554 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 19 3 5 



tion of well-trained slaves, who, though they worked for their masters, 

 were allowed to own property of their own and to engage in business 

 on their own account. When a poor wretch in desperation dared to 

 challenge the claims of his wealthy antagonist in a court of law he 

 was confronted with well-authenticated contracts or affidavits and 

 with oral testimony; defeated in his claims, he was not only obliged 

 to fulfill his obligations but became liable for a pecuniary compen- 

 sation. When no oral or written evidence was available, the judges 

 had recourse to the ordeal, a prospect so terrifying to the poor that 

 they instantly yielded to their antagonists on all points. 



Polygamy was permitted but was not common. The number of 

 concubines and slave wives was generally optional: a son of Tehip- 

 tilla, for instance, had 24 women in his harem. Some marriage 

 contracts, however, specified that the wife would furnish a concubine 

 to her husband only if she should be childless (exactly in the cases 

 of Abraham and Jacob). At the death of the husband the widow 

 held the estate (except for property previously deeded to a son) 

 in trust for her sons. She could leave a few small items to a favo- 

 rite son, in addition to his rightful share. If a widow remarried, 

 she retained only her personal effects. Occasionally a widow in- 

 herited only movable property, of which she could dispose at will. 

 The bridegroom paid to the father of the bride or, if he were dead, 

 to her brothers a stated amount averaging 30 shekels of silver — the 

 legal price of a slave. A portion of the bridal price was set aside 

 as dowry for the bride. In the few recorded cases of divorce the 

 husband took the initiative. 



The chief deities of the Hurrians, at Nuzi and elsewhere, were 

 Teshub, the Hittite weather god, and Ishtar. The two temples of 

 Nuzi were in all probability dedicated to these deities, for there was 

 in Nuzi a commander of the guard of the temples of Ishtar of 

 Nineveh and of Teshub. Ishtar had several manifestations : she was 

 Ishtar of Nineveh as consort of Teshub, Ishtar Humella as consort 

 of Nergal, and Ishtar Dupkilkhe as consort of Sarie. The gods Bel 

 Ulamme and Zizae have consorts, but they are not named. The 

 following gods of neighboring towns are known from tablets listing 

 deliveries of oil to them: Ahulae, Azuihhe, Kumurra, Tilla, Tirwa, 

 Zarwan; and also several other manifestations of Ishtar (I. Allai- 

 washwa, I. Belat-duri [mistress of the wall], I. Kubawa, I. Putahhe) 

 as well as two Babylonian gods (Nergal and Shamash). Other 

 Babylonian gods and two Hurrian gods (Til-Enlil and Har-Nuzu) 

 are named in school exercises listing the sacred ships in which the 

 divine images were carried in procession during the Babylonian New 

 Year festival, A portion of a great Babylonian astrological treatise, 

 hitherto known only through later and more corrupt copies, was 



