DISCOVERIES IX BABYLONIA AND THE NEIGHBOURING LANDS. 101 



cuneiform, though the characters may have assumed that 

 peculiarity, under Babylonian intluence, about 3,000 years 

 before Christ. Amonc; the specimens which I now show we 

 have the line-forms as seen on a stone bearing the name of 

 Karibu-sa-Susinak* (the fii-st element, larihu, is a provisional 

 reading), and to this I add a copy in ink to show more clearly 

 the rough forms of the characters and the careless cutting of 

 the lines, which ought to have l:>een ruled. The following is the 

 suggested translation of this inscription, by Pi-ofessor Scheil, 

 the original being, as already indicated, in proto-Elamite : — 



" Offerings of food, fermented drink, . . and dates : 20 

 measures of sweet drink, ... 2 measures of date-wine, 20 

 measures of seed-oil, 1 measure of fermented drink, a kind of fish, 

 1 sixth of a measure of dates (for) food, . . ., 100 measures of 

 sweet food (I), ... 3 measures of fine ibj?-drink, 100 . .. 

 1 sixth of hal." 



This inscription, if rightly rendered in the main, reminds one 

 of the numerous tablets recoi-ding gifts or contributions of 

 drink, food, and oil, which have been found at Lagas (^Tel-Loh), 

 in southern Babylonia. The rendering (which I have modified 

 from that of Scheil) is based on a likeness of certain of the 

 characters with the line-forms of the early Babylonian script : 

 but whether we are right in assuming that one is derived fi-om 

 the other or not, I do not know. Though defective, the trans- 

 lation may be regarded as better than none at all The 

 inscription on the other piece, which has the advantage of being 

 larger and clearer, is very similar to that of which a translation 

 has been attempted, and is probably the same text, with 

 variants. 



In addition to these roughly-can'ed lapidar}- inscripuons, 

 however, a large number of small clay tablets have been foimd, 

 apparently forming ptirt of the records of income and outlay of 

 some institution or temple. All these texts are written in 

 narrow colimins which, like those of the Une-inscriptions, also 

 read downwards, but the style is not linear, but distinctly 

 cuneiform. I give here a lirawing of one of them, made from 



* The following is a firr rrn Irii::^- :: rhe ins^i-ription, ^v-hic■h is written 

 in the cuneiform character : — 



*• Karibu-sa-i^osinak, viceroy of Susa, governor of the land of Elam, 

 son of Simbishuk, has dedicated the cedar and bronze gate-bar to Sulinak 

 his lord. May Sulinak, Istar, Xanite (and) Xergiil, remove the founda- 

 tion and destroy the s^^i of any who takes this ins^.^ription away. The 

 name of the gate is ' The support of this house." " According to ScheiJ, 

 the date of this ruler should be about 25<>3 b.c. 



