Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1920-07-22
DIGGING INTO HISTORY
rnba Code.of 1000 b. G. Recos--
nises Three Grades Of Society

Recent deciphertng or a clay tablet
which may add a thousand years to the
span of recorded history--for It contains
q cotfe Of laws. said to antedate that of
Hammurabi by millenMum-is another
reminder that archeologists are finding
stranger true stories than fiction can re-
veal" says a bulletin of the National
Geographic society.
The pick and the spade Of the explorer
have resulted in astounding revelations"
writes Albert r. Clay, who has deciphered
some Of the most famous of the docu-
mants.
above all else, one of the greatest sur
nrises is that the earliest peoples, instead
of being barbaroifs OF uDcuItured, were
civilized and possessed culture of high
orriar.
Several ancient libraries and immense
| archives have been found Years ago the
| literary library of Ashurba nipal t658-68
B. C.) was discovered at Nincveh.
TN more recent years temple and school
! libraries have been found at Nppur. Sip
| par, Larsa, Babylon. and EreCh. The lie
| brarics ofthe first three sites belong chief
~ to the third millennium b. c.; those
Of the last two belong to later periods.
But especially largo archives of these
documents Numbering several hundred
| thousand and belonging to the third and
fourth miIlenniums 3. c.. have been
| found at Tello, Nippud. Drchom. Jokha,
and recently at Ur.
| "A young man sends his endearing in
Qufry concerning the health of his be-
loved, saying: TO Bfbca. thus says Gimi1
Marduk: may the gods Shamash and Mar
duk permit thee to live forever for my
sake I write to inquire concerning tf,y
h. TvnlI
| Babylon, but did not see thee. was
greatly disyaDpoin;ed Send the reason fl,
thy leaving, that I may be hanpy DC
come IN the month Marcbesv,n Kean wo,
always for my sake
| The Code of Hamrnuyab; written ,ho,t
MOO b c. upop a largo and somewha,
\ Irregular stale il perhars tho most ir,
poftant monument of antiouity that ba.
been found for a century. II is tho nrod
uct of a civifkza ton of a high order. Ir
codffyins his laws. Hammurabi ARRANGED
them n, a definite and hprjcaI order bascf
upon accented i,nJtciaI decisions
I'm no better way is il possib,e tn he
come acquainted with the eyery-dav Iif,
of the ancient Babylouian than bv , caro-
fuf study of the Hamnurabi code
/ '"rhe code recognizes ,hrre rrados IF eo
ciety-thc aristocrat- or -entlcnan III,
poor man. or pleb. and the slave. AmOns
the ranks of the first mentioned were IN,
professional men. the officers and III,
tradesnen The second class in cluded III,
freedman vho had he,,n a slave
1T has been the custom with most peo
pies in a large part of the ancient a,
well as the modern. Orient TO base a he.
trothaI upon an agreement OF the ma,
or his parents to pay a sum of money r,
the girls father. In Rabylonia this 'brid
money together with the gift of III,
father and other gifts. formed the mar
riage portion which was given to tn,
bride
TN case the girls father reiected RI,
euftpr after the contract had been made
he was REQUIRED to return double m,
amount of tho bride price. The betrpthal,
took place usually when tho parties ,yNr,
young. and as a rule the engagements vvnr.