ted out as far as possible in the opening sections dealing with each
group. The aim will be to select characteristic specimens of each group
for translation and to append a summary of what can be obtained by a study
of the group.

The thousands of documents dealt with under these groups would, if
translated, require a library of volumes. In the case of the contracts the
repetition of scores of examples of the same sort would be wearisome. In
the case of the letters, the translation alone would be almost as obscure
as the original, without copious comment on the relationships, customs,
and events referred to. In both cases it must be noted that many of the
most interesting examples are incomplete and unavailable as specimens. The
object of this work is to show what are the most important laws or legal
documents of each period and to point out the chief subjects of
information to be gained from them. For the letters no such summary of
information can be given, partly because they are so many and varied,
partly because so few are yet available.

(M23) The first epoch is to be considered as one period only because its
contribution to the subject is as yet small and chronologically precedes
the first great group. It ranges from the earliest beginnings of history
to somewhere about B.C. 2300. The dates are largely conjectural, but for
the most part the sequence of the events is known. It is the period
covered by Dr. H. Radau's _Early Babylonian History_.

Some very ancient documents fall under this period. The early tablets
which show the nearest approach to the original picture-writing(16) are
transfers of property. As a rule, however, such votive inscriptions do not
come under the head of contracts. One of the earliest of our monuments,
the Stele of Manistusu, King of Kish, records the sale of land. Another
very early monument of similar style(17) deals with the sale of plots of
land. Others will be found in the _Memoires de la Delegation en Perse_.

But by far the greatest number of inscriptions belong to the finds of
Telloh, made by De Sarzec in his explorations for the French Government.
His greatest find, some thirty thousand tablets which were in the archives
there, was dispersed by the Arabs, and has found its way into various
museums. They have been sold in Europe, as coming from different
localities. It is certain that other finds of the same period and same
general character have been made elsewhere, so that it i