Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1920-07-17
HISTORY ADVANCED
THOUSAND YEARS
Deciphering of Clay Tablets
Brings Out Astounding
Revelations.

"RJcent deciphering of a clay tab
let which may add thousand years
to the span of recorded history
for it contains a code Of laws said to
antedate that of Hammurabi by a
Psychologists are finding stranger
true stories than fiction can reveal,
says a bulletin of the National Geo
graphic Society.
The pick and the spade of the ex-
plorer have resulted in astounding
revelations" writes Albert T. Clay,
who has d6phered some of the most
famous of the documents.
above all else. one of the greatest
surprises is that the earliest peoples.
instead of being barbarous or uncul-
tured, were civilized and possessed
a culture of a high order.
Several ancient Libraries and i'm
mense archives have been found.
Years ago the literary library of
Ashurbanipal (66S-626 B. c. was dis
covered at Nineveh.
I'm more recent years temple and
school libraries have been found at
Nippur, Sippar. Larsa, Babylon and
Erech The libraries of the first
three sites belong chiefly to the third
millennium B. c.; those of the last
two belong to- later periods
But especially large archives of
these documents. numbering several
hundred thousand and belonging TO
the third and fourth mnlenniums
B. c., have been found at Tello. Nip
pur. Drehem, Jokha, and recently
at Ur.
Missed Sweetheart in Babylon.
"A young man sends his endearing
inquiry concerning the health of his
beloved, saying: To Bibea, thus says
Gimil Marduk: May the gods Sha-
To N-n
forever for my sake" l write to
inquire concerning thy health. Tell
me how thou art. / went to Babylon.
but did not see thee. ! was greatly
disappointed. Send the reason for thy
leaving, that l may be happy. Do
come in the month MarcheSvan. Keep
well always for my sake.
The code of Hammurabi, written
about 1000 B. c., upon large and
somewhat irregular STEELE. is perhaps
the most important monument of an
tiuuity that has been found for a
century 1t is the product of a civili-
cation of high order. In codifying
his laws, Hammurabi arranged them
in a definite and logical order, based
upon accepted judicial decisions.
become acquainted with. the every
day life of the ancient Babylonian
than by careful study of the Ham
murabi code.
The code recognizes three grades
of society-the aristocrat, or gentle
man; the poor man, or pleb. and the
slave. Among the ranks of the first
mentioned were the professional men.
the officers and the tradesmen. The
second class includd the freed man
who had been a slave.
Money Given to Bride.
at has been the custom with most
peoples in a large part of the ancient
as well as the modern orient to base
a betrothal upon an agreement of the
man or his parents to pay sum of
money to the girls father. In Baby
lonia this bride money together
with the gift of the father and other
gifts, formed the marriage portion
which was given to the bride.
I'm case the girls father rejecte led
the sutton after the contract had been
made. he was required to return dou-
bic the amount of the bride price The
betrothals took place usually when
the parties were young, and, as rule.
the engagements were made by the
parents. If the father died before all
the sons were married, when the es-
tate was divided the sums needed for
those not having wives were deducted
before the distribution was made
|, "A marriage contract was neces-
sary to make a marriage legal. In
some of them peculiar conditions were
made, such as the bride being re-
quired to wait upon the mother-in-
law or even upon another wife. If it
was stipulated that the man should
not take a second wife, the woman
could secure a divorce in case her hus-
band broke the agreement.
Doctors Fees Fixed.
THE code of Hammurabi fixed the
charges of physicians and surgeons.
If physician cured broken limb or
healed diseased. bowel. his fee. from
the gentry, was fixed at five shekels;
from the commoner, three, and from
the slave, two. The surgeon for an
operation upon the upper class re-
ceived ten shekels; the lower, five,
and a slave. two.
IN order to discourage the surgeon
from making rash operations severe
penalties were fixed in case of un-
successful ones. If the patient died,
the surgeons hands were cut Off In
the case of a slave he had to replace
him with one of equal value. If the
slaves eye was lost he had to pay
half the value of the slave"