"To Bibea say, thus saith Gimil-Marduk: May Shamash and Marduk for my sake preserve thy health forever. I have sent for thy health. Tell me how thou art. I went to Babylon and did not see thee. I was greatly disappointed. Send me the reason of thy leaving, and let me be cheered.
In Marchevan do thou come. For my sake keep well always."[2]
The next is written by the captain of a river barge to King Sennacherib, concerning the transporting of colossal bulls.
"To the king my lord, thy servant a.s.shur-mukin has ordered me to transport in boats the colossal bulls and cherubim of stone. The boats are not strong enough and are not ready. But if a present be kindly made to us, we will see that they are got ready, and ascend the river."
If the writer of the third failed to have his request granted, it could scarcely be for lack of persistence in making it known. It is a letter written by a tenant to his landlord, and belongs to the age of Abraham:
"To my lord say, thus saith Ibgatum thy servant: As, my lord, thou hast heard, the enemy has carried off my oxen. Never before have I sent to thee, my lord. Now I have caused a letter to be brought to thee, my lord, Do thou, my lord, send me one young cow. I will weigh out and send five shekels of silver to thee, my lord. My lord, what thou sayest, under the command of Marduk, thy protector, what pleases thee, no one can hinder thee, my lord. My lord, do thou make her worth the five shekels of silver that I have weighed out and sent to thee. Do thou, my lord, treat seriously this request, do not trifle with my wish. Let my lord not wonder at this request, which I send my lord. I am thy servant.
I will do thy will, my lord. As to the young cow, which thou, my lord, dost send, let her be on credit, and either to Basu, or wherever is convenient to my lord, do thou send. With Iliikisham, my brother, let the young cow come. And I, in order that my lord should quickly consent and send the young cow, will forthwith weigh out and send fifteen shekels of silver to thee, my lord."[3]
Sayce has suggested that the five shekels of silver was the amount he paid annually for the lease of his farm, and that he sent it at this time to further influence the landlord to grant his request. Another interpretation has been put upon it that he sent the five shekels as a payment down, but did not propose to pay the full price until he saw the particular cow sent him.
Letters were enclosed generally in an envelope of clay. Powdered clay was sprinkled over the letter to prevent its clinging to the cover.
Because the envelope of clay had to be broken before the letter was read, safety and privacy was proven by the unbroken cover. Again the tablet upon which the letter was inscribed was sometimes covered with a linen wrapper and the ends held by a seal--a lump of clay pressed down with the impression of the seal upon it. Few of these clay or linen envelopes have been found, for they were regarded as valueless and were cast aside. A very fair postal system was maintained in Mesopotamia.
"Babylonian and a.s.syrian letters were treated much as ours are when they are put into a post-bag to which the seals of the post-office are attached. There were excellent roads all over Western Asia, with post-stations at intervals where relays of horses could be procured.
Along these all letters to or from the king and the government were carried by royal messengers. It is probable that the letters of private individuals were also carried by the same hands.... The civilized and oriental world was bound together by a network of postal routes over which literary intercourse was perpetually pa.s.sing. They extended from the Euphrates to the Nile and from the plateau of Asia Minor to the confines of Arabia. These routes followed the old lines of war and trade along which armies had marched and merchantmen had traveled for unnumbered generations. The Tell-el-Amarna tablets show that letter-writing was not confined to a.s.syria and Babylonia on the one hand, or to Egypt on the other. Wherever the ancient culture of Babylonia had spread, there had gone with it not only the cuneiform characters and the use of clay as a writing material, but the art of letter-writing as well."[4]
Fifteen hundred and seventy-five letters alone were found in the library of a.s.shurbanipal, unearthed by Layard. This great a.s.syrian king sent scribes throughout Babylonia to visit ancient temples and copy tablets on which were preserved ancient writings. Some thirty thousand were collected before his death and they treated of all subjects known at that time. It was remarkable that when this splendid palace fell into ruins, many of these tablets remained uninjured, and, having laid undisturbed for twenty-five hundred years, were finally brought to light some fifty years ago to give the world of today their old-time messages.
DELUGE STORY--COLUMN III.
"The surface of the land like fire they wasted; they destroyed all life from the face of the land; to battle against men they brought the waters.
Brother saw not his brother; men knew not one another.
In heaven the G.o.ds feared the flood and hastened to ascend to the heaven of Anu.
The G.o.ds, like dogs in the kennel, crouched down in a heap.
Six days and nights ...
the wind, the flood, and the storm go on overwhelming.
The seventh day, when it approached, the flood subsided, the storm which had fought against men like an armed host was quieted. The sea began to dry, and the wind and the flood ended.
I beheld the sea and uttered a cry, for the whole of mankind was turned to clay; like trunks the corpses floated.
I opened the window, and light smote upon my face; I stopped and sat down; I wept; over my face flowed my tears.
I beheld a sh.o.r.e beyond the sea; a district rose twelve times distant.
On the mountain of Nizir the ship grounded; the mountain of Nizir stopped the ship, and it was not able to pa.s.s over it.
The first day, the second day, the mountain of Nizir stopped the ship.
The third day, the fourth day, the mountain of Nizir stopped the ship.
The fifth day, the sixth day, the mountain of Nizir stopped the ship.
The seventh day when it approached I sent forth a dove, and it left. The dove went in and returned and found no resting place, and it came back.
Then I sent forth a swallow, and it left. The swallow went and returned, and found no resting place, and it came back.
I sent forth a raven, and it left.
The raven went, and saw the going down of the waters, and it approached, it waded, it croaked; it did not return.
I sent the animals to the four winds; I sacrificed a sacrifice I built an altar on the peak of the mountain.
I sent vessels ... by sevens; underneath them I spread reeds, cedar-wood, and herbs.
The G.o.ds smelt the savour; the G.o.ds smelt the good savour; the G.o.ds gathered like flies over the sacrifices.
Thereupon the great G.o.ddess at her approach lifted up the mighty bow which Anu had created according to his wishes.
These G.o.ds, by my necklace, never will I forget."
[Ill.u.s.tration: ISHTAR. FROM AN a.s.sYRIAN CYLINDER.]
FOOTNOTES:
[1] George Smith: Babylonia, 46.
[2] Johns: Baby. and a.s.sy. Laws, Letters and Contracts, 336.
[3] Johns: Baby. and a.s.sy. Laws, Letters and Contracts, 334.
[4] Sayce: Life and Customs in Baby. and a.s.sy., 228.
CHAPTER XIII.
CLOTHING.
The Babylonians and a.s.syrians were very fond of dress. There were three essentials to Mesopotamian dress, and accessories depended upon the taste and purse of the wearer. A head-dress, a tunic and a robe were the main features of one"s apparel, although all were not of necessity worn by the lower cla.s.ses. The head-dress was frequently of felt and was some times quilted; the tunic was generally made of linen when worn in Babylonia and of wool in a.s.syria; the robe was long, falling to the ankles; it was often of wool and was finished with a deep fringe. The tunic and some times the robe as well were belted at the waist by a wide and elaborate girdle. Women"s garments were similar to those worn by men, but their robes fell in more ample folds. Naturally fashions changed and a garment worn in the days of the Semitic invasion would have appeared odd and out of date in the age of a.s.shurbanipal.
Early portraits of kings show them clad in thick quilted skirts falling to the ankles, while quilted turbans covered their heads. Later robes took the place of the skirt. Parasols were carried in Babylonia as protection against the heat, but in a.s.syria they gradually became the privilege of the royal family. In portraits of later a.s.syrian kings, the parasol is frequently shown. This custom may have been borrowed from Persia.
Ordinarily no head-dress was worn by the lower cla.s.ses in Babylonia unless, perhaps, to denote some special calling. Certain musicians appear with caps. The devotees of fashion probably donned head-dresses at pleasure.
Jewelry was popular with both men and women, even the poor being adorned with necklaces, bracelets, anklets. Shoes and sandals were seldom worn in the southern kingdom. In a.s.syria, naturally a colder climate brought about some variations of dress. High boots and leather breeches were worn by the soldiers of later periods; shoes were needed to protect the feet from frosty ground, and cloaks were required in addition to the usual robe.
Embroidered and imported robes, smart hats and other details of wearing apparel were characteristic of later periods when wealth and leisure gave opportunity for such indulgences. Certain it is that the simple tunic sufficed in early days, and rank was indicated by its greater or abbreviated length.
The ancient Chaldeans or Sumerians always shaved their heads and faces.
Influenced by this custom, the Babylonians did not wear long beards. The a.s.syrians, more purely Semitic, wore long ones and had hair dressers largely in the place of barbers, who curled both their beards and hair.
A word should be said of the costumes of the priests. They may always be distinguished on the monuments by their long, flounced robes, reaching nearly to the ground. Because the goat was an animal of special sanct.i.ty, a goat-skin was invariably thrown over the shoulder--quite as the Egyptian priest wore the skin of a leopard.
In connection with the jewelry worn by men, we may consider the little cylinders which served as seals. In Babylonia, because of the scarcity of stone, even tiny pebbles were valued, and it came to be the custom to have these cut in cylindrical shapes by expert stone-cutters. An opening was made throughout their length to allow a cord or chain to pa.s.s through. This attached the cylinder to the owner"s wrist. Upon the round surface of the cylinder were engraved various designs and figures, and a few words explaining the ident.i.ty of the wearer, name of his father and other noteworthy facts regarding him. His name was affixed, and with this he stamped his letters and all doc.u.ments. To be without a cylinder was almost as inconvenient as to be without a name. The very poor, who could not afford such a seal, were obliged to make a nail-mark in the soft clay, while some one wrote the name of the person to whom that particular mark belonged. The possessor of a cylinder had only to pa.s.s it over the clay and his signature was made. Many of these little cylinders have been recovered, and some lack the name of an owner, showing that they had been made by a gem-cutter, but had not yet found a buyer.
FOOD.
Food was easily obtained in Mesopotamia, and consisted mainly of grains and dried fish. Cereals were made into little cakes and seasoned with dates or some other fruit. Fish and fowl were plentiful; many kinds of fruits and vegetables were grown, and wine and beer were universally used. Lacking the tomb-pictures of Egypt, we know less about the food and its preparation in the Euphrates valley.
SPORTS AND PASTIMES.
For our knowledge of ancient Babylonian and a.s.syrian life, we are dependent largely upon scenes depicted on palace walls, especially the walls of royal dwellings. These scenes commemorate the doings of the king particularly, and where laborers, slaves and the common people are shown at all, they are seen at work, building palaces and temples, marching to battle, swelling the triumphal processions, or they are cultivating the fields, storing away the grain--all to the glory of the realm and consequently to the king. Naturally then, we know little about the pastimes of the ma.s.ses. They no doubt thronged the streets on festivals, for then they were free from work. Even labor on royal palaces--always pushed with all possible speed--was then suspended.
Every day in the year had its own significance, but five days each month were of particular importance, being sacred to the G.o.ds, and were duly observed. Worship and merry-making were in a measure mingled. Other days for popular observance were those in which the king and the army returned from successful wars. A triumphal procession pa.s.sed slowly through the streets on its way to the temple, where thanksgiving was rendered the G.o.ds who had made victory possible. Such occasions were always holidays, and the people in gay attire, gathered to witness the home-coming of their sovereign, and to gaze in wonder at the booty and the captives.