58 accounts, etc., of the british museum. 



Assyrian : — 



1. Large inscribed baked clay cone of Samsu-iluna, King 



of Babylon, about B.C. 2145. The inscription, which 

 is in seven columns, commemorates the rebuilding of 

 the great wall which surrounded the city of Sippar 

 in Babylonia. The king states that he undertook 

 the work at the direct command of Shamash the 

 Sun-God, the patron deity of Sippar, and of Mar- 

 duk the god of the city of Babylon, his capital ; 

 and he declares that, by their help, he brought the 

 work to a successful issue. The inscription also 

 contains a long list of the king's titles, and it describes 

 his achievements, and the special favour which was 

 shown to him by the Sun-God and his wife Aa, the 

 centre of whose worship was in E-Babbara, the great 

 temple of the Sun in Sippar. 



This cone is a foundation memorial, and was found 

 buried in a wall. It is the largest example of the 

 class now known, and is a very valuable addition to 

 the memorial inscriptions of the First Dynasty of 

 Babylon, which are exceedingly i-are. 



2. Two tablets of accounts, inscribed with lists of 



labourers and their children, &c., drawn up in the 

 reign of Uru-kagina, an early king of Shirpurla. 

 About B.C. 4500. 



3. A collection of 169 tablets of accounts, business 



receipts, and memoranda inscribed in Sumerian. 

 They belong to the period of the kings of Ur, 

 about B.C. 2400. Among them is a large tablet of 

 accounts inscribed with lists of labourers and slaves 

 employed upon some of the great temple estates in 

 the neighbourhood of the city of Shirpurla. The 

 tablet is dated in " the year in which the city of 

 Kimash was destroyed." 



4. A collection of forty-eight tablets belonging to the 



period of the First Dynasty of Babylon, about 

 B.C. 2200-2000. The greater number are inscribed 

 with legal and commercial agreements, memoranda, 

 &;c. One tablet is dated in the reign of Abeshu, 

 king of Babylon, about bo. 2110. Ten tablets are 

 dockets, which were attached by pieces of straw to 

 legal agreements, which were drawn up in "the 

 year the canal of Samsu-iluna was cut," i.e., in the 

 third or fourth year of the reign of Samsu-iluna, 

 king of Babylon, about B.C. 2145. 



5. A collection of ninety -eight tablets inscribed during 



the Neo-Babylonian and Persian Periods, from 

 B.C. 550-485. The texts consist of receipts, business 

 agreements, legal contracts, accounts, lists, memo- 

 randa, &c. The greater number of the tablets 



