ere space was less valuable, and where they were free
to extend, the tombs quickly disappeared without leaving any vestiges
above the surface, and it would now be necessary to turn up a great
deal of rubbish before discovering their remains. The Chaldaea of to-day
presents the singular aspect of a country almost without cemeteries, and
one would be inclined to think that its ancient inhabitants had taken
pains to hide them.** The sepulture of royal personages alone furnishes
us with monuments of which we can determine the site. At Babylon these
were found in the ancient palaces in which the living were no longer
inclined to dwell: that of Shargina, for instance, furnished a
burying-place for kings more than two thousand years after the death
of its founder. The chronicles devoutly indicate the spot where each
monarch, when his earthly reign was over, found a last resting-place;
and where, as the subject of a ceremonial worship similar to that of
Egypt, his memory was preserved from the oblivion which had overtaken
most of his illustrious subjects.

* The German expedition of 1886-87 found four of these
reservoirs in a single chamber, and nine distributed in the
chambers of a house entirely devoted to the burial of the
dead.

** Various explanations have been offered to account for
this absence of tombs, Without mentioning the desperate
attempt to get rid of the difficulty by the assumption that
the dead bodies were cast into the river, Loftus thinks that
the Chaldaeans and Assyrians were accustomed to send them to
some sanctuary in Southern Chaldaea, especially to Uru and
Uruk, whose vast cemeteries, he contends, would have
absorbed during the centuries the greater part of the
Euphratean population; his opinion has been adopted by some
historians, and, as far only as the later period is
concerned, by Hommel.

The dead man, or rather that part of him which survived--his
"ekimmu"--dwelt in the tomb, and it was for his comfort that there were
provided, at the time of sepulture or cremation, the provisions and
clothing, the ornaments and weapons, of which he was considered to stand
in need. Furnished with these necessities by his children and heirs, he
preserved for the donors the same affection which he had felt for them
in his lifetime, and gave evidence of it in every way he could, watching
over their welfare, and protecting them from malign i