dip below the
surface and are raised up full. At the top of the wheel is fixed a
trough made by hollowing half the trunk of a date-palm, and into this
the bottles pour their water, which is conducted from the trough by
means of a small aqueduct into the irrigation-channel on the bank.
The convenience of the water-wheel will be obvious, for the water is
raised without the labour of man or beast, and a constant supply is
secured day and night so long as the current is strong enough to turn
the wheel. The water can be cut off by blocking the wheel or tying it
up. These wheels are most common on the Euphrates, and are usually set
up where there is a slight drop in the river bed and the water runs
swiftly over shallows. As the banks are very high, the wheels are
necessarily huge contrivances in order to reach the level of the fields,
and their very rough construction causes them to creak and groan as they
turn with the current. In a convenient place in the river several of
these are sometimes set up side by side, and the noise of their combined
creakings can be heard from a great distance. Some idea of what one of
these machines looks like can be obtained from the illustration. At Hit
on the Euphrates a line of gigantic water-wheels is built across the
river, and the noise they make is extraordinary.
Where there is no current to turn one of these wheels, or where the bank
is too high, the water must be raised by the labour of man or beast. The
commonest method, which is the one employed generally on the Tigris, is
to raise it in skins, which are drawn up by horses, donkeys, or cattle.
A recess with perpendicular sides is cut into the bank, and a wooden
spindle on wooden struts is supported horizontally over the recess. A
rope running over the spindle is fastened to the skin, while the funnel
end of the skin is held up by a second rope, running over a lower
spindle, until its mouth is opposite the trough into which the water
is to be poured. The beasts which are employed for raising the skin
are fastened to the ends of the ropes, and they get a good purchase for
their pull by being driven down a short cutting or inclined plane in the
bank. To get a constant flow of water, two skins are usually employed,
and as one is drawn up full the other is let down empty.
The third primitive method of raising water, which is commoner in Egypt
than in Mesopotamia at the present day, is the shadduf, and is worked
by hand. It consists of a beam supported in the centre, at one end of
which is tied a rope with a bucket or vessel for raising the water, and
at the other end is fixed a counterweight.* On an Assyrian bas-relief
found at Kuyunjik are representations of the shadduf in operation,
two of them being used, the one above the other, to raise the water to
successive levels. These were probably the contrivances usually employed
by the early Babylonians for raising the water to the level of their
fields, and the fact that they were light and easily removed must have
made them tempting objects to the dishonest farmer. Hammurabi therefore
fixed a scale of compensation to be paid to the owner by a detected
thief, which varied according to the class and value of the machine
he stole. The rivers and larger canals of Babylonia were used by the
ancient inhabitants not only for the irrigation of their fields, but
also as waterways for the transport of heavy materials. The recently
published letters of Hammurabi and Abeshu' contain directions for the
transportation of corn, dates, sesame seed, and wood, which were ordered
to be brought in ships to Babylon, and the code of Hammurabi refers to
the transportation by water of wool and oil. It is therefore clear that
at this period considerable use was made of vessels of different size
for conveying supplies in bulk by water. The method by which the size of
such ships and barges was reckoned was based on the amount of grain
they were capable of carrying, and this was measured by the gur, the
largest measure of capacity. Thus mention is made in the inscriptions of
vessels of five, ten, fifteen, twenty, thirty, forty, fifty, sixty, and
seventy-five gur capacity. A boat-builder's fee for building a vessel of
sixty gur was fixed at two shekels of silver, and it was proportionately
less for boats of smaller capacity. To ensure that the boat-builder
should not scamp his work, regulations were drawn up to fix on him the
responsibility for unsound work. Thus if a boat-builder were employed to
build a vessel, and he put faulty work into its construction so that it
developed defects within a year of its being launched, he was obliged to
strengthen and rebuild it at his own expense.
* The fourth class of machine for raising water employed in
Mesopotamia at the present day consists of an endless chain
of iron buckets running over a wheel. This is geared by
means of rough wooden cogs to a horizontal wheel, the
spindle of which has long poles fixed to it, to which horses
or cattle are harnessed. The beasts go round in a circle and
so turn the machine. The contrivance is not so primitive as
the three described above, and the iron buckets are of
European importation.
The hire of a boatman was fixed at six gur of corn to be paid him
yearly, but it is clear that some of the larger vessels carried crews
commanded by a chief boatman, or captain, whose pay was probably on
a larger scale. If a man let his boat to a boatman, the latter was
responsible for losing or sinking it, and he had to replace it. A
boatman was also responsible for the safety of his vessel and of any
goods, such as corn, wool, oil, or dates, which he had been hired to
transport, and if they were sunk through his carelessness he had to make
good the loss. If he succeeded in refloating the boat after it had been
sunk, he was only under obligation to pay the owner half its value in
compensation for the damage it had sustained. In the case of a collision
between two vessels, if one was at anchor at the time, the owner of the
other vessel had to pay compensation for the boat that was sunk and its
cargo, the owner of the latter estimating on oath the value of what
had been sunk. Boats were also employed as ferries, and they must have
resembled the primitive form of ferry-boat in use at the present day,
which is heavily built of huge timbers, and employed for transporting
beasts as well as men across a river.
BIREJIE.]
Employed for ferrying caravans across the river.
There is evidence that under the Assyrians rafts floated on inflated
skins were employed for the transport of heavy goods, and these have
survived in the keleks of the present day. They are specially adapted
for the transportation of heavy materials, for they are carried down by
the current, and are kept in the course by means of huge sweeps or oars.
Being formed only of logs of wood and skins, they are not costly, for
wood is plentiful in the upper reaches of the rivers. At the end of
their journey, after the goods are landed, they are broken up. The wood
is sold at a profit, and the skins, after being deflated, are packed on
to donkeys to return by caravan.
OPPOSITE MOSUL.]
It is not improbable that such rafts were employed on the Tigris and the
Euphrates from the earliest periods of Chaldaean history, though boats
would have been used on the canals and more sluggish waterways.
In the preceding pages we have given a sketch of the more striking
aspects of early Babylonian life, on which light has been thrown by
recently discovered documents belonging to the period of the First
Dynasty of Babylon. We have seen that, in the code of laws drawn up
by Hammurabi, regulations were framed for settling disputes and fixing
responsibilities under almost every condition and circumstance which
might arise among the inhabitants of the country at that time; and the
question naturally arises as to how far the code of laws was in actual
operation.
BAGHDAD.]
It is conceivable that the king may have held admirable convictions, but
have been possessed of little power to carry them out and to see
that his regulations were enforced. Luckily, we have not to depend on
conjecture for settling the question, for Hammurabi's own letters which
are now preserved in the British Museum afford abundant evidence of the
active control which the king exercised over every department of his
administration and in every province of his empire. In the earlier
periods of history, when each city lived independently of its neighbours
and had its own system of government, the need for close and frequent
communication between them was not pressing, but this became apparent
as soon as they were welded together and formed parts of an extended
empire. Thus in the time of Sargon of Agade, about 3800 B.C., an
extensive system of royal convoys was established between the principal
cities. At Telloh the late M. de Sarzec came across numbers of lumps of
clay bearing the seal impressions of Sargon and of his son Naram-Sin,
which had been used as seals and labels upon packages sent from Agade
to Shirpurla. In the time of Dungi, King of Ur, there was a constant
interchange of officials between the various cities of Babylonia and
Elam, and during the more recent diggings at Telloh there have been
found vouchers for the supply of food for their sustenance when stopping
at Shirpurla in the course of their journeys. In the case of Hammurabi
we have recovered some of the actual letters sent by the king himself to
Sin-idinnam, his local governor in the city of Larsam, and from them we
gain considerable insight into the principles which guided him in the
administration of his empire.
The letters themselves, in their general characteristics, resembled the
contract tablets of the period which have been already described. They
were written on small clay tablets oblong in shape, and as they were
only three or four inches long they could easily be carried about the
person of the messenger into whose charge they were delivered. After the
tablet was written it was enclosed in a thin envelope of clay, having
been first powdered with dry clay to prevent its sticking to the
envelope. The name of the person for whom the letter was intended was
written on the outside of the envelope, and both it and the tablet were
baked hard to ensure that they should not be broken on their travels.
The recipient of the letter, on its being delivered to him, broke the
outer envelope by tapping it sharply, and it then fell away in pieces,
leaving the letter and its message exposed. The envelopes were very
similar to those in which the contract tablets of the period were
enclosed, of which illustrations have already been given, their only
difference being that the text of the tablet was not repeated on the
envelope, as was the case with the former class of documents.
The royal letters that have been recovered throw little light on
military affairs and the prosecution of campaigns, for, being addressed
to governors of cities and civil officials, most of them deal with
matters affecting the internal administration of the empire. One letter
indeed contains directions concerning the movements of two hundred
and forty soldiers of "the King's Company" who had been stationed in
Assyria, and another letter mentions certain troops who were quartered
in the city of Ur. A third deals with the supply of clothing and oil
for a section of the Babylonian army, and troops are also mentioned
as having formed the escort for certain goddesses captured from the
Elamites; while directions are sent to others engaged in a campaign upon
the Elamite frontier. The letter which contains directions for the
safe escort of the captured Elamite goddesses, and the one ordering the
return of these same goddesses to their own shrines, show that
foreign deities, even when captured from an enemy, were treated by the
Babylonians with the same respect and reverence that was shown by them
to their own gods and goddesses. Hammurabi gave directions in the first
letter for the conveyance of the goddesses to Babylon with all due pomp
and ceremony, sheep being supplied for sacrifice upon the journey,
and their usual rites being performed by their own temple-women and
priestesses. The king's voluntary restoration of the goddesses to their
own country may have been due to the fact that, after their transference
to Babylon, the army of the Babylonians suffered defeat in Elam. This
misfortune would naturally have been ascribed by the king and the
priests to the anger of the Elamite goddesses at being detained in a
foreign land, and Hammurabi probably arrived at his decision that they
should be escorted back in the hope of once more securing victory for
the Babylonian arms.
The care which the king exercised for the due worship of his own gods
and the proper supply of their temples is well illustrated from the
letters that have been recovered, for he superintended the collection
of the temple revenues, and the herdsmen and shepherds attached to the
service of the gods sent their reports directly to him. He also took
care that the observances of religious rites and ceremonies were duly
carried out, and on one occasion he postponed the hearing of a lawsuit
concerning the title to certain property which was in dispute, as it
would have interfered with the proper observance of a festival in
the city of Ur. The plaintiff in the suit was the chief of the temple
bakers, and it was his duty to superintend the preparation of certain
offerings for the occasion. In order that he should not have to leave
his duties, the king put off the hearing of the case until after the
festival had been duly celebrated. The king also exercised a strict
control over the priests themselves, and received reports from the chief
priests concerning their own subordinates, and it is probable that the
royal sanction was obtained for all the principal appointments. The
guild of soothsayers was an important religious class at this time,
and they also were under the king's direct control. A letter written by
Ammiditana, one of the later kings of the First Dynasty, to three high
officials of the city of Sippar, contains directions with regard to
certain duties to be carried out by the soothsayers attached to the
service of the city, and indicates the nature of their functions.
Ammiditana wrote to the officials in question, stating that there was a
scarcity of corn in the city of Shagga, and he therefore ordered them
to send a supply thither. But before the corn was brought into the city
they were told to consult the soothsayers, who were to divine the future
and ascertain whether the omens were favourable. If they proved to be
so, the corn was to be brought in. We may conjecture that the king took
this precaution, as he feared the scarcity of corn in Shagga was due
to the anger of some local deity or spirit, and that, if this were the
case, the bringing in of the corn would only lead to fresh troubles.
This danger it was the duty of the soothsayers to prevent.
Another class of the priesthood, which we may infer was under the king's
direct control, was the astrologers, whose duty it probably was to make
reports to the king of the conjunctions of the heavenly bodies, with a
view to ascertaining whether they portended good or evil to the
state. No astrological reports written in this early period have
been recovered, but at a later period under the Assyrian empire the
astrologers reported regularly to the king on such matters, and it is
probable that the practice was one long established. One of Hammurabi's
letters proves that the king regulated the calendar, and it is
legitimate to suppose that he sought the advice of his astrologers as
to the times when intercalary months were to be inserted. The letter
dealing with the calendar was written to inform Sin-idinnam, the
governor of Larsam, that an intercalary month was to be inserted. "Since
the year (i.e. the calendar) hath a deficiency," he writes, "let the
month which is now beginning be registered as a second Elul," and the
king adds that this insertion of an extra month will not justify any
postponement in the payment of the regular tribute due from the city of
Larsam, which had to be paid a month earlier than usual to make up for
the month that was inserted. The intercalation of additional months
was due to the fact that the Babylonian months were lunar, so that the
calendar had to be corrected at intervals to make it correspond to the
solar year.
From the description already given of the code of laws drawn up by
Hammurabi it will have been seen that the king attempted to incorporate
and arrange a set of regulations which should settle any dispute likely
to arise with regard to the duties and privileges of all classes of
his subjects. That this code was not a dead letter, but was actively
administered, is abundantly proved by many of the letters of Hammurabi
which have been recovered. From these we learn that the king took a very
active part in the administration of justice in the country, and that he
exercised a strict supervision, not only over the cases decided in the
capital, but also over those which were tried in the other great cities
and towns of Babylonia. Any private citizen was entitled to make a
direct appeal to the king for justice, if he thought he could not obtain
it in his local court, and it is clear from Hammurabi's letters that he
always listened to such an appeal and gave it adequate consideration.
The king was anxious to stamp out all corruption on the part of those
who were invested with authority, and he had no mercy on any of his
officers who were convicted of taking bribes. On one occasion when he
had been informed of a case of bribery in the city of Dur-gurgurri, he
at once ordered the governor of the district in which Dur-gurgurri lay
to investigate the charge and send to Babylon those who were proved to
be guilty, that they might be punished. He also ordered that the bribe
should be confiscated and despatched to Babylon under seal, a wise
provision which must have tended to discourage those who were inclined
to tamper with the course of justice, while at the same time it enriched
the state. It is probable that the king tried all cases of appeal in
person when it was possible to do so. But if the litigants lived at
a considerable distance from Babylon, he gave directions to his local
officials on the spot to try the case. When he was convinced of
the justice of any claim, he would decide the case himself and send
instructions to the local authorities to see that his decision was duly
carried out. It is certain that many disputes arose at this period in
consequence of the extortions of money-lenders. These men frequently
laid claim in a fraudulent manner to fields and estates which they had
received in pledge as security for seed-corn advanced by them. In
cases where fraud was proved Hammurabi had no mercy, and summoned the
money-lender to Babylon to receive punishment, however wealthy and
powerful he might be.
A subject frequently referred to in Hammurabi's letters is the
collection of revenues, and it is clear that an elaborate system was in
force throughout the country for the levying and payment of tribute
to the state by the principal cities of Babylonia, as well as for the
collection of rent and revenue from the royal estates and from the lands
which were set apart for the supply of the great temples. Collectors of
both secular and religious tribute sent reports directly to the king,
and if there was any deficit in the supply which was expected from a
collector he had to make it up himself; but the king was always ready
to listen to and investigate a complaint and to enforce the payment of
tribute or taxes so that the loss should not fall upon the collector.
Thus, in one of his letters Hammurabi informs the governor of
Larsam that a collector named Sheb-Sin had reported to him, saying
"Enubi-Marduk hath laid hands upon the money for the temple of
Bit-il-kittim (i.e. the great temple of the Sun-god at Larsam) which is
due from the city of Dur-gurgurri and from the (region round about the)
Tigris, and he hath not rendered the full sum; and Gimil-Marduk hath
laid hands upon the money for the temple of Bit-il-kittim which is due
from the city.of Rakhabu and from the region round about that city, and
he hath not (paid) the full amount. But the palace hath exacted the full
sum from me." It is probable that both Enubi-Marduk and Gimil-Marduk
were money-lenders, for we know from another letter that the former had
laid claim to certain property on which he had held a mortgage, although
the mortgage had been redeemed. In the present case they had probably
lent money or seed-corn to certain cultivators of land near Dur-gurgurri
and Rakhabu and along the Tigris, and in settlement of their claims they
had seized the crops and had, moreover, refused to pay to the king's
officer the proportion of the crops that was due to the state as
taxes upon the land. The governor of Larsam, the principal city in the
district, had rightly, as the representative of the palace (i.e.
the king), caused the tax-collector to make up the deficiency, but
Hammurabi, on receiving the subordinate officer's complaint, referred
the matter back to the governor. The end of the letter is wanting, but
we may infer that Hammurabi condemned the defaulting money-lenders to
pay the taxes due, and fined them in addition, or ordered them to be
sent to the capital for punishment.
On another occasion Sheb-Sin himself and a second tax-collector named
Sin-mushtal appear to have been in fault and to have evaded coming to
Babylon when summoned thither by the king. It had been their duty to
collect large quantities of sesame seed as well as taxes paid in money.
When first summoned, they had made the excuse that it was the time of
harvest and they would come after the harvest was over. But as they
did not then make their appearance, Hammurabi wrote an urgent letter
insisting that they should be despatched with the full amount of the
taxes due, in the company of a trustworthy officer who would see that
they duly arrived at the capital.
Tribute on flocks and herds was also levied by the king, and collectors
or assessors of the revenue were stationed in each district, whose duty
it was to report any deficit in the revenue accounts. The owners of
flocks and herds were bound to bring the young cattle and lambs that
were due as tribute to the central city of the district in which they
dwelt, and they were then collected into large bodies and added to the
royal flocks and herds; but, if the owners attempted to hold back any
that were due as tribute, they were afterwards forced to incur the extra
expense and trouble of driving the beasts to Babylon. The flocks and
herds owned by the king and the great temples were probably enormous,
and yielded a considerable revenue in themselves apart from the tribute
and taxes due from private owners. Shepherds and herdsmen were placed in
charge of them, and they were divided into groups under chief shepherds,
who arranged the districts in which the herds and flocks were to be
grazed, distributing them when possible along the banks and in the
neighbourhood of rivers and canals which would afford good pasturage and
a plentiful supply of water. The king received reports from the chief
shepherds and herdsmen, and it was the duty of the governors of the
chief cities and districts of Babylonia to make tours of inspection
and see that due care was taken of the royal flocks and sheep. The
sheep-shearing for all the flocks that were pastured near the capital
took place in Babylon, and the king used to send out summonses to his
chief shepherds to inform them of the day when the shearing would take
place; and it is probable that the governors of the other great cities
sent out similar orders to the shepherds of flocks under their charge.
Royal and priestly flocks were often under the same chief officer, a
fact which shows the very strict control the king exercised over the
temple revenues.
The interests of the agricultural population were strictly looked
after by the king, who secured a proper supply of water for purposes of
irrigation by seeing that the canals and waterways were kept in a proper
state of repair and cleaned out at regular intervals. There is also
evidence that nearly every king of the First Dynasty of Babylon cut new
canals, and extended the system of irrigation and