RECENT DISCOVERIES IN THE REALM OP ASSYRIOLOGY, ETC. 143 



and the judges of Nin-Marki. Ilu-bani declared thus in the 

 gate of Nin-Marki : " Indeed the son of Sin-magir am I, he 

 adopted me as his son (Lit mar Sin-magir anaku, ana mdruti 

 lu-ilkia-anni*). . . . He said thus: "After Rim-Sin (apparently 

 the king of that name) the plantation and house shall descend 

 to Ilu-bani." Sin-mubalit kept back the plantation of Ilu-bani, 

 applied and went to the judges, and the judges took them 

 (Sin-mubalit and Ilu-bani) to the assembled people and the 

 elders, and at another gate of the city the question was again 

 discussed. Ilu-bani repeated his statement before the elders: 

 "Indeed the son am I." They said: "The plantation and 

 house belongs to Ilu-bani. Sin-mubalit shall not withhold 

 and shall not make a claim." The transaction concludes 

 with the words : " They have invoked the spirit of Nannaros, 

 Samas, Marduk, and Hammurabi the king." 



Here follow the names of the witnesses, and the words, 

 " the seal of the contracting parties (has been impressed)." 

 On the edge is the date, " Month Tammuz, day 4th, year 

 when Hammurabi the king made prayer to Tasmetu 1 "." f 



A great many other examples of tablets of this class 

 might be quoted, and from each of them arguments in favour 

 of the Akkadian theory might be drawn, and the picture 

 of ancient Babylonian life might at the same time be con- 

 tinued. As, however, they are all very difficult, I leave them 

 for the present, and conclude this section with a translation 

 of a text of even greater interest, namely, the marriage 

 ceremony. 



The text in question is one of great importance. It is 

 written in the two languages, Akkadian and Semitic Baby- 

 lonian, and this gives additional interest to the contents, 

 besides furnishing us with material of value for philologists. 

 The tablet seems, at first sight, to be one of those containing 

 pattern phrases to be learned by Babylonian students pre- 

 paring for the position of priest or scribe, the phrases being 

 of a very miscellaneous nature, though they all seem to be 

 classified. The text probably belongs, however, to a certain 

 series of incantations, of which fragments have been found 

 on the site of Nineveh, and to which the attention of scholars 

 has alreadv been directed. 



* Lit., " To sonship he took me." 



t This is the same year as the Contract of Brotherhood was drawn 

 up in. 



