112 THE BABYLONIAN TABLETS 



in the earth for four thousand years are often still in a good state 

 of preservation. Ten of the tablets here published were unbaked. 

 When tablets become exposed to air as damp as our atmosphere 

 often is, their disintegration begins. While lying buried in the 

 ground for these thousands of years they absorbed salt from the 

 soil. Since salt crystalizes in moisture, small salt crystals form 

 which pry off layer after layer of the tablet. One damp morn- 

 ing Tablet No. 18 of this collection was found with the entire 

 surface of the tablet loosened, and underneath a thin layer could 

 be seen by the naked eye a white frosting of salt crystals. Hence 

 the necessity of baking the tablets thoroughly, and then allowing 

 them to stand in water until all the salt has been dissolved out of 

 them. 



Contracts, acknowledgments of a loan, letters, and various 

 other records were protected by clay envelopes, upon which 

 practically the same record was written as upon the tablet itself. 

 This enabled the parties to the contract to consult the terms of 

 the contract, but prevented it from being altered, for the envelope 

 and the inner tablet must agree and any alteration would be de- 

 tected. No. 15 is such a tablet. The envelope or case had become 

 cracked and it was opened for the first time in October, 1913, 

 some 4153 years after it had been written. No. 14 is a case tablet, 

 as these tablets with envelopes are called, which has never been 

 opened. 



These documents were furthermore protected and authenti- 

 cated by one or more impressions of the notary's seal, or some- 

 times the seal of the debtor, which was equivalent to his signa- 

 ture. These seal cylinders used for the seal impressions 

 were made of semi-precious stone, such as agate, lapis lazuli, 

 jasper, shell, onyx, and one was probably owned by every man 

 of standing in the community, for writing was done by the 

 scribe. At the period from Avhich these tablets came, a seal con- 

 tained not only the name of its owner, his profession, and the 

 name of his father, but also represented some religious scene. The 

 scene on No. 6 is that of a god wearing a turban, seated on a 

 throne and holding a goblet in his extended hand. A goddess 

 clothed in a long garment and a cap with two horns is leading a 

 worshipper wearing a fringed garment. Between the seated god 

 and the approaching goddess is a four-legged little animal (a 

 monkey ?) that is trying to get upon the god's lap. The inscription 



