2 Pinches, Hymns to Tammuz in the Manchester Museum. 



Hammurabi (the Amraphel of the fourteenth chapter of 

 Genesis) belonged, and the date when the text was 

 written may therefore be set down as being about 2,000 

 B.C. On the whole, the characters are well formed, but 

 some of them are written not quite fully, whilst others 

 have peculiarities which certain of the Babylonian scribes 

 of the period affected. It cannot be said, however, that 

 the writing is bad — indeed, it may be taken as a good 

 average hand, rather above the mean in the matter of 

 excellence. As is usual in texts of this period, lines are 

 ruled across the columns — some deep, the majority shallow. 

 The latter are those against which the scribe ranged his 

 characters, the thick tops of the wedges, not the bottoms 

 (which are mere points), touching. The deep ruled lines 

 are those which divide the paragraphs or sections. 



In an inscription of this kind — that is, a Sumero- 

 Akkadian text, unprovided with a Semitic Babylonian 

 translation — it is necessary, at the outset, to say something 

 in justification of the title, namely, the statement which I 

 have made, that it is a composition referring to Tammuz. 

 Xhis is due to the fact that his name occurs several times 

 in the inscription. It is to be found in Col. I., lines 8, 13, 

 and 17 ; Col. III., lines 8, 13, and 15. As is well known, 

 Tammuz was the husband of Istar, and her name occurs 

 likewise, as was to be expected (Col. I., lines 27, 28, 29, 

 32 ; Col. II., lines i, 4, 8 ; Col. III., lines 13, 15 ; Col. IV., 

 line 24 ; Col. V., line 6 ; Col. VI., lines 7, 9, 1 1, 23), under 

 its Sumerian form, namely, Innanna, a name by which 

 she was known in Babylonia until an exceedingly late 

 date. In this connection it is noteworthy that the word 

 for husband, mutna, apparently referring to Tammuz, 

 Istar's spouse, is not unfrequent. 



The two chief personages, and their relationship, 

 being therefore well established, a reference to such non- 



