Exhibition of Terra Cotta Tablets from BabyloniaAuthor(s): Cuthbert E. PeekSource: The Journal of the Anthropological Institute of Great Britain and Ireland, Vol. 18(1889), pp. 102-103Published by: Royal Anthropological Institute of Great Britain and IrelandStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/2842402 .

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102 C. E. PEEK.-Exhibition of lerra Cotta

From the ACADEMY.-Rocznik Zarzadu Akademii Umiejetnosci w Krakowie. Rok 1886.

From the INSTITUTE.-Report of the Council of the Royal Colonial Institute for the year 1887.

From the UNIVERSITY.-Calendar of the Imperial University of Japan for the year 1887-88.

From the SOCIETY.-Proceedings of the Society of Biblical Archwology. Vol. x. Part 4. Journal of the Society of Arts. Nos. 1841, 1842.

- Proceedings of the Royal Geographical Society. 1888. Mlarch. From the EDITOR.-Nature. Nos. 957-959.

Science. Nos. 263, 264. --The Photographic Times. Nos. 336.

L'Homme. 1887. Nos. 22-24. Bullettino di Paletnologia Italiana. Tom. iii. N. 11 e 12.

EXHIBITION of TERRA COTTA TABLETS fromit BABYLONIA.

By CUTHBERT E. PEEK, Esq., M.A. (Described by T. G. PINCHES, Esq.)

A COLLECTION of Babylonian clay tablets belonging to Sir HI. Peek, was, in the absence of Mr. C. E. Peek, exhibited by Mr. T. G. Pinches, of the Department of Egyptian and Assyriani Antiquities, British Museum. Most of these tablets, which had been copied, translated, and commented upon by him, came, he said, from Abu-habbah, the ancient Sipar or Sippar of the Sun- god, identified with Sippara and Sepharvaim. The earliest of these documents bore the name of Samsu-satana, a King of Babylonia who reigned about 1969 B.C. This tablet was the smallest in the collection, being only 1I inch by 13% inch. It referred, apparently, to a sale of oxen, and was dated " the 21st day of Iyyar of the year when Samsu-satana the King (was) in capturing before the land of Aa." It could not, how- ever, be said that the translation of this date was quite certain; but if, by chance, it turned out to be correct, it would furnish an additional historical fact as to this little-known King of Baby- lonia. The next tablet in chronological order was dated in the 14th year of Nabopolassar, and referred to certain weaving done for the temple of the Sungod at Sippara or Sepharvaim,which city appeared to have been one of the centres of the weaving industry in Babylonia in ancient times. In referring to this tablet the speaker mentioned that the Babylonian representative of the very word used in Josh. vii, 21, where the " goodly Babylonish garmeint " (addereth Shin'ar) was spoken of, actually occurred in a list of words designating clothing of various kinds, from Assyria. The Babylonian form of the word was adirtu. Other

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cablets from Babylonia. 103

texts were an account of the number of cattle in the possession of the shepherds of the Sungod on the 10th day of Tisri, in the 13th year of Nabonidus (542 B.C.); the amount of taxes due from certain Chaldeans in the district of Sippara or Sepharvaim on the 15th of Elul of the 14th year of Nabonidus (541 B.C.); a small tablet referring to a payment " from the house of hands" to a man named Nabui-edir-napsati, on the 21sl day of Sebat of the 14th year of Nabonidus; a tablet apparently referring to the payment of tithes to the temple of the goddess Gula at Sippara, on the Ilth day of Ab in the 14th year of Darius (506 B.C.); and a larger tablet referring to the arrangements miade for supplying meat to the great temple of the Sungod at Sippara, dated the 15th day of Tisri in the 22nd year of Darius (498 B.C.). The other three tablets were undated, and were respec- tively a list of amounts paid, with the names of the payers; data to enable a scribe to draw up a contract for the sale of a field; and a private letter. As this last-named was short and interesting, the speaker read the translation he had made of it, which ran as follows: " Tablet from Gimillu to Nergal-uballit, my brother. May Bel and Nebo bespeak peace and life for my brother. I am just sending to thee, [Cause the seed], 600 gur

[to be brought] . . . . says thus: I I have seen the amount of the seed with Nergal-uballit.' Samas- iddina, the scribe of Sipar, will send to Babylon. I will send Samas-iddina to thee on the 21st day. Cause the seed, 500 gur-, to be brought."

In commenting upon these texts, Mr. Pinches spoke of the opulence of the great shrines of Sippara or Sepharvaim, the im- portance of this twofold-or, rather, fourfold-city, withi its glorious temples and palaces, the enormous receipts of the priests of the various temples, and the wealth of the inhabitants, as shown by the many thousands of tablets now in the British Museum, of which Sir H. Peek's texts, which he had translated, were a very fair sample. As an example of the linguistic value of these tablets, the speaker mentioned the word nigga or niga. This word, he said, was Akkadian, and apparently meant first " anything," then " everything," and from this latter meaning " property " or " wealth." This word had a Babylonian equi- valent, namely, mimmu or memmu, possibly weakened from mamrnmu, the plural being memmeni or mnemeni, probably weak- ened from macmmani or mamani. This last was probably the Assyro-Babylonian form of the well-known word Mammon, " riches;" and if the etymology now given proved to be correct, a satisfactory explanation of a word long regarded as very difficult had been at last obtained.

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