(M617) The money lent is often said to belong to a god. Ashur, Ishtar of Arbela, or Ishtar of Nineveh, are the most common. Sometimes it is said to be in “Ishtar heads,” which has been taken to mean ingots stamped with a head of Ishtar. The frequent reference to the mina of Carchemish alongside the king’s mina is eloquent as to the commercial eminence of the old Hittite capital. An example is the following:(664) Sixteen shekels of silver, from A to B, _ana pûḫi_, he has taken. On the first day of Tammuz he shall pay the money. If not, it shall increase by a quarter. Dated the eleventh of Nisan, in the Eponymy of Bêl-ludâri. Three witnesses. (M618) Loans or advances were also made of various kinds of property. Thus we have an advance of ten minas of silver, Carchemish standard, seventy-five sheep, one cow, made by Ashurbânipal’s chief steward to four men, _ana pûḫi_. The sheep and cow they are to return in Adar. If they do not return the sheep, they must breed them. The interest on the money is to be one-third. Dated the twenty-fifth of Tebet, B.C. 664. Thirteen witnesses. Such a loan seems to be on the metayer system.(665) (M619) Here again we have an exceptional case:(666) L lends two dromedaries, “which they called double-humped,” to three men, who shall return them on the first of the month, or pay six minas of silver. If they do not pay the money, interest shall accrue at the rate of five shekels per mina. Dated the fourteenth of Tishri, B.C. 674. These animals were rare and evidently highly valued. What could the three borrowers want with a pair of such animals? Were they for exhibition in a menagerie? Perhaps they were for breeding. We may have here a case of goods taken on approval, for a fortnight or so, perhaps for sale to another party. The same lender lent to the same three men, two hundred sheep, one hundred and fifty goats, two hundred and thirty yearling lambs, in all five hundred and eighty small cattle. They were to return the animals by a fixed date, or pay. Dated the seventh of Iyyar, B.C. 673. The same lender had lent seventy-two sheep to two other men, in Sivan, B.C. 680. They had to return the sheep in Ab, or pay for them at the market-rate in Nineveh. Bêl-êresh acted as agent for the borrowers.(667) (M620) Other goods, such as wine, or oil, were advanced. Here we probably have to do with the transactions of the royal chief steward and the king’s agents. For example:(668) L intrusts five homers of wine, according to the royal measure, to D. On the first of Nisan he shall return the wine, otherwise he shall pay for the wine according to the market-rate in Nineveh. Dated fifth of Adar, B.C. 674. Five witnesses. Again:(669) (M621) L advances six homers of pure oil, price ten _ḲA_ of bronze per homer, to D, the major-domo at Carchemish. He shall repay the oil in Sebat; if not, it shall be doubled. Dated twenty-first of Ab, B.C. 681. Six witnesses.