58 ACCOUNTS, ETC., OF THE BRITISH MUSEUM. 



were inscribed, a fact which shows that the 

 figures and amounts enumerated upon them 

 were only of a temporary character, and thai 

 they were useless, except for purposes of 

 reference, as soon as the facts on them had been 

 incorporated in the large tablets from 12 to 18 

 inches square. 



4. A " revenue tablet " inscribed with lists of flocks 



and herds, the property of one of the large 

 temples in Shirpurla, or Lagash, one of the 

 chief cities of the Sumerians in Southern 

 Babylonia. About B.C. 2500. 



5. Tablet inscribed with a list of the slaves which 



were the property of one of the great Sumerian 

 temples in Southern Babylonia. About B.C. 

 2500. 



6. Tablet inscribed with the names of officials, tenants, 



labourers, &c., who were probably employed 

 upon one of the temple properties in Southern 

 Babylonia. This list appears to have been 

 drawn up by a temple official. 



7. A rectangular limestone foundation tablet in- 



scribed with a historical text of Tukulti-Ninib I., 

 king of Assyria, about B.C. 1275. The text 

 records the king's name, and titles, and genea- 

 logy ; his campaigns against the Kuti, the 

 conquest of Shubari, the subjugation of 40 kings 

 of the land of Nairi, the defeat of Bibeashu, king 

 of Babylon, the conquest of Sumer and Akkad, 

 the founding of the city Kar-Tukulti-Ninib, &c. 

 Tukulti-Ninib describes the building of the 

 temples of the gods and the erection of a palace 

 in his capital, which he surrounded with a 

 strong wall ; the city was supplied with water 

 from the Tigris by means of a canal which the 

 king dug. The text concludes with an invoca- 

 tion to Tukulti-Ninib's successors to keep the 

 city wall in repair, and with a series of curses 

 on the man who shall neglect or destro}^ the 

 J city, or shall carry away the tablet, or obliterate 



the king's name from it. This inscription proves 

 that Tukulti-Ninib I., king of Assyria, and 

 Bibeashu, king of Babylon, were contempo- 

 raneous monarchs, and thus establishes a new 

 synchronism in Assyrian and Babylonian 

 history. 



8. Cast of a basalt stele inscribed in ancient Baby- 



lonian characters with the text of the Code of 



Laws which was drawn up by Khammurabi, a 



' king of the 1st dynasty of Babylon, about 



