A History of Babylon, from the Foundation of the Monarchy to the Persian ConquestKing, L. W. (Leonard William)
History
A History of Babylon, from the Foundation of the Monarchy to the Persian Conquest
King, L. W. (Leonard William)
Babylonia -- History
The remarkable fact about all these texts is that they are drawn up
in the style of legal documents of the period of the First Dynasty
of Babylon. But, while the terminology is much the same, it has been
adapted to local conditions. The early Babylonian method of dating by
events[19] has been taken over, but the formulas are not those in use
at this period in Babylonia, but are peculiar to the kingdom of Khana.
Thus the first deed of gift is dated in the year when Isharlim, the
king, built the great gate of the palace in the city of Kash-dakh;
the second was drawn up in the year in which Ammi-baïl, the king,
ascended the throne in his father's house; while the marriage-contract
is dated in the year that Hammurabih, the king, opened the canal
Khabur-ibal-bugash from the city of Zakku-Isharlim to the city of
Zakku-Igitlim.[20] The names of the months, too, are not those of
Babylon,[21] and we find evidence that local laws and customs were
in force. Each of the deeds of gift, for example, provides that any
infringement of the rights bestowed by the king is to be punished by a
money-fine of ten manehs of silver, and in addition the delinquent is
to undergo the quaint but doubtless very painful process of having his
head tarred with hot tar. From the list of witnesses we gather that
the community was already organized much on the lines of a provincial
district of Babylonia. For, though we find a cultivator or farmer
occupying an important position, we meet also a superintendent of the
merchants, another of the bakers, a chief judge, a chief seer, and
members of the priesthood. It is interesting, too, to note that the
kings of Khana were still great landowners, to judge from the fact that
the lands conveyed in the deeds of gift were surrounded on almost every
side by palace-property. At the same time the chief gods of Khana are
associated with the king in the oath-formulæ, since the royal property
was also regarded as the property of the Ba'al, or divine "Lord" of the
soil.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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