his sisiktu, which was a 

 cord attached to an under- 

 garment. This, in all prob- 

 ability, is to be identified 

 with the sizith mentioned 

 in the Old Testament 

 (Num. 15:38, 39), and 

 even at the present time 

 worn by orthodox He- 

 brews. 



BABYLONIAN "STENOGRA- 

 PHERS" 



In all periods scribes are 

 very numerous. This is 

 inferred from the fact that 

 in some periods almost 

 every document is found 

 to have been written by a 

 different scribe. In the 

 Assyrian period women 

 are known to have be- 

 longed to this profession. 

 The scribes wrote the 

 legal documents, as well 

 as the private letters of 

 individuals. They even 

 placed the seal impression 

 upon the legal document, 

 in proximity to which 

 they wrote the name of the person to 

 whom it belonged, usually the obligor or 

 the witness. 



In the time of Hammurabi (about 2000 

 B. C.) there was at hand an officer called 

 the Burgul, who was prepared to cut 

 temporary seals upon a soft material for 

 those who did not possess them. This is 

 the custom in Oriental lands in the pres- 

 ent day. 



In Constantinople, for. instance, the 

 curbs of certain streets are lined with 

 scribes prepared to write for the illiter- 

 ate. An occasional man among them is 

 provided with little blank stamps in soft 

 brass, and with an engraving tool is pre- 

 pared to cut the signature or initials of 

 the man upon one of them while he waits. 

 The impression of the stamp is affixed to 

 his letter in place of his signature. 



THE "CONGRESSIONAL LIBRARY" OE 

 NINEVEH 



The cuneiform inscriptions in clay, 

 stone, and metal that now repose in mu- 

 seums and in private collections number 

 hundreds of thousands. 



Photograph from Prof. Albert T. Clay 

 A WRITTEN RECORD AT LEAST 7,000 YEARS OLD 



This is the Hoffman Tablet, in the General Theological Sem- 

 nary, New York City. This is one of the most ancient of all 

 human writings. To assign it the date of 5000 B. C. would be 

 a modest reckoning (see text, page 166). 



Several ancient libraries and immense 

 archives have been found. Years ago the 

 literary library of Ashurbanipal (668- 

 626 B. C.) was discovered at Nineveh. 

 It appeared to the excavators that the 

 library had been deposited in the upper 

 chambers of the palace, and that when 

 the building was destroyed the}' fell 

 through to the lower floors, where they 

 were found in masses. 



The inscriptions showed that they had 

 been arranged according to their subject 

 in different positions in the library. Each 

 series had a title, being composed gener- 

 ally of the first words of the first tablet. 

 Usually at the end of each tablet its num- 

 ber in the series was given. 



In the library were found epics, re- 

 ligious, astrological and magical texts, 

 chronicles, paradigms, syllabaries, etc. 

 This is the only library that has been 

 found in Babylonia or Assyria which can 

 be regarded as a literary library, where 

 efforts had been made to assemble lit- 

 erary and other works produced at times 

 not necessarily connected with the era to 

 which the library belonged. 



167 



