142 THEO. G. PINCHES, ESQ., NOTES UPON SOME OF THE 



were pronounced and read as Semitic Babylonian. Tablets 

 of this class belong, it seems to me, to a period when the 

 Semitic members of the population were beginning to 

 outnumber their Akkadian compatriots. 



But this is shown still more distinctly in those tablets 

 which, as already mentioned, refer to the more unusual class 

 of transactions. In the tablet of the brotherhood, translated 

 by me in 1885, besides the few Akkadian names, only 

 fi short lines out of 36 are Akkadian ;* and in the tablet of 

 the " Rival Claimants " only 3 lines out of 45 are Akkadian. 

 These Akkadian lines are the paragraphs invoking, in the 

 same set terms, the gods and the king; and the date. 



In these longer texts the love of legal forms again appears. 

 On the tablet of "the brotherhood" the man mentioned in 

 the contract above translated, Sili-Innanna, and Iriba m -Sin, 

 "make brotherhood" (tapputa™ ipusu) and meet to ratify the 

 compact. They " took a judge " {daani iksudu), who led them 

 to the temple of the Sungod {ana bet Samas itrudu^-sunuti) 

 and caused them to take judgment {dhia m %isdhizu-sunuti) 

 there, % and the people answered and confirmed their brother- 

 hood {dhiati-sunu uppilu). The contracting parties had to 

 make offerings (of slaves) to the temple, and then comes 

 some good advice, " Brother shall not be angry with, shall 

 not injure, brother." The priest then proclaimed in the 

 temple of the Sungod, " Brother shall be kind to, shall not 

 injure, brother; and brother shall not make claim against 

 brother." They then invoked the spirits of certain gods and 

 of Hammurabi the king. The list of witnesses and the date 

 follow. 



The tablet of the rival claimants is of the same simple 

 nature. It begins, " Concerning the plantation of Sin-magir, 

 which Na'id-Martu bought for silver" {Assum hiri sa Sin- 

 magir, sa Ndid-Martu ana kaspi isdmu-sii). Ilu-bani applied 

 for a royal decree, and went to the judges {llu-bani ana 

 simdat sarri ibkurur-ma ana daane illihi). The judges took 

 them § (owner and claimant) to the gate of Nin-Marki || 



■* On the envelope, 7 out of 41. 



t The Arabic equivalent, jly, means " to drive away." 



| In view of this phrase, it has since occurred to me that perhaps 

 tapputu means " reconciliation." The bilingual texts, however, are against 

 this. See the introduction to my "Early Babylonian Deed of Brother- 

 hood," P.S.BA. for November, 1885. 



§ Here again itnidu- sunuti. 



|| Name of a deity, "Lady of the west." 



