evidence, contained copies of texts that were produced in Babylonia and the general dependence of the Assyrian culture,—including more particularly the art, the religion, and the literary activity,-upon Babylonia became manifest, the hope was naturally entertained that when once the excavations should be extended to the mounds in the south, covering the remains of Babylonian cities, extensive literary archives would be unearthed in the temples, furnishing the originals of which the ambitious king had copies prepared by his scribes. This hope has up to the present not been realized, and there are reasons for believing that the temples of Babylonia did not, with perhaps a single exception-possibly two exceptions-possess extensive literary collections. In other words, the only Library as yet found in the Mesopotamian excavations is the royal collection of Nineveh; and in view of the unfortunate confusion that has recently been created in regard to "Temple Libraries," it seems useful to investigate, on the basis of the material actually found in Babylonian mounds, whether we are justified in assuming that the Babylonian temples even in the important religious centers as a rule had libraries.

Three Babylonian mounds of primary importance have been pretty thoroughly explored-Telloh, Abu Habba and Nippur, while a fourth site-Babylon-has been the scene of active excavations since 1899,' so that we are justified in drawing certain conclusions as to the general character of Babylonian mounds, though naturally with that reserve which the factor of uncertainty as to what the future may have in store suggests. Confining ourselves for the present to the first three mounds, it is to be noted that all three represent most important cities of ancient Babylonia, Telloh being the site of Lagash (or Shirpurla), that played a significant rôle in early Babylonian history; Abu Habba, the site of Sippar, which was one of the chief centers of sun-worship and likewise of political importance at various periods; while Nippur, certainly one of the most ancient

By the German Orient Society. See the Mitteilungen der Deutschen Orient-Gesellschaft zu Berlin, published every few months and containing reports of the progress of the work. A convenient conspectus of explorations in Babylonia and Assyria will be found in Delitzsch's Assyrische Grammatik (2d ed., Berlin, 1906), pp. 1-4, which, however, omits to mention the work at Bismya under Dr. E. J. Banks.

cities of Babylonia, was at one time the center of a kingdom of considerable extent, and which, after finally yielding its political prerogatives to the city of Babylon, continued down to a very late period to enjoy sacred distinction as the seat of the worship of Bel-once the head of the Babylonian pantheon. At all three sites a large number of tablets have been found within the precincts of the chief temple at each place-but what is the character of these tablets?

At Telloh, apart from numerous inscriptions on bricks, cones, stones, statues, statuettes, votive objects and sculptured monuments and the like,' a large temple archive, but wholly of a business and administrative character, was discovered by De Sarzec in the course of his excavations in 1894-95. During a temporary interruption of the excavations, the ruins were plundered and most of the tablets scattered through dealers in all parts of the world. It is estimated that above 30,000 clay tablets from Telloh are to be found in the museums of Europe and America and in private collections or still in the hands of dealers, though this number would seem to be somewhat too high. The tablets are without exception of a business character, dealing for the most part with the accounts, the sacrifices, the officials and employees and miscellaneous business affairs of the temple of

1 De Sarzec, Découvertes en Chaldée (Paris, 1889). The excavations conducted by De Sarzec from 1877 to his death in 1901 are now being continued by M. Croz.

2 Specimens in De Sarzec ib. pl. 41. See the account of the discovery of the archive by Heuzey, Revue d'Assyriologie, iv, pp. 65–68.

3 Several extensive publications of tablets from the Temple Archive of Telloh have already appeared, notably, Reisner, Tempelurkunden aus Telloh (Berlin, 1901), Thureau-Dangin, Recueil de Tablettes Chaldéennes (Paris, 1903), same, Notice sur la Troisieme collection de Tablettes, etc. (Revue d'Assyriologie v, pp. 67-98), also in Parts iii, vii and ix of the British Museum Series of Cuneiform Texts from Babylonian Tablets, etc., and Barton, Haverford Library Collection of Cuneiform Tablets (Phila. 1906), or Documents from the Temple Archives of Telloh. The first publication of Telloh tablets was by W. R. Arnold, who properly designated his volume as “ Ancient Babylonian Temple Records” (N. Y., 1896). The texts form part of the Telloh tablets in the possession of Columbia University. A further instalment of this collection will shortly be published by Dr. R. J. Lau. In Radau's Early Babylonian History (N. Y., 1900) are included the Telloh tablets in the General Theological Seminary. Virolleaud, Comptabilité Chaldéenne (2 parts, Poitiers, 1903), comprises a publication of Telloh tablets in Constantinople.

Ningirsu at Lagash and of other temples at that place, while a small proportion deal with the business of private individuals.' All the tablets belong to the older period, i. e. before Hammurabi. At Abu Habba it is estimated about 50,000 clay tablets have been found through the excavations conducted by Rassam (1881– 82) and Scheil (1894), supplemented by extensive private diggings through thievish Arabs. Beside the very large collection of Abu Habba tablets secured through Dr. Budge for the British Museum," partly by Rassam and partly by subsequent purchases, collections from the Abu Habba archive were purchased by the University of Pennsylvania," by the Berlin Museum, the Metropolit in Museum and other institutions. These tablets, found within the precincts of the temple of the sun-god, are likewise, with the exception of several hundred, of a business character, (a) either connected with the temple administration-contracts, sales, work accounts, etc.—or (b) of a private character, including in both sections letters. Both the older-the Hammurabi-period and the

See, e. g., Barton, l. c., p. 7.

4

See Meissner, Beiträge zum altbabylonischen Privatrecht p. 2, and King, Letters and Inscriptions of Hammurabi, I, p. xx.

3 See R. F. Harper, Hebraica vi, pp. 59-60 and Zeitschrift für Assyriologie, iv, pp. 163-164; also Peters, Nippur, vol. i, pp. 16 and 297, and Hilprecht, Explorations in Bible Lands, p. 302, note. A publication of a considerable portion of this collection by Dr. H. Ranke is now ready for the press. From internal evidence, Dr. Ranke has determined that most of the tablets of the Khabaza collection (purchased in two instalments) come from Abu Habba. See also Peters, l. c., ii, p. 50. Included in the Khabaza collection is the Astronomical tablet which Hilprecht, l. c., p. 532, reproduced as an "Astronomical tablet from the Temple Library " at Nippur, although it was purchased at Bagdad before even the Nippur excavations had begun and eleven years before the announcement of the discovery of the Nippur "Library." The "Lushtamar" tablet, purchased July 5, 1889 at Bagdad and a mathematical tablet bought some time in 1839-both represented by Hilprecht as having been excavated at Nippur in 1900-also come from Abu Habba. See below, p. 159, note 1. Whether the tablets from the Shemtob collection purchased by the University of Pennsylvania in London in 1888 (see Harper, Hebraica, v, pp. 74-76) also come wholly from Sippar, as Meissner (l. c., p. 2, note) believes, or in part from Babylon, has not yet been determined.

+ Meissner, l. c., p. 2.

Publications of the documents of the older period in (a) Cuneiform Texts from Babylonian Tablets, etc. in the British Museum, Parts ii, ív, vi and viii; (b) Meissner, Beiträge zum altbabylonischen Privatrecht (Leipzig, 1893); (c) Scheil, Une Saison de Fouilles à Sippar (Cairo, 1903), pp. 99, 102,

later the neo-Babylonian period' are richly represented. The mixture of official and private documents suggests that at Sippar, as elsewhere, the temples were the depositories of all kinds of legal documents, and we may assume that, in the larger centers at all events, the temple archives always included these two classes of business documents-official and private.

An interesting feature of the temple archive at Sippar is the evidence furnished by Scheil's excavations for the existence of a temple school within the temple precincts. In Scheil's work Une Saison de Fouilles à Sippar (Cairo, 1903), a special chapter is devoted to an account of the school, which contained writing exercises, sign lists, syllabaries, grammatical paradigms, lists of measures and multiplication and other mathematical To the school belong also the astronomical tablets, of

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107-115; (d) Thomas Friedrich, Altbabylonische Urkunden aus Sippar (Beiträge zur Assyriologie v, Heft 4); (e) Ranke, Tablets dated in the Reigns of the Rulers of the first dynasty (ready for the press). See above, p. 151, note 3. (f) Many of the official letters included in King's Letters and Inscriptions of Hammurabi, (London, 1899), vol. ii, are addressed to officials at Sippar and must therefore have come from the archive at that place. See the list in King, l. c. II, pp. xiv-xviii. Those not from Sippar come from Babylon. Specimens of business letters of the Hammurabi period, also in Scheil, l. c., pp. 105, 133, etc. and Friedrich. l. c., p. 71. The "Lushtamar" table above (p. 151) referred to is of the Hammurabi period and will, no doubt, when once opened, likewise turn out to be a business letter of just the same character as these specimens. It may be of interest to note, as further confirming the view that this letter comes from Sippar, that the name Lushtamar, of which Ranke in his work Early Babylonian Personal Names, p. 119, notes twelve instances-either as an element in a longer name or by itself-is characteristic of "Sippar" business documents. Of the twelve, eleven certainly occur in documents from Sippar and the same probably holds good for the twelth instance. Two further instances of the name occur in the Sippar tablets published by Friedrich, 7. c., pp. 423 and 434. Under the form Lultamar it occurs five times as Dr. Clay informs me-in the temple documents of the Cassite archives at Nippur.

1 Of the later period many hundreds are included in Strassmaier's series of Babylonische Texte (Leipzig, 1889-97) of the days of Nebuchadnezzar II, Nabonidus, Cyrus, Cambyses and Darius, and in Evetts, Inscriptions of the Reigns of Evil-Merodach, Neriglissar, and Laborosoarchod (Leipzig, 1892). 2 Chap. III, L' École à Sippar (pp. 30-54).

3 Specimens of mathematical tablets in Scheil, l. c., p. 48 seq. The multiplication tablet above referred to (p. 151, note 3) is exactly of the same nature as those found at Abu Habba, e. g., Scheil, l. c., p. 132 (No. 289). See also IV Rawlinson (2d ed.), pl. 41, for specimens of such multiplication tables from Ashurbanapal's library.

2

which a number have been found.' In addition, there have also been found at Sippar, a considerable number of texts of a distinctly literary character, such as hymns, prayers, incantations, a fragment of a deluge narrative belonging to the Hammurabi period, a fragment in neo-Babylonian script of an important religious text' which is a duplicate of several Assyrian copies of this text known to us from Ashurbanapal's Library,' and more of the like. In the Khabaza collection from Sippar, purchased by the University of Pennsylvania, there are, similarly, in addition to some syllabaries, a number of hymns, incantations and other religious texts. These literary texts likewise formed part of the equipment of the temple school, used in connection with the education of the young aspirants to the priesthood, as part of their training for the practical cult.' The conjecture may be hazarded that the portion of the temple set aside for the school would be the natural place, also, in which the texts actually used in connection with the temple ritual in its various ramifications, or consulted in connection with the various functions of the priests, would be stored, just as among the Jews in the Middle Ages, the school generally adjoined the synagogue and served as the place of deposit for the ritualistic handbooks and guides, in addition to the school outfit proper." At all events, in view of the considerable number of literary texts found by Scheilapart from such texts in purchased collections from Sippar,-it is not likely that all should have been used as school exercises merely or for purposes of instruction, though we know that this was the case with some of them." The temple archive at Sip-,

E. g., Scheil, l. c., p. 118 (No. 95).

* See the selection in Scheil, l. c., pp. 95-141, where about 50 such texts are referred to. See also Scheil, Recueil de Travaux relatifs a la Philologie Égyptienne et Assyrienne, xx, pp. 68 seq.

See Scheil, Recueil de Travaux, etc., xx, pp. 55–59.
Scheil. l. c., p. 18, No. 37.

5 Published IV Rawlinson (2d ed.), pl. 60*. See the writer's paper, "A
Babylonian Parallel to Job" (Journal of Biblical Literature, vol. 25).
6 See Harper, Hebraica, vi, p. 60.

A survival of the establishment of schools within the temple appears in the Mohammedan schools set up within the precincts of the mosques. Abrahams, Jewish Life in the Middle Ages, p. 34.

E. g.. the above-mentioned Deluge fragment, which the colophon states was written by a dupšar șiḥru, i. e., “a young scribe" or pupil (Scheil, Recueil de Travaux, etc., xx, p. 58).

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