192 



THEOPHILUS G. PIXCHES, LL.D.,. M.E.A.S.. ON 



As a rule, the obverse and part of the reverse is inscribed with 

 the contract properly so called, whilst the remainder of the 

 surface is occupied by the names of the witnesses, that of the 

 scribe, and the date. In every case, or almost every case, the 

 persons are distinguished by giving the names of their fathers 

 and the ancestor from whom they traced their descent. Chief 

 among these families, in the matter of nmnbers, was the house of 

 Egibi, once described as Egibi k Sons, and with the suggested 

 addition of Bankers.'' In connection with this it may be 

 stated that the late Jules Oppert, with his usual caustic humour, 

 used to say, that it was because ^Ir. Bosanquet, G. Smith's patron, 

 was a banker — '* if it had been Fox Talbot who had occupied 

 this position with regard to that pioneer Assyriologist, they 

 would have been photographers." 



But there were a great many other families prominent at 

 Babylon in Xebuchadrezzar's time, the chief of them being 

 E-sagilaya (■'*' the E-sagiUte — that is, the (weU-known) official 

 of the great temple of Belus so called) ; Babutu. Sin-imitti ; 

 Isinnaya, '"' he of (the city) Isin ; Sag-didi (Sumerian), the 

 handsome," or the like ; Arad-Xergal, *' the servant of Xergal " ; 

 Aisur the Assvrian (apparently), and many others. But the 

 most interesting from an historical point of \'iew is Bel-sima-iskun, 

 the ancestor of Xeriglissar, to whom reference wiU be made in 

 the course of this sketch. 



In addition to the names, many of the Babylonians were 

 distinguished by ancestors bearing the names of professions 

 and trades, such as re'i swi, the horse-keeper " ; prMdru, 

 "the potter"; nappdhii. "the smith""; namgdru, the 

 carpenter '" ; malahu, the sailor " or pilot " ; i^paru, " the 

 weaver " ; lamad adanni-hi, " the learner of its season " — 

 possibly " monthly prognosticator," or the like — galldbu, " the 

 tonsure-cutter," etc. Official personages are likewise named as 

 ancestors, examples being na-^ patri, " the knife-bearer '*' ; 

 masmr abuUi, ''' the watchman of the gate '"" ; tup>ar Ml pihqth 

 the provincial governor "s secretary,'"' etc. In addition to 

 these, the priests of various gods also appear as ancestors — 

 priests (kinge) of Ea, the god of the sea ; Sin, the moon ; Xergal ; 

 Gula, the goddess of healing ; helit Bdhili, '" the Lady of Babylon," 

 probably Merodach's spouse ; En-urta, the god of war, etc. 

 Their names naturally suggest family positions in Babylonian 

 society of varpng degree, and it is probable that family pride 

 was by no means absent from the various grades, jiLSt as with us. 



