of
witnesses, and a comparison was made to see if the exterior corresponded
exactly with the interior version. Families thus had their private
archives, to which additions were rapidly made by every generation;
every household thus accumulated not only the evidences of its own
history, but to some extent that of other families with whom they had
formed alliances, or had business or friendly relations.*

* The tablets of Tell-Sifr come from one of these family
collections. They all, in number about one hundred, rested
on three enormous bricks, and they had been covered with a
mat of which the half-decayed remains were still visible:
three other crude bricks covered the heap. The documents
contained in them relate for the most part to the families
of Sininana and Amililani, and form part of their archives.

[Illustration: 279.jpg THE TABLET OF TELL-SIFR, BROKEN TO SHOW THE TWO
TEXTS.]

Drawn by Faucher-Gudin, from Loftus.

[Illustration: 280.jpg TABLET BEARING THE IMPRESS OF A SEAL]

Drawn by Faucher-Gudin, from a sketch by Layard.

The constitution of the family was of a complex character. It would
appear that the people of each city were divided into clans, all of
whose members claimed to be descended from a common ancestor, who had
flourished at a more or less remote period. The members of each clan
were by no means all in the same social position, some having gone down
in the world, others having raised themselves; and amongst them we find
many different callings--from agricultural labourers to scribes, and
from merchants to artisans. No mutual tie existed among the majority
of these members except the remembrance of their common origin, perhaps
also a common religion, and eventual rights of succession or claims upon
what belonged to each one individually. The branches which had become
gradually separated from the parent stock, and which, taken all
together, formed the clan, possessed each, on the contrary, a very
strict organization. It is possible that, at the outset, the woman
occupied the more important position, but at an early date the man
became the head of the family,* and around him were ranged the wives,
children, servants, and slaves, all of whom had their various duties and
privileges.

* The change in the condition of women would be due to the
influence of Semitic ideas and customs in Chaldaea.

He offered the household worship to the god