=Golden Age of Babylonian Literature= (2000-1550 B.C.).—Not a little of the Assyrio-Babylonian literature has been recovered; but a mine of literary wealth in the valley of the Euphrates still awaits the persevering student, for before 2000 B.C. important works were written in Chaldea. In the twentieth century, a golden age dawned on this ancient land; its great cities became centres of literary refinement, as well as of commerce and art, and a lofty poetical style characterized the writings of the time. Standard texts on religion, science, and history were then and shortly thereafter produced, the copying of which appears to have satisfied the ambition of subsequent generations. In 1887, numerous Babylonian tablets, dating from the 15th century B.C., were found at Tell-Amarna, Egypt. They contain letters addressed by Asiatic kings to the third and fourth Amenophis (a portion of the correspondence relating to the marriage of an Egyptian monarch with the princess of Mitanni), and imply that the cuneiform writing of Babylonia was in that day the vehicle of correspondence, as was the Aramaic in the time of Persian supremacy. Among early specimens of Chaldean writing is a set of bricks, discovered near the site of E’rech. They are thought to have been made about 2008 B.C. As these bricks illustrate the most ancient cuneiform character, two of them are here presented, accompanied with a translation. [Illustration: “Beltis, his lady, has caused Urukh, the pious chief and king of Ur, king of the land of Accad, to build a temple to her.” CHALDEAN BRICKS.] FROM A TABLET OF BABYLONIAN LAWS. “A certain man’s brother-in-law hired workmen, and on his foundation built an enclosure. From the house the judge expelled him. His father and his mother a man shall not deny. A decision. A son says to his mother:‘Thou art not my mother.’ His hair is cut off; in the city they exclude him from earth and water, and in the house imprison him. A decision. A mother says to her son:‘Thou art not my son.’ They imprison her. A decision. A woman says to her husband:‘Thou art not my husband.’ Into the river they throw her. A decision. A husband says to his wife:‘Thou art not my wife.’ Haifa ma’neh (thirty ounces) of silver he weighs out in payment. A decision. A master kills his slaves, cuts them to pieces, injures their offspring, drives them from the land. His hand every day a half measure of corn measures out.” Babylonian literature was rich in the departments of law, mathematics, astrology, grammar, and history. Nor was fiction wanting; fables, in which the lower animals carried on spirited dialogues, were favorites with the people. At a very early date, the inscribed tablets and cylinders were collected, and the chief cities were made the seats of libraries. From a volume of Chaldean hymns, somewhat similar to the Rig-Veda, are taken the following verses to the Babylonian Venus:— PRAYER OF THE HEART TO ISTAR.