As may be read in the elaborate works of Maspero, Hilprecht and other explorers, they discovered in the ruins of the principal cities of Babylonia several ancient libraries and archives containing thousands of tablets of clay, stone and bronze, covered with inscriptions of religious, astrological and magical texts, epics, chronicles and syllabaries. There are also contracts; records of debts; leases of lands, houses and slaves; deeds of transfer of all kinds of property; mortgages; documents granting power of attorney; tablets dealing with bankruptcy and inheritance; in fact, almost every imaginable kind of deed or contract is found among them. The most precious relic is the famous Code of Hammurabi, King of Babylonia. This collection of laws, engraved on stone 2,250 years B. C. and now preserved in the Louvre, is so elaborate and systematic that it can hardly have been the first one. Back of it there must have been a long period of usage and custom. But it is the first great collection of laws that has come down to us. In 282 sections it regulates almost every conceivable incident and relationship of life. Not only are the great crimes dealt with and penalized, but life is regulated down to its most minute details. There are laws on marriage, breach of promise, divorce, desertion, concubinage, rights of women, purchase-money of brides, guardianship of the widow and orphan, adoption of children, etc. Through these laws we gain full information about the position of women in ancient Babylonia. Three classes of women are recognized: wives, concubines, and slaves. From other sources we know that all women of the higher class were cloistered in the harem and never appeared by the side of husbands or brothers in public. The harem system, at least for Western Asia and Europe, most probably originated in Babylonia. The National Geographic Magazine of February, 1916, gives the text of a love letter, written several thousand years ago and sent by a young man to his sweetheart. It reads as follows: “To Bibea, thus says Gimil Marduk: may the Gods Shamash and Marduk permit thee to live forever for my sake. I write to inquire concerning thy health. Tell me how thou art. I went to Babylon, but did not see thee. I was greatly disappointed. Tell me the reason for thy leaving, that I may be happy. Do come in the month Marchesvan. Keep well always for my sake.” In the same place we find the following example of a marriage contract: