114 THE BABYLONIAN TABLETS 



Simuru, and into Elam — that great centre of civilization which 

 lay upon the eastern frontier with its capital at Susa — in his 

 conquest of Shashru. This policy of expansion eastward was 

 maintained by his son Bur-Sin in his expedition against Huhunuri 

 and by his grandson Gimil-Sin who conquered Simanu and 

 Zabshali. 



No. 5 belongs to that class of tablets of which Leonard W. 

 King in his excellent and interesting "History of Sumer and 

 Akkad," page 290, says : "That his expeditions were not mere 

 raids, but resulted in the permanent occupation of the country, is 

 proved by a number of tablets found at Tello, which throw con- 

 siderable light upon the methods by which he administered the 

 empire from his capital at Ur. Many of these documents contain 

 orders for supplies allotted to officials in the king's service, who 

 were passing through Lagash in the course of journeys between 

 Ur and their districts in Elam. The tablets enumerate quantities 

 of grain, strong drink, and oil, which had been assigned to them, 

 either for their sustenance during their stay in Lagash, or as 

 provision for their journey after their departure." 



The complexity of commercial life is illustrated by Tablet 

 No. 1, which is an account extending over eight years, namely, 

 from the first to the eighth year of Bur-Sin, inclusive, (2220-2212 

 B. C). The first and last columns are too much broken to permit 

 the complete unraveling of the account, but what is left of the 

 numbers in the final column of sum totals shows that large quan- 

 tities of barley, of "gig," and of meal are involved. Grain was 

 the principal medium of exchange, and interest on loans, net 

 revenues, etc., were paid in grain, which was most frequently 

 barley. 



The temple was the centre not only of religious but also of 

 intellectual, legal, and commercial life. Any transaction which 

 Involved writing was concluded at the temple, where the scribes 

 formed one class of the temple retinue, and it was in the temple 

 that documents were filed. Tablet No. 2 is an inventory of the 

 offerings brought in for the god of the city of Umma, the modern 

 Jokha, the ancient enemy of Lagash. These offerings are enumer- 

 ated in the following order, and consist of vases and bronze ves- 

 sels of various kinds ; butter, oil, and lard ; fifty-five garments 

 which were probably worn by the priests ; ornaments and uten- 

 sils made of stone ; barlev, wheat and dates ; and a very large 



