(11) The summit of the wall (12) of Sippar (13) I have raised with earth (14, 15, 16) like unto a great mountain. (17, 18) I have compassed it about with a swamp. (19) I have digged out the (20) Euphrates (21) unto Sippar (22, 23) [Column II] (1) and I have set up a wall of safety for it.

(2) Hammurapi (3) the founder of the land, (4) the king whose deeds are well pleasing (5) unto the heart of Shamash (6) and Marduk (7) am I. (8) I have caused Sippar (9) and Babylon (10, 11, 12) to dwell continuously in a peaceful a peaceful habitation. (13) Hammurapi, (14) the darling of Shamash, (15) the beloved of Marduk, (16) am I. (17) That which from days (18) of old (19, 20) no king had built for the king of the city, (21) for Shamash my lord (22, 23) I have accomplished in might.

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(1) Hammurapi, (2) the powerful king, (3) the king of Babylon, (4) the king who has brought into subjection (5) the four quarters of the world, (6) who has brought about the triumph of (7) Marduk, (8) the shepherd, who (9) delights his heart, am I.

(10) When Anu and Bel gave me (11) the land of Shu

1 Published and translated by King, The Letters and Inscriptions of Hammurabi, ii, Plate 185, No. 95; iii, pp. 188ff.

(11) dûru (12) ša Sippar (ki) (13) ina e-pi-ri (14) ki-ma sa-tu-im (15) ra-bi-im (16) ri-ši-šu (17) lu-u-ul-li (18) ap-pa-ra-am (19) lu-ušta-aš-bi-ir-šu (20) (nâru) UD-KIB-NUN (21) a-na Sippar (ki) (22) luuh-ri-am-ma (23) kâr šu-ul-mi-im. [Column II] (1) lu-u-um-mi-su (2) Ha-am-mu-ra-pi(3) ba-ni ma-tim (4) šarru ša ip-ša-tu-šu (5) a-na ši-ir (ilu) Šamaš (6) u (ilu) Marduk ta-ba (7) a-na-ku (8) Sippar (ki) (9) u Bâbilu (ki) (10) šu-ba-at ne-ih-tim (11) a-na da-ra-a-tim (12) lu-u-še-ši-ib (13) Ha-am-mu-ra-pi (14) mi-gi-ir (ilu) Šamaš (15) na-ra-am (ilu) Marduk (16) a-na-ku (17) ša iš-tu u-um (18) si-a-tim (19) šarru in šarri ali (20) la ib-ni-u (21) a-na (ilu) Samaš be-li-ia (22) ra-bi-iš (23) lu e-pu-uš-su-um.

6

(1) Ha-am-mu-ra-pi (2) šarru da-num (3) šar Bâbili (ki) (4) šarru mu-uš-te-eš-mi (5) kì-ib-ra-tim ar-ba-im (6) ka-ši-id ir-ni-ti (7) (ilu) Marduk (8) rê'-û mu-ti-ib (9) li-ib-bi-šu a-na-ku (10) ni-nu Anu u

mer and (12) Akkad (13) to rule and entrusted (14) their sceptre (15) to my hands, (16) I dug out (17) the Hammurapi canal, (18) named Nukhush-nishe which (19) brings abundance of water (20) unto the land of Shumer (21) and Akkad. (22) Both the (23) banks thereof (24) I changed to fields for cultivation, and I garnered (25, 26) piles of grain and I procured (27) unfailing water (28) for the land of Shumer (29) and Akkad.

(30) As for the land of (31) Shumer (32) and Akkad, I collected its scattered (33) people, (34) and procured (35, 36) food and drink for them. (37) In abundance and plenty I pastured them, (38, 39) and caused them to dwell (40) in a peaceful habitation.

(41) At that time I, (42) Hammurapi, (43) the mighty king, (44) the beloved of the great gods, (45, 46) through the great power (47) which Marduk had bestowed upon me, (48) built a lofty fortress, (49) with much earth (50) whose top, (51, 52, 53, 54) at the head of the Hammurapi canal named Nukhush-nishe, reaches heaven like a mountain. (55) This fortress I named (56, 57, 58) DurSin-muballit-abim-walidia, and so did I cause (59) the name of Sin-muballit, (60) the father who begat me, (61, 62) to dwell in the four quarters of the world.

(ilu) Bêl (11) mât Su-me-er-im (12) u Ak-ka-di-im (13) a-na be-liim id-di-nu-nim (14) ṣi-ir-ra-zi-na (15) a-na ga-ti-i-ia (16) u-ma-allu-u (17) nâr Ha-am-mu-ra-pi (18) Nu-hu-uš-ni-ši (19) ba-bi-la-at me-e begalli (20) a-na mât Šu-me-er-im (21) u Ak-ka-di-im (22) lu ab-ri (23) ki-ša-di-ša ki-la-li-en (24) a-na me-ri-šim lu-u-te-ir (25) ka-ri-e aš-na-an (26) lu aš-tap-pa-ak (27) me-e da-ru-tim (28) a-na_mât Šu-me-er-im (29) u Ak-ka-di-im (30) lu aš-ku-un (31) mât Su-me-er-im (32) u Ak-ka-di-im (33) ni-ši-šu-nu sa-ap-hatim (34) lu-u-pa-ah-hi-ir (35) mi-ri-tu u ma-aš-ki-tu (36) lu aš-kuun-ši-na-ši-im (37) in nu-uh-šim u hegalli (38) lu e-ri-ši-na-ti (39) šuba-at ne-in-tim (40) lu-u-še-ši-ib-ši-na-ti

(41) i-nu-mi-šu (42) Ha-am-mu-ra-pi (43) šarru da-num (44) migir ilâni rabûti a-na-ku (45) in e-mu-ki-in (46) ga-aš-ra-tim (47) ša (ilu) Marduk id-di-nam (48) dûra și-ra-am (49) in e-bi-ri_ra-bu-tim (50) ša r[i]-ša-šu-nu (51) ki-ma sa-tu-im e-li-a (52) in reš nâr Haam-mu-ra-pi (53) Nu-hu-uš-ni-ši (54) lu e-pu-uš (55) dûra šu-a-ti (56) Dûr-(ilu) Sin-mu-bal-li-it (ki) (57) a-bi-im wa-li-di-ia (58) a-na su-mi-im lu ab-bi (59) zi-kir (ilu) Sin-mu-ba-li-it (60) a-bi-im wali-di-ia (61) in-ki-ib-ra-tim (62) lu-u-š[e]-š[ib]

(1) Unto Sin-idinnam say:

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(2) Thus saith (3) Hammurapi. (4, 5, 6) Thou shalt call out the men who hold lands along the banks of the Damanum-canal that they may dig out (7) the Damanum canal. (8) Within the present month (9, 10, 11) they shall complete the work of clearing out the Damanum canal.

Published and translated by King, The Letters and Inscriptions of Hammurabi, ii, Plate 137, No. 71; iii, p. 14.

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(1) a-na (ilu) Sin-i-din-nam (2) ki-bi-ma (3) Ha-am-mu-ra-pi-ma (4) amêlê ša i-na a-ah (palgu) Da-ma-nu-um (5) eklê sa-ab-tu (6) di-ki-e-ma (7) (palgu) Da-ma-nu-um li-ih-ru (8) i-na li-ib-bu wa-ar-hi-im an-ni-i-ím (9) (palgu) Da-ma-nu-um (10) i-na hi-ri-e-im (11) li-ig-mi-lu.

II. THE TELL-EL-AMARNA PERIOD

(1400 B. C.)

I. THE DISCOVERY OF THE LETTERS

In 1888 there was made in Egypt a most surprising discovery of letters and dispatches written almost wholly in the Babylonian script and language. A peasant woman living in the wretched little mud village of Tell-el-Amarna, on the eastern bank of the Nile, about one hundred and sixty miles south of Cairo, was searching for antiquities among the sand and rubbish of a great Tell some distance back from the river. She did not know that beneath this sand lay all that remained of the temple and palace of the great heretic king of Egypt, Amenophis IV, or, as he called himself, Ikh-en-Aton.' Her object was only to find stone or brick for repairs to her squalid house, or anteeka, which

1 The pronunciation of the name is most uncertain, because of our ignorance of its vocalization among the Egyptians. Knudtzon writes it Ikh-en-Aton or Ekh-en-Aton; Flinders Petrie, Akhenaten; Breasted, Ikhnaton; it is also written by others Akh-en-Aten, Khu-en-Áten.

might be sold to the strange people from Europe or America, who buy things simply because they are old. In the mound she found the dried and worm-eaten remains of ancient wooden record boxes, and from these she extracted more than three hundred inscribed clay tablets and fragments of tablets, some of them only 2 inches by 1 inches, while others are 8 inches by 43 inches and even larger. Fearing that they would be confiscated by the Egyptian government, she concealed them, with the aid of some relatives, and then proceeded with surreptitious negotiations for their sale. They sent some to Dr. Jules Oppert, in Paris, doubtless hoping that he might induce their purchase by the Louvre. By some strange excess of caution he pronounced them forgeries; while M. Grebaut, then head of the Department of Antiquities, paid no attention to some which were drawn to his attention. Discouraged by all efforts to effect an advantageous sale, and fearing that the find would prove almost valueless, they broke some of the larger tablets into three and four pieces, in the hope of selling each piece to tourists at a price as great as the whole tablet would have secured. Some of the tablets were imperfectly baked, and when a great bag full of tablets of all sizes was sent to Luxor to be hawked about among antiquity dealers many were ground to powder and lost to the world.

At last, long after many tablets had disappeared or been destroyed, one hundred and sixty, some very large and in perfect condition, others mere fragments, were bought by Herr Theodore Graf, of Vienna, and sold by him to Herr J. Simon, of Berlin, who presented them to the Royal Museums in the German capital, where they are now safely deposited. Eighty-two were bought for the trustees of the British Museum by Dr.

E. A. Wallis Budge; sixty came into the possession of the Cairo Museum, while still others fell into private collections like the Murch and Rostowicz. These priceless texts are therefore widely scattered, when there can be no doubt that their proper study would be much better prosecuted if they were all in one place, as they would be if they had been discovered by scientific investigators. Furthermore, many, perhaps a large number, have been destroyed by careless and ignorant handling. We must always expect just such an issue so long as the natives of Egypt, Babylonia, Syria, and Asia Minor are permitted to plunder at will the buried remains of ancient civilizations.

When the more than three hundred tablets came into the hands of museum officials in Berlin, London, and Cairo a glance speedily revealed their character. They were letters from monarchs of western Asia, like Kadashman-Kharbe, king of Babylonia; Ashuruballit, king of Assyria; and Tushratta, king of Mittanni, to Amenophis III, or Amenophis IV, kings of Egypt, or they were dispatches from various governors or princes in Syria or Palestine, Philistia, or Phoenicia to these same Egyptian kings, whom they acknowledged as lawful rulers or suzerains over their territories. The importance of these documents was recognized at once, and the minute study to which they have since been subjected has only confirmed the first estimate of their value.

Before we can set them in their proper relations to biblical literature it will be necessary to take a wider view of their historical origin.

II. EGYPT AT THE TELL-EL-AMARNA PERIOD The two kings of Egypt, Amenophis III and Amenophis IV, who received or dispatched the Tell-el-Amarna