ing or governor, and to pay various taxes and tithes on his land,
his water for irrigation, and his crops. From the numerous documents
of the First Dynasty of Babylon that have been recovered and published
within the last few years we know that similar customs were prevalent at
that period, so that it is clear that the successive conquests to which
the country was subjected, and the establishment of different dynasties
of foreign kings at Babylon, did not to any appreciable extent affect
the life and customs of the inhabitants of the country or even the
general character of its government and administration. Some documents
of a commercial and legal nature, inscribed upon clay tablets during the
reigns of the Kassite kings of Babylon, have been found at Nippur,
but they have not yet been published, and the information we possess
concerning the life of the people in this period is obtained indirectly
from kudurrus or boundary-stones, such as those of Nazimaruttash and
Melishikhu which have been already described. Of documents relating to
the life of the people under the rule of the kings of the Country of the
Sea we have none, and, with the exception of the unpublished chronicle
which has been described earlier in this chapter, our information for
this period is confined to one or two short votive inscriptions. But the
case is very different with regard to the reigns of the Semitic kings of
the First Dynasty of Babylon. Thousands of tablets relating to legal and
commercial transactions during this period have been recovered, and more
recently a most valuable series of royal letters, written by Hammurabi
and other kings of his dynasty, has been brought to light.

[Illustration: 264.jpg Upper Part of the Stele of Hammurabi, King of
Babylon.]

The stele is inscribed with his great code of laws. The Sun-
god is represented as seated on a throne in the form of a
temple facade, and his feet are resting upon the mountains.
Photograph by Messrs. Mansell & Co.

Moreover, the recently discovered code of laws drawn up by Hammurabi
contains information of the greatest interest with regard to the
conditions of life that were prevalent in Babylonia at that period.
From these three sources it is possible to draw up a comparatively full
account of early Babylonian life and customs.

CHAPTER VI--EARLY BABYLONIAN LIFE AND CUSTOMS

In tracing the ancient history of Mesopotamia and the surrounding
countries i