170 



KNOWLEDGE. 



[August 1, 1895. 



" 1|^ mana Sf shekels ( = 1 mana 38^ shekels) of silver 

 from Iddina-Marduk. son of IkisS, son of Nur-Sin, unto 

 Abil-Addii-natanu, son of Addi-Ya, and Bunanitum his 

 wife. Each mana increases unto them monthly by one 

 shekel. From the 1st day of the month Sivan, of the 

 5th year of Nabonidus, King of Babylon, they shall pay 

 the amount pledged. The silver was the balance of the 

 money which was given to Ib:i as the price of the house. 

 They shall pay monthly the amount pledged. 



" Witnesses : fi-zida-sum-ibni, son of Nabii-sum-usur, 

 descendant of La-kubburu ; Nabu-akhe-bullit, son of 

 Marduk-sum-usur, descendant of the Sukhite ; and the 

 scribe, Ablfi, son of Musallim-Marduk. Borsippa, month 

 lyyar, day 3rd. year 5th, Nabonidus, King of Babylon." 



Yet this contract, apparently so solemnly undertaken, 

 and here so circumstantially recorded, and existing in at 

 least two copies, remained practically a dead letter for 

 nearly four years more — that is to say, there is no record of 

 either principal or interest having been paid for six years. 

 Possibly bad times came to Abil-Addu-natanu and his wife 

 — indeed, it is not impossible that a long illness may have 

 preceded his death, which took place before the end of the 

 eighth year of Nabonidus. Of the interval, however, we 

 have at present no account. 



An instalment of the Lo.u^ repaid. — To the credit of 

 the widowed Bunanitum be it said, that sho did her best 





ObviTse uf the t.ibiot ri-corJini; tlio sale of a house at Borsippa to Ibil, for 

 Abil-AdcUi-natjuuand liis wiio, in the seeondyearof Isabonidus (553 ]i c). 



to fulfil, after her husband's death, her part of the contract ; 

 for, in the eighth year of Nabonidus, she paid nine shekels 

 of silver as part of the interest, as recorded by the 

 following document : — ; 



" 9 shekels of silver, the amount of the first payment, 

 Iddina-]\Iarduk, son of Ikii.a, son of Nur-Sin, has received, 

 as the interest of his money, from the hands of Bimanitum, 

 after the death of Ablada-natunu ( = Abil-Addu-natann), 

 her husband. In the presence of Tabnea, son of Nabii- 

 :'ikhe-iddina, son of the priest of Ea (?) ; Nabii-kain-abli, 

 son of Marduk-sum-ibni, son of Dan-Nabii. Barsip 

 (:^=Borsippa), month Adar, day 18th, year 8th, Nabonidus, 

 King of Babylon." (A negative phrase follows, which 

 probably corresponds to our " without prejudice.") 



The Lawsuit. — It was not until the property of 

 Bunanitum came before what probably corresponded to our 

 "chancery court," however, that Iddina-Marduk received 

 back all his money. IIow long he might have had to wait 

 if Bunanitum had not brought an action to restrain her 

 brother-in-law from taking possession of her property is 

 hard to guess. Two copies of the action (neither of them 

 the original sealed reports) exist. The text reads as 

 follows: — 



" Bunanitum, daughter of Hariza, said thus to the judges 



of Nabonidus, King of Babylon : ' Abil-addu-natan, son 

 of Nikmadu, had me to wife, taking three mana of silver 

 as dowry, and I bore to him one daughter. I and Abil- 

 addu-natan, my husband, traded with the money of my 

 dowry, and we bought, for 9i mana of silver, with 2i 

 mana of silver which was from Iddina-Marduk, son of 

 Ikisfi, son of Ndr-Sin, which we added to the former sum, 

 8 canes of land and a small house, the territory of a 

 large property, which was within Borsippa. We carried 

 out this transaction together in the 4th year of Nabonidus, 

 King of Babylon. 



" Now AbU-Addu-natan, my husband, had my dowry. 



1 asked (for it), and Abil-Addu-natan, my husband, 

 in the kindness of his heart, scaled and bequeathed to me 

 for future days the 8 canes of land, and that house, which 

 is within Borsippa, and made it known on my tablet as 

 follows: ' 2i mana of silver, which Abil-Addu-natan and 

 Bunanit took from Iddina-Marduk and gave as the price 

 of that house — together they have made the agreement.' 

 He sealed this tablet, and wrote upon it the curse of the 

 great gods. 



"In the 5th year of Nabonidus, King of Babylon, I 

 and Abil-Addu-natan, my husband, adopted Abil-Addu- 

 amara, and wrote the tablet of his adoption ; and we 

 announced that the dowry of my daughter Nubta was 



2 mana 10 shekels of silver and the furniture of a house. 



Fate took my husband, and thereupon Akabi-ilu, 

 son of my father-in-law, laid claim upon the house and 

 everything that he had sealed and bequeathed to me, 

 and upon Nabu-nur-Ili, whom we had bought from the 

 hands of Nabii-akhe-iddina, for money. I have brought 

 it before you— make a decision. 



" The judges heard her words, they read the tablets 

 and documents that Bunanitu had brought before them, 

 and they did not let Akabi-ilu have power over the house 

 at Borsippa, which had been bequeathed to Bunanitu 

 instead of her dowry ; over Nabii-niir-iU, whom she and 

 her husband had bought for money, nor over anything 

 of Abil-Addu-natan. Bunanitu and Abil-Addu-amara, 

 by their tablets, possess (them). Iddina-Marduk agrees 

 to and receives the 2^ mana of silver which had been 

 given as the price of that house. Afterwards Bunanitum 

 receives 3i mana of silver, her dowry ; and besides her 

 share, Nubtii receives Nabu-nur-ili, according to the 

 contracts of her father. 

 By the decision of this judgment. 

 Nergal-banunu, judge, son of the Kab-bani. 

 Nabu dhe-iddina, judge, son of Egibi. 

 Nabii-sum-ukin, judge, son of Ir('?)ani. 



Bel-ahe-iddina, judge, son of 



Bel-etir, judge, son of 



Nabubalat-su-ikbi, judge, son of 



Nadinu, scribe, son of 



Nabii-sum-iskun, scribe, son of the 



Babylon, month Elul, day 2Cth, 9th year of Nabonidus, 



King of Babylon." 

 With this favourable decision — undoubtedly just from 

 every point of view — the troubles of Bunanitum in all 

 probability came to an end ; and we may suppose that she 

 lived for the rest of her days happily with Nubta, her 

 daughter, and Abil-Addu-amara, her son-in-law, served by 

 the old slave that she and her husband had bought in 

 times long past. 



The whole story gives an accurate picture of life in 

 Babylon during the later Babylonian empire— that 

 founded, apparently, by Nabopolassar, the father of 

 Nebuchadnezzar. This dynasty came to an end with 

 Nabonidus and his son Belshazzar, after whose death 

 Cyrus came to the throne. The prosperity inaugurated by 



