BABYLON IN THE DAYS OF NEBUCHADREZZAR. 191 



to barley as nourishment. This is naturally a very meagre 

 description, for the inscriptions give a much larger list of the 

 products of the land. We are not, therefore, surprised to read, 

 in a contract dated in the 1st year of Neriglissar, of 21,200 

 ropes of sumu or garlic due from Marduk-sum-ibni. Most of 

 the other tablets refer to wheat, dates (of which large quantities 

 are still produced), barley, and a material called kasia. The 

 contracts also refer, from time to time, to other products of the 

 land, as well as to manufactured things. The most interesting 

 texts, however, are those which bear upon the manners and 

 customs — and, incidentally, upon the way of life, the laws, 

 and the religion — of the people. A few of these points will come 

 forward in the section which follows. 



The Citizens of Babylon, and some Pkivate References 



TO THE King. 



Were all the periods of Babylonian history treated of, a volume 

 might be written — and probably more than one — upon their 

 manners, customs, religion, worship, and ways in general ; and 

 when I say this, I mean that the details might be taken from the 

 contract-tablets and private documents alone. As is well 

 known, these are exceedingly numerous, and amount to several 

 thousands. In the present case, I have read through about 

 450 documents, which, though mostly short, represent a 

 considerable amount of material. 



Though far from being equal in quantity to the private 

 documents of the shorter reign of Nabonidus, the third king 

 in succession from Nebuchadrezzar, the reign of the latter was 

 nevertheless a period of fairly satisfactory prosperity. In all 

 probability Nebuchadrezzar's warlike expeditions took from the 

 land a certain number of its male population, and this, as we 

 know, would limit production, restrict commerce, and keep 

 prices high. His warlike expeditions, however, must have 

 prepared the way for the great volume of commerce during 

 his successors' reigns — a prosperity which was hardly checked 

 by the capture of Babylon by Cyrus, that wonderfully acute 

 administrator, who took over the rule of Babylonia in 538 B.C. 



In all probability there are but few who have not at least some 

 knowledge of the nature of the documents which go to form the 

 group Imown as " contract-tablets." They are oblong, not 

 unlike a cake of toilet soap after it has been used a few days. 



o 



