The Washington herald., 1915-10-09

Lothrop cover a period of nearly 1000.
years beginning at about 2450 B. c.,
in the dynasty of Us down to the
reign of the Persian conqueror.
Cyrus the Great King.
Not quite as old as the oldest of the
cuneiform tablets but written in a much
more ancient script is one inscribed in
modified Sumerian (non-Semitic) charac-
ters 1t dates from about ESQ B. C. The
writing on this tablet comes about half
way between the 'picturegraph' symbols
of the early Sumerians and the conven-
tionaiizcd cuneiform of the Babylonisrs
The Sumerians, the oldest people of
Babylonia of which any relics are to be
found, probably came to the Persian gulf
about 5000 B. C. At that time they did
not know the use Of clay tablets for writ
ing. and their script was purely picture
graphic. AS time passed these picture
graphs became conventionlized into cunei-
form in the manner hereafter describe d,
but long after the cuneiform writing had
come into universal use a modified form
of the old picturegraph was still used in
connection with matters Of religion. just
as Latin and blackletter Gothic still main
tain a precarous existence in churches
of today
Assumes Square Form.
The earliest form of the clay tablets
in use among these peoples was probably
round or cylindrical. later assuming a
square or oblong form with convex sur
faces Others, however-mostly ex votos
are conical, and there is also an inter-
esting form Of small square tablet which
was sealed up in a little box o; thin clay
just as a modern letter is sealed in an
envelope. Mr.. Woodward has several OF
these with envelnne still unhrnken
Whatever the contents may be. their Sc
cret has been faithfully kept from curl
Gus eyes for 1000 years, The discovery
that the ancient Babyloniars had EN-
velopes" which the encyclopa edias tell
Us have not been in use more than 100
years is simply one more example-and
the historians are furnishing us with new
ones every day-of the old motto that
there is nothing new under the sun. We
know now that the Romans had cooking
schools and six-story apartment houses
heated with steam: that the Greeks had
a complicated code Of Admiralty law,
and that the Egyptians danced the tango.
1t would probably be the most astonish-
ing thing in the world to us could we
know how extremely modern In many
startling respects the Babylonians were.
Certainly they were experts at irriga tion
had some splendid libraries. and We're
learned in astronomy, medicine, and. to
some extent. engineering. As an exam
PIE of their astronomical knowledge It
may be recalled that they discovered and
described the Zodiac several thousand
years before the birth of Christ, and Of
their engineering skill it may be pointed
out that II is still mystery as to how
the famous Hanging Gardens of Babylon.
located on arches some fifty or a hundred
feet in the air. were irrigated And who
can doubt that the Assyrian business
man Stunned his creditors, gambled for
the drinks. grumbled at the government
and the hard times and the size of his
taxes and took his wife out to the thea
ter in the evening. Just as he does today ?
Practically all of the tablets that have
been discovered by the excavators have
been found in the temples. For the Tenn
pie I'm those days was not merely a place
of worship any more than II was when
Christ drove the money changers from It
in Jerusalem. 1t was the center OF all
municipal life and all the business was
transacted-and no doubt most Of the
politics and the feminine intriguing
within its walls. or course, the fact that
it was a Temple gave additional solem-
nifty to the transactions perfected there.
Just as in the days of the Anglo -Saxons
the villagers used to make their bar
gains at the church door. And Sin the
Moon God or Ashtoreth. or whatever
deity it happened to be that presided over
that particular temple naturally came In
for good deal Of homage as we'll.
when Nexasn Sold Oxen.
Thus when Nezaza had sold some oxen
o. grain to Lugal-saggur and had made
a careful memorandum OF the transaction
on a tablet:
$50 ka Of grain for the oxen. 80 ka
Lugai-saggur has given for one
month. $50 ka OF grain for the oxen.
he would probably take the tablet to
some official in the Temple. who would
witness the agreement Of the parties and
perhaps file away duplicate of the
tablet. Then Nezaza. having made what
he considered an excellent bargain. and
before departing to some nearby cabaret
to get skinful OF wine. would remember
Sin or some other OF the seven magnif-
cent deities or the fifty great gods or
maybe even of the three hundred spirits
Of heaven or the six hundred spirits of
earth to whose active intercession he At
tributed his good fortune, and he would
thereupon purchase an ex voto for q
small sum-a small round or conical
stone or tablet with the gods honorary
titles inscribed on it-and having thrust