BEING
ENGLISH TRANSLATIONS
OF THE
ANCIENT
MONUMENTS OF EGYPT AND WESTERN ASIA
NEW SERIES
EDITED BY
A. H. SAYCE
VOL. Ill
In
presenting a new volume of the Records of the Past to the public, I feel it my
duty to remind the reader of certain words which I wrote in the Preface to the
first volume. I there said that “ the writer who wishes to make use of a
translation from an Egyptian, or Assyrian text for historical or controversial
purposes ought to know where it is certain, and where it is only possible, or
at most probable.” I therefore promised that “in the present series of volumes
doubtful words and expressions should be followed by a note of interrogation,
the preceding word being put into italics where necessary”; that is to say,
that the reader should be forewarned whenever the translator was himself in
doubt as to the correctness of his rendering.
So far as
lies within the power of an editor, this promise has been fulfilled. But it
must be remembered that in many cases a translator may consider that the
version he proposes admits of no question, whereas another scholar may take a
different view, and hold the version to be incorrect. Such cases occur even in
translations from Latin and Greek
authors,
still more so in the translation of the Old Testament. It is impossible for all
men to think alike even in matters of philology. Gradually, no doubt, with the
progress of knowledge, approach is made to unanimity of opinion ; but after all
it is only approach. It is only young scholars who think themselves qualified
to set all the world right.
In the
decipherment and translation of what may be termed the monumental languages of
the past— Egyptian, Assyrian, Phoenician, and the like—much depends upon the
nature of the text. Historical texts are fortunately the simplest, and are
naturally the first to attract the notice of the decipherer. Consequently the
historical texts of Egypt or of Assyria can now be read with almost as much
ease and certainty as the historical books of the Hebrew Scriptures. The case
is different when we come to deal with texts of a more complicated character,
and when we recollect how uncertain is the translation of much of the language
in the non-historical books of the Old Testament, we need not wonder that the
Egyptian or Assyrian translator should intersperse his renderings of religious
and mythological texts with notes and queries, or should improve upon them from
time to time as his materials increase. In one respect, however, he possesses
an advantage over the Old Testament student; he generally has to deal with
texts which are fairly free from the corruptions of copyists. The Assyrian
translator, moreover, has
at his
disposal an enormous mass of literature, much exceeding that contained in the
Old Testament, though it is true that but a comparatively small part of it has
as yet been examined.
Like all
other branches of inductive science, the science of decipherment is one of
probabilities. Absolute certainty is unattainable, whether we are translating
an inscription of Sennacherib or the book of Genesis. But for all practical
purposes a high probability amounts to absolute certainty, and it is this high
probability that the decipherment of the ancient monuments of Egypt and Assyria
or Babylonia has now attained. Scholars may dispute about the exact meaning of
certain words or phrases, as they do in the case of the Hebrew Bible, but it is
seldom that anything of importance turns upon the dispute, at all events so far
as regards the historical inscriptions. And in the present series of volumes
due notice is given to the reader of the occurrence of such disputed words and
phrases.
When once
we have settled the philological signification of a historical text there
begins the equally important work of critically examining it. We have first to
ask whether it is contemporaneous with the event or events which it professes
to record, and if not, whether its authorities or its interpretation of its
authorities are trustworthy.
This is
more especially the case as regards chronology—the skeleton and framework of
history. I do not think, therefore, that it will be out of place
even in a
preface, to examine some of the data we possess at present for determining the
chronology of Babylonia and Assyria. Translations of the documents upon which
it rests have been given in the two previous volumes of this series.
Nothing
can be more satisfactory than the chronology of Assyria so far as it extends.
The Assyrians were a people of business, and they carried their business habits
into their mode of reckoning time. Each year was distinguished by the name of a
particular officer, the limmu or “eponym,” after whom it was called, and as
the names of the eponyms were recorded on the accession of each to office and
registers of them were kept, there was no difficulty in determining the exact
year in which an event occurred or a new king ascended the throne.1
In
Babylonia, however, the custom of counting the years by eponyms does not seem
to have existed, at all events in early times. From the era of Na- bonassar
(B.C. 747) downwards Babylonian chronology was fixed by means of astronomy;
before that period it appears to have been determined by the reigns of the
kings and the duration of dynasties. In legal documents of the time of
Khammuragas (or Khammurabi) deeds are not even dated by the regnal years of the
sovereign, but by such occurrences as a war, the construction of a canal, or
the capture of a
1 The etymology of the word limmu is
doubtful. In the bilingual (Assyrian and Aramaic) tablets it is written and in
the Aramaic text. In the Kappadokian cuneiform tablets the ■ ■ limmu ”
is frequently named.
city.
Under such circumstances it is plain that the historian who endeavoured to
restore the early chronology of Babylonia had an extremely difficult task
before him.
Our
materials for reconstructing the chronology of Babylonia are given at the
beginning of the present series of Records of the Past. I have already noted
the suspicious character of the ciphers attached to the first dynasty of
Babylon, in what may be termed the dynastic tablet, and the discrepancy in two
of our documents between the length of reign assigned to the kings of the
dynasties of the Sea and of Bit-Bazi. Other facts go to show that the tablet of
dynasties was drawn up by a compiler who lived at a comparatively late date
and extracted a system of chronology from older materials. Contemporaneous
documents lately discovered at Niffer prove that the true name of Ebisum, who
is made the eighth king of the first dynasty, was really Abesukh. A seal in the
possession of Mr. R. P. Greg, belonged to a librarian who calls himself “ the
servant of the king Ab^-sukh ” or “Abi-esukh,” and contract-tablets make it
clear that the name is really compounded with the word abi, “ father,” and has
nothing to do with ebisum, “ an actor.” It is questionable, moreover, whether
Khammu-ragas or Khammu-rabi—the exact reading of the last syllable is still
doubtful—was the son of Sin-muballidh, as is stated by the author of the
Dynastic List. At all events the name he gives to his father in one of his
inscriptions seems to have
been
different,1 and the compiler of the document which contains Assyrian
translations of the names of early Babylonian kings evidently regarded him as
of foreign origin. In this document, accordingly, he is classed, like
Ammi-sadugga,2 with Kur-galzu, Simmas-sipak, and other Kassite
princes.
From a
strictly philological point of view the classification is incorrect. The
Kassite language was non-Semitic, whereas the names of Ammi-sadugga and
Khammu-rabi are Semitic, though not Assyro- Babylonian. Along with those of
Samsu-satana, and probably also Samsu-iluna and Abi-esukh, they belong to the
Semitic dialects spoken by tribes of Arabian descent on the western and eastern
frontiers of Babylonia. It is only geographically, therefore, and not
philologically, that the names of Khammu- rabi and Ammi-sadugga can be grouped
with those of the Kassite kings.
The
Babylonians had some difficulty in pronouncing and writing the second element
in the name of Ammi-sadugga, and in contemporaneous inscriptions it appears
under various forms, the most correct of which is zaduga? It represents, in
fact, the Hebrew tsadoq, and belongs to a root which is not found in Assyrian.
We now have evidence, however, that it was known at an early date to the
Minasan language, which extended from the southern
1 Ummu-banit, though Hommel would read
Sin-mubanit.
2 My reading Ammi-didugga (Records of the
Past, New Ser., i, p. 32) must be thus corrected, as well as the translation of
the Assyrian interpretation in which kittu means “justice5’ and not
"established.”
3 In a contract-tablet from Niffer we even
find Ammi-ziduga.
coast of
Arabia to the borders of Palestine and Chaldaea. Among the inscriptions
discovered by M. Haldvy in the south of Arabia is one in which mention is made
of ’Ammi-tsadiqa, who was appointed by the Minsean king, Abi-yada’, governor of
the fortress of Zar on the Egyptian frontier, as well as of the neighbouring
district of Ashur (see Gen. xxv. 3). Prof. Hommel, to whom the discovery of
these facts is due, points out that the inscription must belong to a very early
epoch indeed, probably to that of the Hyksos in Egypt. However this may be, the
name Ammi-tsadiqa is identical with that of the Babylonian king Ammi-zadugga.1
The author of the explanatory list of Babylonian royal names renders both ammi
and khammu by the Assyrian kimtu, “ family.” It is more probable that in both
instances it is really the name of a god. Ben-Ammi was the “ father of the
children of Ammon,” according to Gen. xix. 38, and the Old Testament presents
us with names like Ammiel, Amminadab, Balaam, and Jeroboam, while
Assur-bani-pal tells us of Am- mu-ladin, king of the Kedarites. The more
correct rendering of Numb. xxii. 5 would be " Pethor, which is by the
river (Euphrates) of the land of the children of ’Ammo,” and it is stated in a
cuneiform text (W.A. /., ii. 54. 65) that Emu—the exact equivalent of
the Hebrew ’ammo—was the name given to the god Nergal by the Shuhites on the
western banks of
1 In other
Minaean inscriptions occur the names of ’Ammi-tsaduq and his son ’Ammi-karib,
as well as of the king Waqah-il-tsaduq.
the
Euphrates. The fact that in Khammu-rabi the initial ay in of ’ammo is
represented by kh, pointing to a pronunciation with ghain, is indicative of dialectal
differences, and implies that the dialects to which the names of Khammu-rabi and
Ammi- zadugga belonged were not the same.
We may
conclude, therefore, that “ the first dynasty of Babylon ” had been formed out
of the reigns of kings who did not belong to the same nationality, much less to
the same family, and that consequently the relationship assumed by the compiler
of the dynastic tablet to have existed between them was imaginary. The first
four or five kings of the dynasty were probably local rulers of Babylon ;
Khammu-rabi, as we know, conquered the other states of Babylonia and made it a
united kingdom, with Babylon as its centre; it is with him, therefore, that the
first dynasty of Babylon ought properly to commence. The earlier kings of the
dynasty owe their inclusion in it to local vanity. It is possible, however,
that they claimed precedence over the other Semitic princes of Babylonia, since
we know that the power of one of them, Zabu, extended as far as Sippara, and he
may accordingly have claimed to have been the representative of the ancient
Semitic empire of Sargon which had its seat in the close neighbourhood of
Sippara.
The
relation of the Babylonian dynasties given by the native compiler to those
which have been excerpted by George the Synkellos from the Chal
dean
history of Berossos cannot be determined at present It is difficult to find any
agreement between them before the time of Nabonassar. On the other hand, the
statements of Berossos have been verified by the monuments in several important
particulars. His account of the deluge was taken from native documents, and his
history and chronology of the period which begins with the era of Nabonassar
show a close acquaintance with the actual facts. It is of course possible that
the numbers, whether of reigns or of years, given by the Synkellos, are corrupt
and erroneous. But even so, the scheme of dynasties proposed by Berossos does
not agree with the scheme found on the cuneiform tablets. It is clear that more
than one system of chronology and dynastic arrangement must have been current
in Babylonia.
In one
point, however, I think I can show that Berossos had good authority at his
back. This is the statement that, almost at the beginning of assured Babylonian
history, Babylon was captured by “ Medes,” who ruled the country for eight
generations. Now the inscriptions of Nabonidos and Kyros have proved that the
subjects of Istuvegu or Astyages, who were called “ Medes ” by the Greeks, were
called “ Manda ” by the Babylonians. The Greeks in fact confounded the two
words Mad&, “ Medes,” and Manda, led thereto by the fact that both Mad4 and
Manda alike came from the mountains on the northeast of Babylonia. Manda,
however, was not a
proper
name in the same sense as Mad&. It is usually preceded by tsab, “ soldier,”
and though not Assyrian, I believe it to have had its origin among the Semitic
tribes on the eastern side of Chaldaea, and to be related to the Hebrew nud, “
to wander.” Tsab manda will therefore be the equivalent of the Biblical erets
nod or “nomad-land” (Gen. iv. 16). The title is applied by Esarhaddon to Teuspa
the Kimmerian, the Gimirr£ or Kimmerians, the Gomer of the Old Testament, being
further distinguished from the Mad& or “ Medes.”
The title,
however, was much older than the age of Esarhaddon. It occurs several times in
the astrological tablets. The most important example of its use is in W. A.
/., iii. 61. 21, 22, where we read: " The tsab manda comes and governs the
land. The altars of the great gods are taken away. Bel goes to the land of
Elam. It is prophesied that after thirty years the smitten shall be restored
(and that) the great gods shall return with them.” The same catastrophe is
referred to in another passage of the great work on astrology (W. A. /., iii.
64. 7, 8). “The tsab manda invades the land and rules over the country.” The
prophecy is interesting on account of its analogy to the prophecy of the
restoration of the Jews after seventy years of exile (Jer. xxv. 11). But what
is equally interesting is that while Bel, the national god of Babylon, flies
for refuge to Elam, his country is handed over to the rule of the Manda and its
altars
are broken
down. I cannot but think that in these Manda we ought to see the “ Medes ” of
Berossos who captured Babylon and founded there the first historical dynasty.
They will represent Khammu- rabi, Ammi-sadugga, and the other kings whose names
betray their origin among the nomad Semites on the frontiers of Chaldaea.
Berossos was right rather than the compiler of the dynastic tablet in making
Khammu-rabi the founder of the dynasty under which Babylon became for the
first time the capital of a united Babylonia.
If the
Synkellos can be trusted Berossos reckoned eight kings to his Median dynasty.
The compiler gives Khammu-rabi only five successors. But it is questionable
whether he has collected the names of all the kings who followed him. At all
events I possess a contract-tablet from NifFer, which belongs to the age of
Khammu-rabi and Ammi-sadugga, but is dated in the reign of a king whose name
does not occur in the compiler’s list. It reads Am(?)-mu-’SI- DI-DU-an, perhaps
Ammu-e’sir-yukan. It is possible, moreover, that classical mythology has
preserved the name of another prince of the same period. In Ovid’s
Metamorphoses, iv. 212, mention is made of the Babylonian monarch Orchamus, of
whom it is said that he was seventh in descent from Belus. Orchamus is not an
Assyro-Babylonian name. It actually occurs, however, under the form of Yar-
khamu on contract-tablets which are dated in the
reign of
Samsu-iluna.1 Whether it is to be compared with the Biblical name
of Jerahmeel (i Chr. ii. 25), or whether it is a mimmated form of the Minsean
name of the Moon-god, I do not know ; but its origin must be referred to the
dialects of the Arabian tribes on the borders of Babylonia, and not to the
Assyrian language itself. In any case the name is found on documents of the
time of Kham- mu-rabi, and consequently it is by no means impossible that the
myth repeated by Ovid may have incorporated the name of a real king.
We must
not forget that the passage I have quoted from the astrological tablet
associates the invasion of Babylonia by the Manda with Ihe departure of the
god Bel to Elam. Now about B.C. 2285, or just before the date assigned by the
compiler of the dynastic tablet to the accession of Khammu-rabi, the goddess
Nana of Erech was carried to Elam by the Elamite king Kudur- nankhundi (see Records
of the Past, New Series, i. p. 10). A mutilated text (W. A. /., iii.
38, No. 2) couples Kudur-nankhundi with the otherwise unknown Babylonian kings
[Bel ?]-sum-iddina and Bel- nadin-akhi, but it is probably a later Kudur-nankhundi
to whom reference is here made. What is certain is that, as the contemporaneous
contract-
1 See
Strassmaier: Die altiaiylonischen Vertrdge aus XVarka in the
Verhandlungm desfiitiften internationalen Orientalisten-Congresses (1882), ii.
i, pp. 95, 98, ioo. Among the interesting proper names met with in the tablets
published by Dr. Strassmaier I may notice that of Sabi., 11 the
Sabeean,” as well as some which exhibit traces of nunnation ; e.g. Inun- Ea,
“the eye of Ea,” Ilun-ka-Rammanu, " thy god is Rimmon.”
tablets
inform us, Khammu-rabi made himself master of Babylonia by the overthrow of Rim
- Sin of southern Chaldaea and his ally “ the king of Elam.” It was this event
which made Babylonia a homogeneous kingdom, and so constituted an era of high
importance in the annals of the country.
A. H.
SAYCE.
Queen’s Coli.ege, Oxford,
September
1890.
PAGE
I. The Precepts of Ptah-Hotep : the Oldest Book in the World. By M. Philippe Virey ....... i
II. The Daughter of the Prince of Bakhtan,. and the
Spirit that Possessed her. By Professor G. Maspero, Member of the Institute . . . . .36
III. Hymn to the
Nile. By M. Paul Guieysse 46
IV. Letters
to Egypt from Babylonia, Assyria,
and Syria, in the Fifteenth Century b.c. By the Editor . . . . 55
V. Ancient Babylonian Agricultural
Precepts. By Mr. G. Bertin .
. . 91
VI. The India House Inscription of Nebuchadrezzar the Great. By the
Rev. C. J.
Ball ....... 102
VII. Contract-Tablets Relating to Belshazzar.
By the Editor . . . . .124 b 2
Equivalents of the Hebrew Letters in the Transliteration of
Assyrian Names mentioned in these Volumes,
|
K |
a, |
b |
/ |
|
3 |
b |
a |
VI |
|
3 |
& |
1 |
n |
|
1 |
d |
D |
'j s |
|
n |
h |
V |
e |
|
l |
■u, V |
*1 |
P |
|
r |
z |
Y |
ts |
|
n |
kh |
P |
<2 |
|
B |
dh |
|
r |
|
i |
i, y |
s? |
s, sk |
|
T |
k |
n |
t |
N.B.—Those
Assyriologists who transcribe £5> by s/i use s for D. The Assyrian e
represents a diphthong as well as J?.
In the
Introductions and Notes W. A. I. denotes The Cuneiform Inscriptions of Western
Asia, in five volumes, published by the Trustees of the British Museum. Doubtful
words and expressions are followed by a note of interrogation, the preceding
words being put into italics where necessary. Lacuna are denoted by asterisks
or by the insertion of supplied words between square brackets. Words needed to
complete the sense in English, but not expressed in the original, are placed
between round brackets. The names of individuals are distinguished from those
of deities or localities by being printed in Roman type, the names of deities
and localities being in capitals.
1. Ni’sannu (Nisan) . .
2. Aaru (Iyyar) . . .
3. ’Sivanu (Sivan) . . .
4. Duzu (Tammuz) . .
5. Abu (Ab) ....
6. Ululu (Elul) . . .
7. Tasritu (Tisri) . . .
8. Arakh - savna (Marchesvan)
“ the 8th
month ” . .
9. Ki’silivu (Chisleu) . .
0. Dhabitu (Tebet) . .
1. Sabadhu (Sebat) . .
2. Addaru (Adar) . . .
3. Arakh-maqru (Ve-Adar), the
CORRESPONDING
MONTHS
March—April.
April—May.
May—June.
June—July.
July—August.
August—September.
September—October.
October—November.
November—December. December—J anuary.
J anuary—F
ebruary. February—March, intercalary month.
|
Months. |
Sacred |
Alexandrine1 |
|
Year
begins |
Year
begins |
|
|
Thoth |
July 20 |
August
29 |
|
Paophi |
August
19 |
September
28 |
|
Athyr |
September
18 |
October
28 |
|
Khoiak |
October
18 |
November
27 |
|
Tybi |
November
17 |
December
27 |
|
Mekhir |
December
17 |
January
26 |
|
Phamenoth |
January
16 |
February
25 |
|
Pharmuthi |
February
15 |
March 27 |
|
Pakhons |
March 1
7 |
April 26 |
|
Payni |
April 16 |
May 26 |
|
Epeiphi |
May 16 |
June 25 |
|
Mesore |
June 15 |
July 25 |
|
The
Epagomenae |
|
August
24-28 |
1 The
Alexandrine year began B.c. 25.
Translated by Philippe Virey .
j
The most
ancient book in the world, the Papyrus Prisse, now preserved in the
Bibliotheque Nationale in Paris, has furnished us with the text of a treatise,
famous on account of its antiquity, of the glimpse that it gives us into the
moral ideas of ancient Egyptian society, and of the difficulties it offers to
the translator. I have studied it perseveringly since 1881, and have made it
the subject of a philological essay, which I presented to the Ecole des
Hautes-Iitudes in 1884-85 and published in 1887.1 In this I gave the
history of the manuscript, an account of the labours of my predecessors, a
transcription of the hieratic text in hieroglyphic characters, and a
translation accompanied by numerous critical observations and an index of the
words employed in the Papyrus; but I did not intend to offer in it more than a
purely philological study. In spite of its dry simplicity, however, the essay
met with acceptance, and in the following year
1 Ktudes
sur le Papyrus Prisse, le Livre de Kaqimna et les Lemons de Ptah-holep. Vieweg,
Paris, 1887.
VOL. Ill B
Mr. Howard
Osgood did me the honour to publish an English translation of it in the Bibliotheca
Sacra (Oct. 1888), along with a good commentary and an interesting
comparison of the work with the Precepts of Ani. In my turn I now undertake to
present my work under another form; not that the translation can be very new,
since after so short a lapse of time I could not greatly improve a work on
which I have bestowed all my thought and care1; but what can be
remodelled is the commentary. The philological part of my previous publication
can be reduced without inconvenience, as the reader who wishes to study this
side of the subject can refer to my essay; on the other hand, the philosophical
and historical portion of the commentary will be considerably increased. I
shall utilise for this purpose some of the texts which I copied at Thebes in
1886 in the tomb of Rekhmara, who exercised at a later period the same
functions as Ptah-hotep.
Both were
feudal lords of the Egyptian empire, nomarchs or prefects, and were specially
honoured with the royal favour. Rekhmara2 is called hesi n nuter
nofer,3 “ favourite of the good god ” (Thothmes III);
Ptah-hotep, who dates his treatise in the reign of Assa of the Fifth Dynasty,
boasts at the end of it
1 Of course I do not mean that I consider
my translation very nearly final. -
2 The inscriptions of the tomb of Rekhmara,
prefect of Thebes under the Eighteenth Dynasty, have been published by me in
the Mimoires publiis par les Membres de la Mission archiologique fran^aise au
Caire; Leroux, Paris 1889.
8 Tombeau
de Rekhmara, in the Mfrnoires, p. 114, note 3.
that he
had enjoyed above all others the favour of the king, and in a text published by
Lepsius (Denkmdler, ii. 115) we read : Assa hesi Ptah-hotep, “the favourite of
Assa, Ptah-hotep.”
In the
preface of Ptah-hotep’s treatise he even seems to declare that he was of royal
descent, for he calls himself “ the royal son, first-born, legitimate ” (ch. v.
11. 6, 7); but I have elsewhere noticed that this title must not be interpreted
too literally. We may ask why the elder and legitimate son of the king never
reigned if he lived, and Ptah-hotep did not die young, since he was already no
years old1 when he published his work. We must attribute an extraordinary
longevity to Assa if we hold that Ptah-hotep was his son and died before him.
But Prof.
Maspero has already shown that we must not give too literal an interpretation
to the titles “ royal mother,” “ royal wife,” “ royal daughter,” and that it
was possible to be “ royal wife ” by right of birth before being married. Such
titles served only to determine the rank occupied by a princess at court in
questions of etiquette and precedence.
If the
appellation “royal wife” were only an honorary title, we may infer that “ royal
son ” also might be the same and signify nothing more than “prince.” In this
case, “the eldest legitimate son of the king ” would be equivalent to “ prince
of the blood royal.” That such a title can be given to a person not belonging
to the royal family is not unexampled
1 Papyrus Prisse, pi. xix. 1. 7.
even in
our own days in the West; all the more could it be given in the East, where the
most pompous titles are so easily accumulated. At the court of Egypt, where
everything was referred to the king, the source of all honour, it is possible
that a claim to nobility consisted in attaching oneself, at all events nominally,
to his family, or even in making oneself part of it. The relations of the king
enjoyed the highest titles, but even the “ royal nurses " gloried in “ the
suckling which had mingled their blood with Horus.”1
If
Rekhmara does not, like Ptah-hotep, bear the title of royal prince, he was
perhaps of even higher rank, since he is called “ the double of the Pharaoh,”
animated by his spirit, taking his place in his absence, governing all Egypt
like him, addressed by the same titles,2 and saluted like him by the
courtiers. We must not be astonished therefore at the royal title given to
Ptah-hotep; the prefect of the capital was next to the king the first person in
the kingdom.
Although
an interval of many centuries separated the two prefects, it is probable that
both governed according to the same rules, and that little change had taken
place in the social state and ideas of the Egyptian people. Rekhmara, after
exercising the
1 The title of “royal nurse" was
independent of the function of nurse, and was merely a title of etiquette.
Under Amenophis II there were at least two commanders of the royal armies,
Amenemheb and Pehsukher, whose wives were royal nurses. As it is very
improbable that there were two nurses, both of whom married, one after the
other, the commanders of his army, we must suppose that the wife of the
commander, in virtue of the dignity of her husband, could claim the same rank
as one who had really been a nurse of the king.
2 For example, smen hap it (Tomieau de
Rekhmara, pi. xviii.)
viceroyalty
in the absence of Thothmes III, insists before all else on the conservative
character of his government.1 The temples, the laws, the principles
on which society rested, all remained unshaken ; the children of the nobility
succeeded their fathers regularly ; everything, in short, continued as if the
king remained perpetually in his capital, and the same hand had governed Egypt
since the mythical age of Horus. All its kings and their ministers were only
the images and substitutes of the god who had been the first to reign over the
country; the principles of government, like the principles of morality, were of
divine origin ; nothing could be changed. Ptah-hotep had asserted this of the
past and predicted it of the future ; innovators had no place in Egypt, and
their ephemeral success had always been followed by reaction. "Let none
make innovations,” he had said, “ in the precepts of his father; let the same
precepts form his instruction to his children.”2 Doubtless
innovators sometimes made themselves heard by the uninstructed multitude and
influenced the public for a moment, but their triumph was momentary. Nothing,
then, must be taken away or added, nothing changed in established principles,
and whoever found contrary ideas growing up in himself must be careful to root
them out.3 Thus, in order to discover the earliest trace of the
struggle between established custom and new ideas, between the conservative and
the radical,
1 Tombeau
de Rekkmara, p. 42.
2 Papyrus
Prisse, pi. xvii. 11. 11-13, ch. xlii.
3 Id., pi.
xviii. 11.
2-8, chap. xlii.
it is
necessary to go back to the oldest book in the world.
Thanks to
this horror of change in the government and society of ancient Egypt, the
documents which relate to the occupations of the prefect Rekhmara doubtless
give us sufficient information in regard to the occupations of the prefect
Ptah-hotep. Interesting resemblances, moreover, between certain chapters of
the Papyrus Prisse and the texts of the Tobm of Rekhmara authorise us in making
this comparison. These texts depict to us the divan of the Pasha or Prefect of
Thebes : “ He sits in the divan, in order to hear the petitions ... to give
peace to the whole country, dispensing justice without paying attention to
bribes, applications, (or) offerings, and he who has petitioned him has not
wept.1 . . . From early dawn he has been up to listen all day to the
petitions of the provinces of the South and the provinces of the North. He has
not repelled small or great; the evil done to the poor, the aged, or the
afflicted is requited by Horus to its author.2 . . . There is no
inattention in him to the matters about which he has been petitioned; he
estimates the poor equally with the rich, appearing as peace-maker.”3
Ptah-hotep
also tells us how the prefect ought to apply himself to fill the office of “
leader of peace,” with what care he ought to hear the explanations offered by
the parties to a suit, with what patience he
1 Tombeau
de Rekhmara, pp. 26, 27, pi. iii.
8 Id.y pp.
I/O, 171.
2 Id., p.
165.
should try
to unravel the truth from obscure statements and useless details : “ When thou
art a leader of peace, listen well to the words of the petitioner. Be not
abrupt with him; that would trouble him. Do not say to him: Thou hast [already]
said this. Indulgence will encourage him to do that for the sake of which he is
come. As for being abrupt with the plaintiff because he describes what happened
when the injury was done instead of complaining of the injury itself, let it
not be! The way to obtain a clear explanation is to listen with kindness.”1
With the
object of maintaining peace among their subordinates by means of justice, one
of the chief cares of the prefects was to provide subsistence for the people
and to preserve them from want. Every centre of population accordingly
possessed a larit or assemblage of magazines, where corn, wine, and all sorts
of provisions were stored and thoroughly well guarded. No place, in fact, could
have been more secure, and we shall see how strictly all access to it was
forbidden to the stranger.
The word larit
appears to mean a well-guarded enclosure2; among the duties
which Ptah-hotep insists upon in his Precepts, one of those to which he
attaches most importance is that of vigilantly guard
1 Papyrus
Prisse, pi. xi. 11. 3-7, chap. xvii.
2 See my study on the Tomb of Am-n-teh and
the office of mer larit,
11 overseer
of the larit," in the Kecueil de travaux relatifs a Varchiologie et &
la philologie igyptiennes et assyriennes, vol. vii. Comp. Gen. xli. 48.
Joseph " gathered up all the food of the seven years, which were in the
land of Egypt, and laid up the food in the cities : the food of the field,
which was round about every city, laid he up in the same."
ing the larit:
“If,” he says, “thou art employed at the larit, stand or sit rather than
walk about. Determine from the first not to absent thyself even when weariness
overtakes thee. Keep an eye on him who enters, declaring that the object of his
request is secret; what is consigned to thee is above appreciation, and all
contrary argument is to be rejected. He is a god who penetrates into a place
where no relaxation (of the rules) is made for the privileged.”1
Am-n-teh,
overseer and director of the larit, tells us that there was no repose
for him, and that he never closed his eyes during the night.2
The
presentation of the seal of the prefect alone could open the door.3
Thus Rekhmara caused the storehouses to be constantly inspected by officials to
whom he deputed his powers.4 Well guarded as they were, he was
constantly on the watch to assure himself that nothing was wanting to their
safety. But only himself or his deputy could enter them ; for all others the
doors were carefully closed, and it was he who consigned the care of them to
the guards.5 The officials were empowered to strike even a delegate
of the government who had not presented the seal and produced his authorisation
to enter.6
But the
prefect did not confine himself to the superintendence of the storehouses ; he
also saw that they were filled, since on his supervision depended for his
subordinates abundance or death. When Egypt
1 Papyrus
Prisse, pi. viii. 11. 2-6, chap. xiii. 2 See note 2 above.
3 Tombeau de
Rekhmara, pp. 20, 24. 14 Id.,
pp. 23, 24.
6 Id., p. 15, pi. ii. 1. 16. 6 Id., p. 15, pi. ii. 1. 31.
had become
a conquering, maritime, and commercial power, foreign countries further
contributed to the support of the larit; the tombs of Rekhmara and Am-n-teh
show us the wines of Syria, the essences and woods of Comal imported from afar
and passing through the bazaars of Coptos. But it was still the taxes which
furnished corn, the most necessary of provisions, and it is probable that under
Ptah-hotep Egypt was engaged solely in filling with it its magazines. The tomb
of Rekhmara depicts for us the labourers presenting the agents of the prefect
with their crop of wheat, in order that the government might receive its share.
They empty their baskets and form a heap, from which the delegate of the
treasury measures out the amount due to the State.1 The tax must
have been somewhat heavy. The Bible tells us that Joseph took from the
agricultural population the fifth part of their grain to store the larits in
view of a famine (Gen. xlvii. 24). In any case the taxpayers who came so humbly
before Rekhmara, with their faces to the ground, must in reality have been less
submissive than they appeared to be through fear of the stick.. Even Ptah-hotep
mistrusted the tendency to revolt which might lie hid under such forced
humility, and it was not enough for him that the taxpayer should put on a
submissive air when paying his tax, it was necessary that his manner should be
gay. “Let thy countenance be cheerful,” he says, “ during the time of thy
1 Tombeau
de Rekhmara, p. 46, pi. ix. xi, xii.
existence.
When we see one leaving the storehouse who has entered in order to bring his
moiety of provisions, with the countenance contracted, it shows that his
stomach is empty and that authority is offensive to him. Let not this be thy
case.”1 He is continually recalling the services rendered by the
Government and declaring that it is not sufficient to serve it; it is necessary
to love it and cause it to be loved.2 If there are superiors and
inferiors, it is because God has so willed it;3 all authority, all
governors, are entitled to respect; when things are prosperous, the absence of
submission to authority may endanger them.4 The inferior ought to
obey blindly and execute all commands without discussing them;5
however he may act in obeying a superior, his conscience is clear before God;6
the superior alone is responsible.
In return
for the submission which it exacts, the Government takes care of the wants of
the people ; it supports and enables them to live. In the tomb of Rekhmara we
see the workmen of foreign race presenting themselves before the storehouses
with sacks to be filled with grain ;7 jars of oil, wine, etc., are
also distributed among them. In a similar
1 Papyrus Prisse, pi. xiv. 1. 12 ; pi. xv.
1. a, cb. xxxiv. It is possible, however, that as the verb "to bring"
sometimes signifies "to carry away," Ptah-hotep had here in view not
taxpayers who found that the State took too much away from them but salaried
officials who thought that it did not pay them enough.
2 Id., pi. xii. 11. 9-13, ch. xxvii. 3 Id., vii. 11. n, 3, ch. vii.
4 Id., pi. xv. 11. 5, 6, ch. xxxvi.
6 Id., pL xiii. 11. 1-4, ch. xxviii. 6 Id., pi. vii. 1. 7, ch. n.
7 Tombeau de
Rekhmara, pi. ix. pp. 9, 10, 50.
fashion
the sons of Jacob came to fill their sacks in the storehouses organised by
Joseph. But Ptah- hotep reminds the great of the earth that their duty is not
only to protect in this way those whom God has confided to their authority. He
who is placed in front, at the head of a large number of men, must be without
reproach, and in spite of his power never forget that there are laws. The
forgetfulness of this principle is the cause of revolutions ; when the great
neglect their duty, why should not the small take their place ?1 It
is not of the counsels of the flatterers of to-day that it is needful to take
heed ; it is of the judgment of posterity, which renders justice to righteous
actions.2 To appear before it with honour, it is necessary to
reverence knowledge and wisdom ; to observe in everything a just moderation;3
not to abuse one’s powers ; and to seek to inspire love rather than fear. For
God forbids us to terrify the feeble;4 on the contrary, we are as
gods to the inferiors, whose confidence we have known how to gain.5
The great man should remember that he is only the dispenser of the gifts of
God, and if, being of low origin, he has attained to high honour, he must not,
as is too often the case, be puffed up by his good fortune, but should consider
the new duties which his rank imposes on him.6 His position makes of
1 Papyrus
Prisse, pi. vi. 11. 3-7, ch. v.
2 Id., pi. viii. 1. 14 ; pi. ix. 11. 1-3,
ch. xvi.
3 Id., pi. xi. 1L 12, 13 ; pi. xii. 11.
1-4, ch. xxv.
4 Id., pi. vi. 11. 8-11, ch. vi. 6 Id., pi. vii. II. 6, 7, ch.
ix.
6 Id., pi. xiii. 11. 6-8, ch. xxx.
him a
steward of God, but a responsible steward. For if the inferior has no
responsibility in obeying, the superior has in commanding and cannot avoid it.
God has imposed different duties according to different stations in life. Thus
the inferior who carries the message of a superior to a superior must transmit
it faithfully and exactly, even if he thinks that the communication will not be
well received.1 On his side, the superior who sits in the council
must declare candidly what he believes best, even in presence of the president,
however exalted he may be, and not twist his words so as not to compromise
himself.2 He must only see that he does not deceive himself, since
to deliberate in the council is not a pastime,3 and he must for that
end work hard and devote himself to his task.4 Responsibility and
continuous labour is the lot of him who watches over the public weal. In return
it is right that he should obtain some compensations. His life is not subject
to the discretion of any one; within the limits of his conscience he is the
master of his own actions ; but it is the reward of his labours ; moreover, if
the conditions of life differ in this world, it is because God has so willed
it.5
There are
of course duties common to all men, at least to all who can read Ptah-hotep,
for his book is addressed to the educated classes.6 Thus the great
must abstain from plundering as the small from
1 PapyrusPrisse,
pi. vii. 11. 3-5, ch. viii. 2 Id., pi. viii. 11. 11-14, ch. xv.
3 Id., pi.
xi. 11. 8-11, ch. xxvi. 4
Id,, pi. xii. 1. 7, ch. xxvi.
5 Id., pi.
vii. 11. 2, 3, ch. vii. G Id., pi.
v. 1. 4, ch. i.
thieving;1
each must love his household and his wife,2 making her happy;3
must treat his people well, being recompensed in return by their good will;4
must avoid licentiousness ;6 must listen without anger to a just
observation and feel no resentment towards him who has made it;5
must shun bad temper and walk in loyalty and frankness;7 must
exercise his power of criticism in judging himself rather than others;8
must speak pleasantly, and refer to that which is bad by showing that it is
bad, but without passion ;9 must argue with courtesy, answering with
kindness him who deceives himself, and not be rude to him should he display
ignorance.10
But among
all other duties there is one on which the book insists specially; every one
should labour to make his son a true gentleman, and not allow the authority
given him by God to be weakened.11 The father ought to command, the
son to obey, in order that' he may be worthy of governing one day in his turn
the children which may be born to him.12 “ Good when he obeys and
good when he commands, whoever has obeyed has profited, and it is profitable
to obey him who has obeyed. The son who accepts the word of his father will
attain old age on that account. God wishes us to obey; disobedience is
abhorrent
I Papyrus Prisse, pi. vii. 11. 5-7, ch.
ix. 2 Id., pi. x. 11. 8-9, ch. xxi.
3 Id., pi. xv. 11. 6-8, ch. xxxvii. 4 Id., pi. xi. II. 1-4, ch.
xxii.
6 Id., pl. ix. 11. 7-13, ch. xviii. 6 Id., pl.xiii. 11. 4, 5, ch. xxix.
7 Id., pl. ix. 1. 13 ; pl. x. 11. 1-5, ch.
xix. 8 Id., pl.
x. 11. 5, 6, ch. xx.
9 Id., pl. xi. 11. 5-8, ch. xxiii. 10
Id., pl. xiv. 11. 6-12, ch. xxxiii.
II Id., pl. vii. 11. 10-12 ; pl. viii. 11. 1, 2, ch. xii.
la Id., pl. xvii. 11. 10-13, ch. xlii.
to Him.”1
Accordingly the father must display no weakness ; a son without principles will
bring grief to his parents;2 on the other hand, when the son is
obedient to his father, it is a double joy for both.3
It is not
astonishing that Ptah-hotep paid so much attention to paternal authority; the
family is the foundation of society, and the school of obedience is the family.
Docile children will not be turbulent subjects to the prefect.
The whole
system of morality is practical. “ Moreover,’' says Professor Maspero, “ we
must not expect to find in this work deep profundity of conception. . . .
Ptah-hotep does not trouble himself to invent or to draw conclusions.”4
This pleases God ; that displeases Him; such is the ordinary argument, at
least when the author does not offer, as the sanction of his morality, the hope
of a good place for the laborious and docile student,6 the hope of a
long life for the obedient son,6 and the hope of being faithfully
served by his domestics for the good master.7
The
artlessness which we find in these counsels should not make us inattentive to
the spirit of refinement which also appears in the writings of Ptah- hotep. He
is not the author of the precepts which he gives; his practical philosophy has
been bequeathed to him by his ancestors,8 but he has put the
1 Papyrus
Prisse, pi. xvi. 11. 4-7, ch. xxxix.
2 Id.,
pi. vii. 11. 5, 6, ch. ix. 3
Id., pi. xvi. 11. 9, 10, ch. xxxix.
4 Histoire
ancienne des Peuples de V Orient, ch. ii.
5 Papyrus
Prisse, pi. xv. 11. 10-12, ch. xxxviii.
6 Id,, pi. xvi. 1.
6, ch. xxxix. 7 Id., pi.
xi. 1.
4, ch. xxii.
8 Id., pi. v. 11. 4, 5, ch. i.
precepts
in verse in order to establish them in the memory of mankind; the poetical form
in which he clothes them is intended to preserve them from alteration in the future.1
The most ancient book in the world is therefore a rhythmic, if not a poetical,
work, and we can gather from this to what a height civilisation had already
attained. Although the author himself recognises that humanity has still much
progress to make, and that the learned are in reality only students,2
this fact alone would suffice to prove that Egyptian society had long since
left barbarism behind it3 in the reign of Assa when Ptah-hotep
compiled his treatise, as he tells us at its commencement.
1 Papyrus
Prisse, pi. xv. 11. 9, 10, ch. xxxviii. 2 Id., pi.
v. I. g, ch. ii.
3 The rules of politeness were very
refined (pll, v. vii. chs. iii. iv. ; pi. x. ch. xx. ; pL xi. ch. xxiii. ; pi.
xiv. ch. xxxiii.); knowledge was respected (pi. xi. ch. xxv,); schools existed
where the students passed their examinations in order to secure posts in the
administration (pi. xv. ch. xxxviii.); I have no need to add that some of the
most celebrated monuments of Egypt, like the great pyramids of Gizeh, were
already ancient.
Precepts of the prefect the feudal lord1
Ptah-hotep, under the majesty of the king of the South and North, Assa, living
eternally for ever.
I
The
prefect, the feudal lord Ptah-hotep says: O God with the two crocodiles,2
my lord, the progress of age changes into senility. Decay falls [upon man] and
decline takes the place of youth.3 A vexation weighs upon him every
day; sight fails, the ear becomes deaf; his strength dissolves without ceasing.4
The mouth is silent, speech fails him; the mind5 decays, remembering
not the day before. The whole body6 suffers. That which is good
1 See Maspero ; Un Manuel de HUrarchie
igyptienne. Maisonneuve, Paris 1889.
2 Honhen or Osiris, as is shown by the 43d
invocation of the 142CI chapter of the Book of the Dead : “O Osiris, god with
the two crocodiles I" But it is Osiris reborn and regaining, after decline
and death, rejuvenescence and vigour. Chabas (Zeitschrift, 1868, p. 101),
studying the stelse of Horus standing on the crocodiles, and noticing that this
god is named
1 ‘ the aged who hecomes young in his
hour, the old man who becomes a child," very justly recalls the passage of
the Papyrus Prisse where Ptah- hotep invokes the aid of the god with the two
crocodiles against the evils of old age.
3 Literally "comes upon
newness," Doubtful translation; but I believe with Chabas that mau
expresses here the idea of "flourishing" or ‘'brilliant youth"
(as in the Book of the Dead, ch. 87, line 2), Ahu seems to be the contrary of
mau, so I render it 11 decline."
4 We must read a?i urd and take no account
of the het which follows and has been erroneously added by the scribe,
accustomed to write the name of the god Urd-het. Similarly the termination n Ra
is frequently added erroneously to sotep through the influence of the consecrated
formula sotep n Ra “ chosen of Ra,'*
5 Papyrus Prisse, pi, v. 0 The
carcase.
becomes1
evil; taste completely disappears. Old age makes a man altogether miserable ;
the nose is stopped up, breathing no more from exhaustion.2 Standing
or sitting there is here a condition (?) of ... 3 Who will cause me
to have authority to speak?4 that I may declare to him the words of
those who have heard the counsels of former days ? And the counsels heard of
the gods, who (will give me authority to declare them ?) Cause that it be so
and that evil be removed from those that are enlightened; send the double ... 6
The
majesty of this god says: Instruct him in the sayings of former days. It is
this which constitutes the merit of the children of the great. All that which
makes the soul equal penetrates him who hears it, and that which it says
produces no satiety.
Beginning
of the arrangement of the good saying(s), 6 spoken by the noble
lord, the divine father, beloved of God, the son of the king, the first-born of
his race,7 the prefect (and) feudal lord Ptah-hotep, so as to
instruct the ignorant in the knowledge of the arguments of the good saying(s).
It is profitable for him who hears them, it is a loss to him who shall
transgress them.
He says to
his son : Be not arrogant because of that which thou knowest; deal with the
ignorant as with the learned; for the barriers of art are not closed, no artist
being in possession of the perfection to which he should aspire.8
[But] good word(s) are more difficult to find than
1 " Is transformed."
2 This translation of the word tennu,
which I horrow from Chahas, is conjectural.
3 I cannot read this passage with
certainty.
4 I am not sure that I have understood
this difficult passage.
5 I can neither read nor translate the word.
6 Ptah-hotep arranges the good sayings of
the past in verses in order to render them unalterable.
7 " Of his loins," that is
"legitimate." The meaning of the title has been explained in the
introduction.
8 Literally ' ‘ endowed with his
perfections. ”
VOL. Ill C
the
emerald,1 for it is by slaves that that is discovered among the
rocks of pegmatite.2
III
If thou
findest a disputant while he is hot,3 and if he is superior to thee
in ability, lower the hands, bend the back, do not get into a passion with him.
As he will not let thee destroy his words, it is utterly wrong to interrupt him
\ that proclaims that thou art incapable of keeping thyself calm, when thou art
contradicted.4
If then
thou hast to do with a disputant while he is hot, imitate one who does not
stir.6 Thou hast the advantage over him if thou keepest silence when
he is uttering evil words. “The better (of the two) is he who is impassive,”
say the bystanders, and thou art right in the opinion of the great.
IV
If6
thou findest a disputant while he is hot, do not despise him, because thou art
not of the same opinion.7 Be not angry against him when he is wrong;
away with such a thing. He fights against himself; require him not [further] to
flatter thy feelings.8 Do not amuse thyself with the spectacle which
thou hast before thee; it is odious, [it is] mean, [it is the part] of a
despicable soul [so to do].
1 Literally “ the goer- word hides itself
more than the emerald.” Teha, “to hide," is found, with a slight variation
of spelling, in the story of Sinuhit (11. 4-5 of the ostrakon discovered by
Prof. Maspero).
2 Literally "being found by female
slaves.” The emerald is usually found in pegmatite, a compound of feldspath and
quartz, out of which it was picked. The Papyrus Ebers (lxxxix. 3) informs us
that the powder of pegmatite was used in the composition of a dentifrice.
3 Literally “in his hour.1' A
god is said to be “in his hour” when he is warlike. I suppose the author
ridicules the warlike disposition of disputants.
4 Literally “ that proclaim : it is not to
know inaction as regards that which crosses thee, to maintain it.” This
inversion is perhaps due to the exigencies of the rhythm.
5 Literally “who is in thy inaction of thy
arms.”
6 Papyrus Prisse, pi. vi.
7 “If thou art not like [him].”
8 Literally “ Call him not to flatter thy
feelings.''
As soon as
thou lettest thyself be moved by thy feelings, combat this [desire] as a thing
that is reproved by the great.
V
If thou
hast, as leader, to decide on the conduct of a great number of men, seek the
most perfect manner (of doing so) that thy [own] conduct may be without
reproach. Justice is great, invariable and assured; it has not been disturbed
since the age of Osiris. To throw obstacles in the way of the laws, is to
[open] the way before violence. Shall that which is below gain the upper hand,
if the unjust does not attain to the place of justice P1 even he who
says : I take for myself, of my own free-will;2 but says not: I take
by [virtue of] my authority.3 The limitations of justice are
invariable; such is the instruction which every man receives from his father.
VI
Inspire
not men with fear, [else] God will fight against [thee] in the same manner. If
any one asserts that he lives by such means, [God] will take away the bread
from his mouth; if any one asserts that he enriches himself [thereby], [God]
says: I may take [these riches] to myself. If any one asserts that he beats
others, [God] will end by reducing him to impotence. Let no one inspire men
with fear, this is the will of God. Let one provide sustenance for [them] in
the lap of peace; it will [then] be that they will freely give [what has been
torn from them by terror].
VII
If thou
art among the persons seated [at meat] in the house of a greater man than thyself,4
take that which he
1 Literally "the part of it "
where the feminine pronoun must refer to justice. The phrase seems to mean that
revolutions are occasioned by forgetfulness of the principles of justice on
which society is based.
2 Literally “I catch for myself, myself,
spontaneously.”
3 Translation very uncertain.
4 Comp. Proverbs xxiii. x. “When'thou
sittest to eat with a ruler, consider diligently what is before thee.”
gives
[thee], bowing to the ground.1 Regard that which is [placed] before
thee, [but] point not at it; regard it not2 frequently; he is a
blameworthy person who departs from this rule. Speak not to [the great man]
more than he requires, for one knows not what may be displeasing [to him].3
Speak when he invites thee and thy word will be pleasing.4
As for the
great man who has plenty of means of existence his conduct is as he himself
wishes. He does that which pleases him; if he desires to repose, he realises
his [intention]. The great man stretching forth his hand does that to which
[other] men do not attain. [But] as the means of existence are under the will
of God, one cannot rebel against it.
VIII
If thou
art one of those who bring the messages of one great man to another, conform
thyself exactly to that wherewith he has charged thee; perform for him the
commission as he hath enjoined thee. Beware of altering in speaking the
offensive words which one great person addresses to another; he who perverts
the truthfulness of his way, in order to repeat only what produces pleasure in
the words of every man, great or small, is a detestable person.
IX
If thou
art an agriculturist, gather the crops (?) in the field which the great God has
given thee, fill not thy mouth in the house of thy neighbours ;5 it
is better to make oneself dreaded by the possessor.0 As for him who,
master of his own way of acting, being all-powerful,7 seizes [the
goods of
1 Literally " put thyself on thy
nose."
2 Papyrus Prisse, pi. vii. 3 " That which is bad
to the heart.”
4 “Is thy word for being good to the
heart."
6 That is, do not steal to live.
“ See ch.
vi., where those are condemned who "fleece" men by terrifying them.
It seems that theft is here considered more blameworthy even than these
extortions.
7 Literally "for the master of the
manner of acting as master of the things." The author means the powerful
man who abuses his power in order to plunder openly and to place himself above
the laws.
others]
like a crocodile in the midst [even] of watchmen, his children are an object of
malediction, of scorn and of hatred on account of it, while [his] father is
grievously distressed, and [as for] the mother who has borne [him], happy is
another rather than herself.1 [But] a man becomes a god when he is
chief of a tribe which has confidence in following him.
X
If thou
abasest thyself2 in obeying a superior, thy conduct is entirely good
before God. Knowing who ought to obey and who ought to command, do not lift up
thy heart against him. As thou knowest that in him is authority, be respectful
towards him as belonging to him. Fortune comes only at her own good-will, and
her caprice only is her law; as for him who ... 3 God, who has
created his superiority, turns himself from him and he is overthrown.
XI
Be active,4
during the time of thy existence, doing more than is commanded. Do not spoil
the time of thy activity; he is a blameworthy person who makes a bad use of his
moments. Do not lose the daily opportunity of increasing that which thy house
possesses. Activity produces riches and riches do not endure when it slackens.
XII
If thou
art a wise man, bring up a son who shall be pleasing 5 to God. If he
conforms his conduct to thy way and occupies himself with thy affairs as is
right, do to him all the good thou canst; he is thy son, a [person] attached
[to thee] whom thine own self hath begotten. Separate
1 This inversion of the words may be
attributed to the exigencies of the rhythm.
2 Or perhaps " if thou doest
evil.”
3 I have not ventured to translate this
passage, because a study of the rhythm leads me to suppose that some words are
omitted. I believe that half a verse is lost.
4 I translate sh.es ab “activity” because the
sense seems to require it. The translation is necessarily conjectural. 5 Translation doubtful.
not thy
heart from him. . . . [But] if he conducts himself ill and transgresses thy
wish,1 if he rejects all counsel, if his mouth goes according to the
evil word, strike him on the mouth in return.2 Give orders without
hesitation to those who do wrong,3 to him whose temper is turbulent;
and he will not deviate from the straight path, and there will be no obstacle
to interrupt the way.
XIII
If thou
art [employed] in the larit, stand or sit rather than walk about. Lay down
rules for thyself from the first: not to absent thyself even when weariness
overtakes thee. Keep an eye on him who enters announcing that what he asks is
secret;4 what is entrusted to thee 5 is above
appreciation and all contrary argument is a matter to be rejected. He is a god
who penetrates into a place where no relaxation [of the rules] is made for the
privileged.
XIV
If thou
art with people who display for thee an extreme affection, [saying] : “
Aspiration of my heart, aspiration of my heart, where there is no remedy! That
which is said in thy6 heart, let it be realised by springing up spontaneously.
Sovereign master, I give myself to thy opinion. Thy name is approved without
speaking. Thy body is full
1 Or ' ‘ thy counsels."
2 Literally "Strike him on the mouth
according to that which it is, such as it behaves itself, in consequence.” It
is probable that there is here a sort of play upon the words, and that the
sense is “strike directly against a bad direction.” The sequel seems to state
that with disobedient subordinates it is necessary to give precise and positive
orders without consideration.
3 Literally "throw, on account of the
‘they act ill,' the order;" Papyrus Prisse, pl. viii.
4 Literally “the usekh is the place of
that which he demands.” The usekh was the hall in the centre of a building, and
consequently protected from intruders. A "communication usekh" would
accordingly be a secret communication.
0 Literally “the larit, the guardianship
of the larit"
6 " In his heart."
of vigour,1
thy face is above thy neighbours.” 2 [If then thou art accustomed to
this excess of flattery], and there be an obstacle to thee in thy desires, then
thine impulse is to obey thy passion.3 [But] he who . . . according
to his caprice, his soul is . . . , his body is ... 4 While [the man
who is] master of [his] soul is superior to those whom God has loaded with his
gifts;5 the man who obeys his passion is under the power of his wife
(?).
XV
Declare
thy line of conduct without reticence; give thy opinion in the council of thy
lord; while there are people who turn back upon their own [words] when they
speak, so as not to offend him who has put forward a statement, and answer not
in this fashion:6 “ He is the great man who will recognise the error
of another; and when he shall raise his voice to oppose the other 7
about it he will keep silence after what I have said.” 8
XVI
If thou
art a leader, setting forward thy plans 9 according to that which
thou decidest, perform perfect actions which posterity may remember, without
letting the words prevail [with thee] which multiply flattery, [which] excite
pride and produce vanity.
XVII
If thou
art a leader of peace, listen to the discourse of the petitioner. Be not abrupt
with him; that would trouble him. Say not to him: “Thou hast [already]
recounted this.” Indulgence will encourage him to accomplish the
1 “ Thy flesh is well nourished (?).”
2 That is, thou art superior to thy
neighbours.
3 “A contradiction heing to thee in that
which pleases thee, thy desire is to obey its passion.”
4 There are three words here which X
cannot translate.
5 Literally “has provided for.” 6 Literally “knowing this.”
7 When the great man shall oppose him, who
has put forward an error.
„8
He will not be able to oppose me, because there is no motion in my
speech. 9 Papyrus Prisse, pi. ix.
object of
his coming. As for being abrupt with the complainant because he described what
passed when the injury was done, instead of complaining of the injury itself,1
let it not be! The way to obtain a clear explanation is to listen with
kindness.2
XVIII
If thou
desirest to excite respect within [the house] thou enterest, for example [the
house] of a superior, a friend3 or any person of consideration, [in
short] everywhere where thou enterest, keep thyself from making advances to a
woman, for there is nothing good in so doing. There is no prudence in taking part
in it, and thousands of men destroy themselves in order to enjoy a moment,
brief as a dream, while they gain death, so as to know it. It is a villainous
intention (?), that of a man who [thus] excites himself (?); if he goes on to
carry it out, his mind abandons him. For as for him who is without repugnance
for such an [act], there is no good sense at all in him.
XIX
If thou
desirest4 that thy conduct should be good and preserved from all
evil, keep thyself from [every] attack of bad humour.6 It is a fatal
malady which leads to discord, and there is no longer any existence for him who
gives way to it.6 For it [introduces] discord (?) between fathers
and mothers, as well as between brothers and sisters ;7 it causes
the wife [and] the husband to hate each other; it contains all kinds of
wickedness, it embodies all kinds of wrong.8 When a man has
established his just equilibrium and walks in this path, there where he makes
his dwelling, there is no room 9 for bad humour.
1 '1 And does not complain of
the whole matter on the subject of that.”
2 “ Causing him lo represent the heart is
the listening with kindness.”
8 "Of a lord, of a brother, and by
extension companion, friend.’*
4 Papyrus Prisse, pi. x, B Literally “ time of bad
humour.”
6 “There being no existence to him who
enters into it."
7 Literally "the fathers, men [and]
women, as well as the brothers,
men [and]
women.” 8 Compare “ It is a
net of iniquity.’'
9 ' Not a house of bad humour.”
XX
Be not of
an irritable temper as regards that which happens beside thee grumble (?) not
over thy [own] affairs. Be not of an irritable temper in regard to thy
neighbours; better is a compliment to that which displeases than rudeness. It
is wrong to get into a passion with one’s neighbours, to be no longer master of
one’s words.2 When there is only a little irritation, one creates
for oneself an affliction for the [time when one will again be] cool.3
XXI
If thou
art wise, look after thy house; love thy wife without alloy. Fill her stomach,
clothe her back, these are the cares [to be bestowed] on her person. Caress
her,4 fulfil her desires during the time of her existence; it is a
kindness which does honour to its possessor. Be not brutal (?); tact (?)
will influence her better than violence; her . . . behold to what she
aspires, at what she aims, what she ^regards. It is that which fixes her in thy
house ; if thou repellest her, it is an abyss (?). Open thy arms (?) for her,
[respondent] to her arms; call her, display to her 5 [thy] love.
XXII
Treat6
thy dependants well, in so far as it belongs to thee [to do so]; [and] it
belongs to those whom God has favoured. If any one fails in treating his
dependants well it is said: “ He is a person . .'As we do not know the events
which may happen to-morrow, he is a wise
1 " On the subject [of things which
are] in two halves, on two sides, right and left, at the side of thee.”
2 Literally "deprived of the conduct
of one's words.”
3 Literally "is a little difficulty
in that, affliction is created in coolness.” But the translation is doubtful.
4 Literally "anoint her.”
6 " Make to her.” The translation of
the two last lines is uncertain.
6 Papyrus Prisse, pi. xi.
person by
whom one is well treated.1 When there comes the necessity of showing
zeal, it will [then] be the dependants [themselves] who say: “ Come on, come
on,” it good treatment has not quitted (?) the place; if it has quitted it, the
dependants are defaulters.
XXIII
Do not
repeat any extravagance of language; do not listen to it; it is a thing which
has escaped from a hasty mouth. If it is repeated, look, without hearing it,
towards the earth; say nothing in regard to it. Cause him who speaks to thee to
know what is just, even him who provokes to injustice ;2 cause that
[which is just] to be done, cause it to triumph. As for that which is hateful
according to the law, condemn it by unveiling it.3
XXIV
If thou
art a wise man, sitting in the council of thy lord, direct thy thought towards
that which is wise. Be silent rather than scatter thy words. When thou
speakest, know that which can be brought against thee. To speak in the council
is an art, and speech is criticised more than any [other] labour; it is
contradiction which puts it to the proof.4
XXV
If thou
art powerful, respect knowledge and calmness of language. Command only to
direct; to be absolute is to run into evil. Let6 not thy heart be
haughty, neither let it be mean. Do not let thy orders remain unsaid and cause
thy answers to penetrate; but speak without heat, assume a serious countenance.
As for the vivacity of an ardent heart, temper it; the gentle man penetrates
[all] obstacles.
1 Literally "the person is a person
well balanced, good treatments
[are] in
him." 2 Literally
"the unjust being commanded."
3 Literally "it is raising the veil
from its face."
4 " Which puts it according to the
measure.”
5 Papyrus Prisse, pi. xii.
He who
agitates himself all the day long has not a good moment; and he who amuses
himself all the day long keeps not his fortune. Aim at fulness like pilots;1
once one is seated another works, and seeks to obey [one’s] orders.
XXVI
Disturb
not a great man;2 weaken not the attention of him who is occupied.3
His care is to embrace [his task], and he strips his person through the love
which he puts into it. That transports men to God, [even] the love for the work
which they accomplish. Compose [then thy] face (?) [even] in trouble, that
peace may be with thee, when agitation is with . . . These are the people
who succeed in what they desire.4
XXVII
Teach
[others] to render homage to a great man.6 If thou gatherest the
crop for him among men,6 cause it to return fully to its owner, at
whose hands is thy subsistence. [But] the gift of affection is worth more than
the provisions 7 with which thy back is covered. For that which [the
great man] receives from thee will enable thy house to live, without speaking
of the maintenance thou enjoyest, which thou desirest to preserve;8
it is thereby [that] he extends a beneficent hand, and that in thy home good
things are
1 I do not know whether this is the
precise rendering, hut the ohject of the chapter is clear. It is necessary to
be moderate in everything ; excess of work is to be avoided like excess of
pleasure.
2 " Let not a great man be diverted
from his bour.”
3 ‘' Of him who is charged."
4 “Who cause that which is loved to
prosper.” I am not sure of the
sense of
these last two phrases.
6 Literally '' teach the great man that
one may honour him, that one may do him honour.”
6 This probably means : if thou collectest
the taxes in the provinces for the governor. 7
The word also signifies “offerings.”
8 “With the consideration, thou lovest
that it lives.” The taxes levied hy the government pay for the maintenance of
its officers, who thereby maintain their position.
added to good
things.1 Let thy love pass into the heart of those who love thee;
cause, those about thee to be loving and obedient.
XXVIII
If2
thou art a son of the guardians deputed to watch over the public tranquillity,
execute [thy commission] without knowing [its meaning], and speak with
firmness.3 Substitute not for that which the instructor has said
[what thou believest to be] his intention; the great use words as it suits
[them].4 Thy part is to transmit rather than to comment upon.
XXIX
If thou
art annoyed at a thing,6 if thou art tormented by some one who is
acting within his right, get out of his sight, and remember him no more6
when he has ceased to address thee.
XXX
If thou
hast become great after having been little, [if] thou hast become rich after
having been poor, [when thou art at the] head of the city, know7 how
not to take advantage of the fact that thou hast reached the first rank, harden
(?) not thy heart because of thy elevation ; thou art become [only] the
steward of the good things of God.8 Put not behind thee the
neighbour9 who is like unto thee; be unto him as a companion.
XXXI
Bend thy
back before thy superior. Thou art attached to the palace of the king; thy
house is established
1 Literally "the possession.” 2 Papyrus Prisse, pi. xiii.
3 " Express what thou dost not
comprehend, affirm thy speech."
4 “As for these great men, he puts the
word in its proper place."
5 " At a time arrived.”
6 That is, bear no rancour after being
deservedly blamed.
7 Translation very doubtful.
8 “Thou art become the administrator, the
prefect, of the provisions
[which
belong] to God,"
9 *' Let there be no other behind.”
in its
fortune, and thy profits (?) are as is fitting. Yet a man is annoyed at having
an authority above himself,1 and passes the period of life in being
vexed thereat. Although that hurts not thy2. . . “Do not plunder3
the house of thy neighbours, seize not by force the goods which are beside
[thee].” Exclaim not then against that which thou hearest, and do not feel
humiliated. It is necessary to reflect4 when one is hindered (?) by
it that the pressure of authority is felt [also] by one’s neighbour.
XXXII
Do not
make . . . thou knowest that there are obstacles to the water [which comes] to
its hinder part, and that there is no trickling of that which is in its bosom.
Let it not . . . after having corrupted his heart.
XXXIII
If thou
aimest at polished manners, call not him whom thou accostest. Converse with him
especially in such a way as not to annoy him. Enter on a discussion with him
only after having left him time to saturate his mind with the subject of the
conversation. If he lets his ignorance display itself, and if he gives thee an
opportunity to disgrace him, treat him with courtesy rather; proceed not to
drive him [into a corner]; do not . . . the word to him; answer not in a
crushing manner; crush him not; worry him not; in order that in his turn he may
not return [to the subject], but depart to the profit of thy conversation.5
XXXIY
Let thy
countenance be cheerful during the time of thy
1 "In vexations a. governor in
quality of superior, one lives a time of distaste for him.”
2 The text here seems faulty, some words
being wanting as regards hoth rhythm and sense.
3 Papyrus Prisse, pl. xiv.
a Literally
1 * being one who knows that . . ."
5 Literally '' in order that it may not be
his turn not to come, [and] that one does not steal away to the profit of that
same.”
existence.
When we see one departing from the storehouse who has entered in'order to bring
his share of provision,1 with his face2 contracted, it
shows3 that his stomach is empty and that authority is offensive [to
him]. Let not that happen to thee; it is . . .
XXXV
Know those
who are faithful to thee when thou art in low estate. Thy merit [then] is worth
more than those who did thee honour. His . . ., behold that which a man
possesses completely. That is of more importance than his high rank ; [for]
this is a matter [which passes] from one to another. The merit of one’s son is
advantageous to [the father], and that which he really is is worth more than
the remembrance [of his father’s rank (?)].
XXXVI
Distinguish
the superintendent who directs from the workman, for manual labour is little
elevated; the inaction [of the hands] is honourable. If a man is not in the
evil way, that which places him [there] is the want of subordination to
authority.
XXXVII
If thou
takest a wife, do not . . . Let her be more contented than any of her
fellow-citizens. She will be attached [to thee] doubly, if her chain is
pleasant.4 Do not repel her ; grant that which pleases her; it is to
her contentment that she appreciates [thy] direction.5
1 Literally “the loaves of
communion," probably the part which each had to contribute from the crops.
It is possible, however, that the reference is to distributions of food by the
authorities ; the malcontents would then be those who find that too little is
given to them instead of contributors who think that too much is required from
them. But I prefer the first explanation, since the verb an means " to
bring" rather than “ to carry away.”
2 Papyrus Prisse, pi. xv.
3 “ It is the making known the emptiness
of his stomach.1'
4 “ She being in the attachment doubly,
sweet to her the bond.”
6 *1 Being her contentment, she
appreciates the work.”
XXXVIII
If thou
hearest those things which I have said to thee,1 thy wisdom will be
fully advanced. Although they are the means which are suitable for arriving at
the Ma,2 and it is that which makes them precious, their
memory would recede from the mouth of men. [But] thanks to the beauty of their
arrangement [in rhythm] all their words will [now] be carried without
alteration over this earth eternally.3 That will create a canvass
(?) to be embellished, whereof the great will speak, in order to instruct men
in its sayings.4 After having listened to them [the pupil] will
become a master,6 even he who shall have properly listened to the
sayings because he shall have heard them. Let him win success by placing
himself in the first rank6; that is for him a position perfect and
durable,7 and he has nothing [further] to desire for ever.8
By knowledge his path (?) is assured, and he is made happy by it on the earth.
The wise man is satiated by knowledge; he is a great man through his own
merits.9 His tongue is in accord with his
1 The author has concluded his exposition
of the wisdom of the ancients. He now speaks in his own name, and while
eulogising the doctrines he has repeated, notices with satisfaction the perfect
form he has given to them to prevent them from being effaced from the memory of
men and to preserve them from alteration. Their rhythmic form allows neither
omissions nor variations.
2 That is to cause truth and justice to
reign.
3 I do not think that a clearer statement
can be found of the existence of a poetical language, rhythmically arranged,
among the ancient Egyptians.
4 ' ‘ The great will speak above ; it is
by explaining to a man the word." It therefore appears that the Precepts
of Ptah-hotep were intended to be commented on by professors, and that there
were schools of philosophy.
5 Abuu, “artist,’' or “master-workman.”
Perhaps something ana- ogous to the degree of magister artium.
6 1 ‘ Being produced a
good time by being at the head.” The reference is possibly to a competitive
examination among the students in order to obtain a public post.
7 “ Is to him perfection which
endures."
8 “ His complete satisfaction being for
ever."
9 “Through his good” or ''fortunate time,”
mind1;
just are2 his lips when he speaks, his eyes when he gazes, his ears
when he hears. The advantage of his son is to do that which is just without
deceiving himself.
XXXIX
To attend
[therefore] profits the son of him who has attended. To attend3 is
the result of the fact that one has attended. A [teachable] auditor is formed,
because I have attended. Good when he has attended, good when he speaks,4
he who has attended has profited, and it is profitable to attend to him who has
attended. To attend is worth more than anything [else], for it produces love,
the good thing that is twice good. The son who accepts the instruction of his
father will grow old on that account.5 What God loves is that one
should attend; if one attends not, it is abhorrent to God. The heart makes
itself its own master when it attends and when it does not attend; [but] if it
attends, then his heart is a beneficent [master] to a man.6 In
attending to instruction, a man loves what he attends to, and to do that which
is prescribed is pleasant. When a son attends to his father, it is a twofold
joy [for both]; when [wise] things are prescribed to him, the son is gentle
towards [his] master. Attending to him who has attended when such [things] have
been prescribed to him, he engraves upon [his] heart that which is approved by
his father; and the recollection of it is preserved in the mouth of the living
who exist upon this earth.
XL
When a son
receives the instruction of his father, there is no error in all his plans.
Train thy son to be a teach-
1 With his
mind is his tongue. 2
Papyrus Prisse, pi. xvi.
3 Literally “To listen penetrates by one
who has listened.”
4 “Good, listening ; good, speaking."
To “listen” includes the idea of “obeying."
6 Compare
Exod. xx. 12. “ Honour thy father and thy mother, that thy days may be long in
the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee,"
0 Literally “ life-health-strength of some
one is his heart when listening.”
able man
whose wisdom1 is agreeable to the great. Let him direct his mouth2
according to that which has been said to him; in the docility of a son
is discovered his wisdom. His conduct is perfect, while error carries away the
unteachable.3 To-morrow knowledge will support him, while the
ignorant will be destroyed.
XLI
As for the
man without experience who listens not, he effects nothing whatsoever. He sees
knowledge in ignorance, profit in loss; he commits all kinds of error, always
accordingly choosing the contrary of what is praiseworthy. He lives on that
which is mortal, in this fashion. His food are evil words whereat he is filled
with astonishment. That which the great know to be mortal he lives upon every
day, flying from that which would be profitable to him,4 because of
the multitude of errors which present themselves before him every day.
XLII
A son who
attends is like a follower of Horus ;
he is happy after having attended. He becomes great, he arrives at dignity, he
gives the same lesson to his children. Let none innovate upon the precepts of
his father; let the same precepts form his lessons to his children. “Verily,”
will his children say to him, “to accomplish5 what thou sayest works
marvels.”
Cause
[therefore] that to flourish which is just, in order to nourish thy children
[with it]. If the teachers allow themselves to be led towards evil principles
verily the people who understand them not will speak accordingly,6
and that being said to those who are docile, they will act accordingly. Then
all the world considers them [as masters] and they inspire confidence in the
public; but their glory endures not so long as would please them. Take not away
[then] a word [from the ancient teaching], and add one not; put
1 Papyrus Prisse,
pi. xvii. 2 Compare chap.
xii.
3 “ His ways are perfect, the bad way
takes away the unteachable.”
4 " Departing from his times because
of the multitude of errors.”
6 Papyrus Prisse, xviii. 6 “Just as that is [said].”
VOL. Ill D
not one
thing in place of another; beware of uncovering [the rebellious ideas] which
arise1 in thee; but teach according to the words of the wise.
Attend [if] thou wishest to dwell in the mouth of those who shall attend to thy
words, when thou hast entered upon the office of master, that thy words may be
upon our lips . . . and that there may be a chair from which to deliver thy
arguments.2
XLIII
Let thy
thoughts be abundant [but] let thy mouth be under restraint, and thou shalt
argue with the great. Put thyself in unison with the ways of thy master; cause
him to say: “He is my son,” so that3 those who shall hear it shall
say : “ Praise be to [her who] has borne him to him ! ” Apply thyself while
thou speakest; speak [only] of perfect things; and let the great who shall hear
thee say : “ Twice good [is] that which issues from his mouth ! ”
XLIV
Do that
which thy master bids thee. Twice good is the precept of our4
father, from whom we have issued, from his flesh. What he tells us, let it be
[fixed in our] heart; to satisfy him greatly let us do for him more than he has
prescribed. Verily a good son is one of the gifts of God, [a son] who does
[even] better than he has been told [to do].5 For his master he does
what is satisfactory, putting himself with all his heart on the part [of
right].6
So7
I shall bring it about that thy body shall be healthful, that the king shall be
satisfied [with thee] in all circumstances, and that thou shalt obtain years of
life without default.
It has
caused me on earth to obtain no years of life,
1 " That which flows in thee."
2 Literally 11 Thy arguments
being on their chair."
3 Papyrus Prisse, pi. xix.
4 Literally "The precept of his
father, from whom he has issued."
6 " Making increase on lhat which is
said to him.”
0 " He does the Ma, putting himself
with all his heart on its ways.”
7 That is, by means of these precepts.
along with
the gift of the favour of the king among the first of those whom their works
(?) have ennobled,1 satisfying the king in a place of dignity.
Colophon. It is finished, from its beginning to its
end, according to that which is found in writing.
1 “The two hands have made them noble/'
The whole expression signifies “the first” or “ancients."
THE
DAUGHTER OF THE PRINCE OF BAKHTAN AND THE SPIRIT THAT POSSESSED HER
Translated by Prof. Maspero
The monument which has preserved for us this curious
narrative is a stele discovered by Champollion in the temple of Khonsu at
Thebes, and removed from thence in 1886 by Prisse d’Avennes, by whom it was
given to the Biblioth&que Nationale at Paris. The text has been published
by Prisse d’Avennes : Choix de Monuments dgyptiens (Paris, 1847); and
Champollion : Monuments de VEgypte et de la Nubie (Paris, 1846-76, vol. ii. pp.
280-90); and translated by Birch : Notes upon an Egyptian Inscription in the
Bibliotheque Imptriale of Paris (in the Transactions of the Royal Society of
Literature, iv. new series) ; and E. de Roug<£: Atude sur une Stele
tgyptienne appartenant a la Bibliotheque Imptriale (in the Journal Asiatique,
Aug. 1856, Aug. 1857, June and Aug. 1858).
Champollion
had already studied the text and has cited many phrases from it in his works.
It was sumptuously reproduced on a single sheet at
the
Imperial Printing-Press for the Paris Exhibition of 1855 under the
superintendence of E. de Rougd.
Little has
been added by later works to de Rouge’s results. Translations of it have been
given by Brugsch in his History of Egypt (English translation, 2d edit., ii.
pp. 191-4), .and by Maspero in his Contes tgyptiens, ii. pp. 209-224.
The
narrative presents the appearance of an official document. The Ramses recorded
in it was believed to be the twelfth of the name who belonged to the twentieth
dynasty, and efforts were made to discover the country of Bakhtan in the map.
The account begins with a royal protocol in the name of a sovereign who has the
same names and pramomina as Ramses II or Sesostris. Next come dates which
follow a definite order throughout the text; the details of the cult of the
deity and of the Pharaonic ceremonial are described with scrupulous exactitude.
The whole possesses such a character of probability that the inscription was
considered historical until quite recently. Prof. Erman, however, has shown
with much sagacity that we must recognise in it a pure fiction invented by the
priests of Khonsu in order to heighten the glory of the god and the importance
of his temple ; see A. Erman: Die Bentreschstele in the Zeitschvift fiir
aegyptische
Sprache,
1883, pp. 5 3-60.
Prof.
Erman has made it clear that the forgers intended to assign the narrative to
the reign of Ramses II, and has thus relieved us from an
imaginary
Pharaoh. He has brought the redaction of the story down to the Ptolemaic
period, but I believe that I can attribute it to the earlier days of the
Ethiopian invasions, when the high-priest of Amon was about to fall, and the
great priesthoods which still existed at Thebes were to endeavour by all the
means in their power to inherit the influence which the fallen priesthood had
exercised.
The
narrative refers to a belief which is common in popular literature ; a spirit
has entered the body of a princess and struggles against the exorcists who have
been commissioned to expel it, consenting to depart only on certain conditions.
The story furnishes us with the simplest and most ancient form of the belief. A modern Egyptologist has adopted it as the subject of a novelette (H.
Brugsch : Des Priesters Rache, eine historisch beglaubigte Erzahlung aus der
aegyptischen Geschichte des zwolften Jahr- /Hinder ts vor Chris tits, in the
Deutsche Revue, v. pp. 15-41).
Prof.
Erman has noted in the narrative an affectation of archaism and somewhat
serious errors of language. We can understand that the priests of Khonsu have
endeavoured to imitate the language of the period to which they attributed the
monument. We can also understand that they could not be equally successful
everywhere in maintaining an archaistic tone, and have thus at times committed
errors. The sentences are badly constructed, the expression of ideas is poor,
the phrase curt and flat.
Moreover,
they have assigned to a king of the nineteenth dynasty methods of government
which belonged only to sovereigns of the twentieth. Ramses II, devout as he
was, would never have considered it necessary to submit to the approval of the
gods all the affairs of state ; it was the last successors of Ramses III who
introduced the custom of consulting the statue of Amon upon every occasion.
With these reservations it may be admitted that the text offers no further
difficulties to the interpreter, and with a little attention can be easily
translated ; like the Story of the Two Brothers it can be advantageously placed
in the hands of beginners in Egyptian.
The stele
is surmounted by a tableau in which one of the scenes in the story is enacted
before our eyes. On the left, the bark of Khonsu, the good counsellor, is
carried on the shoulders of eight porters and is followed by two priests
reading prayers; the king, standing before it, offers incense to it. On the
right, the bark of Khonsu, which regulates the destinies of Thebes, is figured,
carried by four men only, for it is smaller than the other; the priest who
offers incense to it is the prophet of Khonsu who regulates the destinies of Thebes,
Khonsu-h&-nutir- nibit. It is probably the return of the second god to
Thebes which is thus illustrated: the first Khonsu comes to receive the second,
and the priest and king each render equal homage to his divinity.
THE
DAUGHTER OF THE PRINCE OF BAKHTAN
The Horus, powerful bull, laden with diadems and
established as solidly in his kingdoms as the god Atumu ;1 the Horus,
the conqueror mighty with the sword and destroyer of the Barbarians, the
king of the two Egypts, Usir-ma-ri
Sotpuri-ri, son of the Sun, Ramses Mi-amun, beloved of Amon-Ra, master of Karnak
2 and of the circle of the gods, the lords of Thebes, the good god, the son of Amon, offspring of Mut, begotten by Har-ma-khuiti, glorious child of the universal Lord,
engendered by the divine husband of his own mother, king of Egypt, prince of the tribes of the
desert, the sovereign who governs the Barbarians, scarcely issued from his
mother’s womb he directed wars and commanded valiantly while still in the egg,
like a bull which presses forward, for lie is a bull, is this king, a god who
issues forth on the day of battles like Montu,—who
is very valiant like the son of Nuit.3
Now his
Majesty was in Naharina 4
as was his custom each year, and the princes of every country came bending
under the weight of the offerings which they brought to the souls of his
Majesty;6 the fortresses brought their
1 [Otherwise transcribed Turn.]
2 North of Thebes on the eastern bank of
the Nile.
3 The son of Nonit is Sit-Typbon, in this
kind of phraseology.
4 Written differently from the orthography
Nabaranna in the Tale of the Doomed Prince. Naharanna wasthe country between
the Orontes and the Balikh, which falls into the Euphrates (on the eastern
bank) a little north of the Khabonr. It is included in the Aram-Naharaim of
Scripture.
5 We know that the Sun had seven souls and
fourteen doubles (Berg- mann : Hier. Inschriften, pi. 62, 2). The Pharaoh, as
son of the Sun and himself the Sun, had also several biu or “souls,” and the
conquered endeavoured to win them by presents.
tributes,
gold, silver, lapis-lazuli, mafkait} (and) all the fragrant woods of Arabia, on
their backs and walking in order one behind the other. The prince of Bakhtan
sent his tributes and set his eldest daughter at the head of the procession, to
salute his Majesty and to ask life from him. She was a very beautiful woman,
who pleased his Majesty more than anything else; taking her as his chief royal
wife he inscribed her with the name of Nofiru-ri, and when he had returned to
Egypt he assured to her the treatment of a royal wife.2
And it
came to pass in the fifteenth year, the 2 2d day of the month Payni, when his
Majesty was at Thebes in the temple Nakhthonit-rofeu,3 chaunting the
praises of his father Amon-Ra the master of Karnak, during his excellent
festival in southern Thebes,4 the favourite residence of the god
since the creation, behold a message is brought to his Majesty: “ There is
there a messenger of the prince of Bakhtan who is come with numerous presents
for the royal wife.” Conducted before his Majesty with his presents, he says,
invoking his Majesty : “ Glory to thee, O Sun of foreign peoples, to thee by
whom we live,” and when he had uttered his adoration before his Majesty, he
proceeds to speak to his Majesty: “ I come to thee, sire, my master, concerning
Bint-Rashit,5 the younger sister of thyself and the royal wife
Nofiru-ri, for a malady penetrates her limbs. Let thy Majesty order a sage to
set forth to see her.” Then the king said : “ Bring me the scribes of the
double house of life who are attached to the palace.”
1 The word mafkait expresses emerald,
green jasper, green feldspar, various oxides of copper, malachite ; in short,
every kind of precious stone which is naturally coloured green.
2 The daughter of the prince of the
Hittites, Khiti-saru, similarly received from Ramses II on her arrival in Egypt
the title of '' chief royal wife" and the Egyptian name of
Ma-ur-nofiru-ri, of which the name of the princess in the text is probably only
an ahridged form.
3 These words, which literally signify ' ’
the strong one, the lady of the temples,” probably denote one of the chapels in
the temple of Karnak.
4 Southern Thebes was the modern Luxor;
the festival, consequently, must have been the festival of the patron deity in
the temple of Luxor.
6 The name of this princess appears to be
formed from the Semitic lint, “daughter,” and the Egyptian rashit, “joy,” the
signification being " Daughter of joy."
When they
were come, his Majesty said : “ Behold I have summoned you in order that you
may hear these words :
‘ Bring me
one of yourselves who is expert in his heart, a scribe skilful with his
fingers.’ ” When the royal scribe Thothimhabi had entered the presence of his
Majesty, his Majesty commanded him to betake himself to Bakhtan with this messenger. As soon as the sage had arrived
in Bakhtan he found Bint-Rashit
possessed of a demon, and he found the demon who possessed her difficult to
combat. The prince of Bakhtan thereupon
sent a second message to his Majesty, saying: “ Sire, my master, let thy
Majesty order a god to be sent to combat the demon.’'
When the
messenger reached his Majesty in the 23d year, the 1st day of the month
Pakhons, the day of the festival of Amon,
while his Majesty was at Thebes, behold
his Majesty spoke again in the presence of Khonsu
in Thebes, the god of good
counsel, saying : “ Excellent lord, behold me again before thee, concerning the
daughter of the prince of Bakhtan.”1
Then Khonsu in Thebes, the god of good counsel, was
transported towards Khonsu who
governs destiny, the great god who drives away strangers, and his Majesty said
before the face of Khonsu in Thebes, the god of good counsel: “
Excellent lord, if it pleases thee to turn thy face to Khonsu who governs
1 In order to understand this passage, we
must remember that
according
to Egyptian helief every statue of a god in a temple had in it a ka or “
double," detached from the actual person of the god and so an incarnation
of the god different from his other incarnations. The god Khonsu had in his
temple at Karnak two statues at least, each of which was animated by an
independent “ double," whom the rites of consecration had detached from
the god. One of them represented Khonsu, immutable in his perfection, tranquil
in his greatness, and not directly interfering with the affairs of men ; this
was Khonsu Nofir-hotpu, whose name I have paraphrastically translated “ the god
of good counsel.” The other statue represented a more active Khonsu who
governed the affairs of mankind and drove away foreigners (that is to say
enemies) from Egypt (Khonsup. iri sokhru m uisit, nutir da, sakru shemau). The
first Khonsu, being considered the more powerful, we know not why, does not
condescend to go himself to Syria, but sends the second Khonsu after having
transferred toJ the latter his own powers (E. de Roug£ : Etude sur une stile,
pp. I5-I9).
destiny,
the great god who drives away strangers, he will be sent to Bakhtan.” And the god twice decidedly
nodded assent with the head.1 Then his Majesty said : “ Grant unto
him thy virtue so that I may send the Majesty of this god to Bakhtan in order to deliver the daughter
of the prince of Bakhtan.” And Khonsu in Thebes, the god of good counsel, violently nodded assent
twice and transmitted his magical virtue to Khonsu
who governs destiny in Thebes, four
times.2 His Majesty ordered Khonsu
who governs destiny in Thebes to
be despatched on a great bark, escorted by five boats, by chariots and by
numerous horses which walked on the right and on the left. When the god had
arrived in Bakhtan, after an
interval of a year and five months, behold the prince of Bakhtan came with his soldiers and his
generals before Khonsu who governs
destiny, and flung himself on his face, saying:
1 The statues, being animated by a
"double,” declared their will either by the voice or by rhythmical
movements. We know that queen Hatshopsitu "heard" the god Amon
commanding her to send an expedition to the “Coasts of Incense,” in order to
fetch the perfumes necessary for religious worship. The kings of the twentieth
and twenty- first dynasties, less fortunate than she, were gratified only with
gestures, which were always the same; when they put a question to a god the
statue remained motionless if the answer were negative, but twice shook the
head violently if it were favourable. The inquiries were made in accordance
with a fixed ritual, the chief points in which have been preserved in
contemporaneous texts.
2 The innate virtue of the gods (sa) seems
to have been regarded by the Egyptians as a sort of fluid analogous to that
called by us “the electric fluid” or the like. It was transmitted by the
imposition of hands and mesmeric "passes” over the neck or spine of the
patient; this was called sotpu sa, which we may render "to make passes.”
The ceremony whereby the first Khonsu transferred his virtue to the second is
frequently represented on the monuments in the scenes where a statue of a god
is making passes over a king. The statue, which was usually of wood, had
movable limbs; it embraced the king and passed its hand four times over the
nape of his neck while he knelt before it with his back turned towards it.
Every statue received at its consecration not only a "double” but also a
portion of the magical virtue of the deity whom it represented ; the 11
sa of life” was “behind it,” which animated and penetrated within it so far as
the statue did not lessen the amount of the magical virtue by transmission. The
god himself, whom this perpetual flow of the sa would have ended by exhausting,
replenished himself with a supply of it from a mysterious source in the other
world : we are not told how it happened that the source could not be exhausted
(Maspero : Bulletin critique de la religion tgyptienne. Le Rituel du Sacrifice
funiraire, pp. 17-18, 28-29).
“Thou
comest to us, thou rejoinest us according to the orders of the king of the two Egypts, Usir-ma-ri Sotpu-ni- ri.” Behold
as soon as the god was gone to the place where Bint-Rashit was and had made
magical passes over the daughter of the prince of Bakhtan, she found herself well at once, and the demon which
was with her said in the presence of Khonsu
who governs destiny in Thebes : “Come
in peace, great god who drivest away the foreigner; Bakhtan is thy city, its people are thy slaves, and I myself
am thy slave. I shall depart therefore to the place from whence I am come, in
order to satisfy thy heart concerning the matter which brings thee, but let thy
Majesty order a day of festival to be celebrated for me and for the prince of Bakhtan.” The god made his prophet a
sign of approval with the head, meaning to say : “ Let the prince of Bakhtan present a great offering to this
demon.” Now while this was taking place between Khonsu
who governs destiny in Thebes and
the demon, the prince of Bakhtan was
there with his army stricken with terror. And when a great offering had been
presented to Khonsu who governs
destiny in Thebes and to the demon
of the prince of Bakhtan, and a
day of festival had been celebrated in their honour, the demon departed in
peace to the place which pleased him, according to the order of Khonsu who governs destiny in Thebes.
The prince
of Bakhtan rejoiced greatly as
well as the people of Bakhtan, and
he discoursed with his heart saying: “Since this god has been given to Bakhtan I shall not send him back to Egypt.” Now after the god had remained
three years and nine months in Bakhtan, as
the prince of Bakhtan was lying on his bed, he saw in a dream the god leaving
his shrine in the form of a golden hawk which flew on high towards Egypt ; when he awoke he was in a
shiver. Then he said to the prophet of Khonsu
who governs destiny in Thebes :
“This god who dwelt with us, he returns to Egypt
; let his chariot go to Egypt !
” The prince of Bakhtan allowed
the god to start for Egypt, and he
gave him numerous presents of all good things as well as a strong escort of
soldiers and
horses.
When they reached Thebes, Khonsu who
governs destiny in Thebes entered
the temple of Khonsu in Thebes the good counsellor; he set the
presents which the prince of Bakhtan had
given him before Khonsu in Thebes, the good counsellor, he kept
nothing for his own temple. Now Khonsu, the
good counsellor in Thebes, re-entered
his temple in peace the 19th day of the month Mekhir, the 33d year of the king
Usir-ma-ri Sotpu-ni-ri, living for ever like the Sun.
Translated by Paul Guieysse
The Hymn to the Nile is, properly speaking, not a religious
document like those, for example, of the Funerary Ritual, whose history can be
followed from century to century, but a religious poem in the same sense as
that in which the Poem of Pentaur is a historical poem. It is the work of the
scribe Ennana, the author of the Story of the Two Brothers and of several other
fragments contained in the papyri of the British Museum. We possess two copies
of it in the papyri Sallier II and Anastasi VII; both texts, however, are
extremely poor. Prof. Maspero was the first to translate them in 1868,1
and to show from an examination of the variant readings that they must have
been transcribed from dictation by pupils in the schools of the scribes, though
not from the same original text. The translation of Prof. Maspero has often
been reproduced in works on Egypt, and Canon Cook has given a translation which
differs from it but little.2 In the present
1 Hymne au
Nil. Franck, Paris 1868.
2 Records of the Past, IV. Bagster &
Sons, London 1875.
translation
notice has been taken, as far as possihle, of the recent progress of
Egyptological knowledge ; it will appear with a complete transcription of the
two texts in the Recneil des Travaux relatifs a VEgypt- ologie}
The text
of the Hymn is divided into fourteen verses, introduced by red letters, and
each, with two exceptions, containing the same number of complete phrases,
separated from one another by red points. Unfortunately we are still ignorant
of the rules of Egyptian poetry; but as the variant readings show that the
number of syllables in one and the same sentence is not the same in the
different texts, it is probable that the tonic accent played a chief part in
it. We find, however that the order of the words is clearly not the same as in
ordinary prose.2
The author
has developed the idea, well-known even to classical antiquity, that the Nile
is the source of all life in Egypt, that it is the supreme god, mysterious,
uncreated, the father of the gods and all things else, into whose secrets none
can penetrate. He describes in a lofty style the benefits conferred by the Nile
when it spreads its waters over the country at its annual return, and the
miseries of the land when the inundation has not exercised its fertilising
influence, as well as the joy of the inhabitants of Egypt and their gratitude
when the Nile has answered their prayers.
1 Vol. xiii. Bouillon, Paris 1890.
2 Notably in verse 2, phrases 7 and 8, and
in verse 14, phrase 1.
I
Adoration to the Nile
!
Hail to
thee, O Nile !
who
manifesteth thyself over this land,
and comest
to give life to Egypt !
Mysterious
is thy issuing forth from the darkness, on this day whereon it is celebrated !
Watering
the orchards created by Ra1
to cause
all the cattle to live,
thou
givest the earth to drink, inexhaustible one!
Path that
descendest from the sky,2
loving the
bread of Seb and the firstfruits
of Nepera,
thou
causest the workshops of Ptah3
to prosper !
Lord of
the fish, during the inundation, no bird alights on the crops.
Thou
createst the corn, thou bringest forth the barley, assuring perpetuity to the
temples.4 If thou ceasest thy toil and thy work, then all that
exists is in anguish.
1 The orchards of Ra are mentioned in the
Book of the Dead, ch, 81.
2 This belief in the celestial origin of
the Nile survived in Egypt, at al 1 events as late as the time of Joinville
[Histoire de Saint-Louis, ch. xl.).
3 Ptah is associated with the Nile in a
list of divinities represented on a wall of the age of Ramses II at Karnak
(Champollion : Not. Manu- scrites II. p, 255, where Ptah is called Ptah, pa
Hapi ad),
4 In the Anastasi text: "Causing the
temples to keep holiday."
If the
gods suffer in heaven1 then the faces of men waste away.
III
Then he
torments the flocks of Egypt, and
great and small are in agony.
But all is
changed for mankind when he comes;
he is
endowed with the qualities of Num.2
If he
shines, the earth is joyous,
every
stomach is full of rejoicing,
every
spine is happy,
every
jaw-bone crushes (its food).
IV
He brings
the offerings,3 as chief of provisioning;
he is the
creator of all good things,
as master
of energy, full of sweetness in his choice.
If
offerings are made it is thanks to him.
He brings
forth the herbage for the flocks,4 and sees that each god receives
his sacrifices.
All that
depends on him is a precious incense.
He spreads
himself over Egypt, filling the
granaries, renewing the marts, watching over the goods of the unhappy.
V
He is
prosperous to the height of all desires, without fatiguing himself therefor.
He brings
again his lordly bark;
he is not
sculptured in stone, in the statues crowned with the urseus serpent,
1 The Nile is not only the dispenser of
life to mankind, but also to the
gods (see
verses 4, 10, 13). In the Hymn it absorbs as it were all the gods, and even
takes the place of Ra in verse 14.
2 Num, the divine creator, like Ptah, is
similar to Ptah in his relation to the Nile. The two verses point out that all
life is dependent on the Nile, an idea which is developed to excess in the
verses following.
3 Funerary offerings made to the ka or “
double.”
4 See verse 14.
VOL. Ill E
he cannot
be contemplated.
No
servitors has he, no bearers of offerings !
He is not
enticed by incantations !
None knows
the place where he dwells,
None
discovers his retreat by the power of a written spell.1
VI
No
dwelling (is there) which may contain thee !
None
penetrates within thy heart!
Thy young
men, thy children applaud thee and render unto thee royal homage.
Stable are
thy decrees for Egvpt2
before thy
servants of the North !3
He
stanches the water from all eyes
and
watches over the increase of his good things.
VII
Where
misery existed, joy manifests itself; all beasts rejoice.
The
children of Sebek, the sons of Neit,4
the cycle
of the gods which dwells in him, are prosperous.
No more
reservoirs for watering the fields!
He makes
mankind valiant,
enriching
some, bestowing his love on others.
None
commands at the same time as himself.
1 The gods had to submit to the power of
incantations and magic formulae (compare the legend of Ra bitten by a serpent,
the romance of Setnau, and numerous passages in the Book of the Dead). The Nile
alone was excepted from tbis law; it remained enshrouded in mystery in its
retreat near the two whirlpools often mentioned in the texts and even alluded
to by Herodotus.
2 So in the Anastasi text. The fixity of
the periodic return of the Nile is probably referred to.
3 Verse 5 has, however, stated that the
Nile had no servants ; perhaps the secondary gods are meant here who directed
the spread of the waters over Egypt, that is to the north of the whirlpools
from whence the Nile rose.
4 Neit is often represented with two
crocodiles on the breast; her relation to Sebek, the crocodile-god, is difficult
to define.
He creates
the offerings without the aid of Neit,1
making mankind for himself with multiform care.
VIII
He shines
when he issues forth from the darkness, to cause his flocks to prosper.
It is his
force that gives existence to all things; nothing remains hidden for him.
Let men
clothe themselves to fill his gardens.
He watches
over his works,
producing
the inundation during the night.2
It is a
god Ptah . . .3
He causes
all his servants to exist,
all
writings and divine words,4
and that
which he needs in the North.
IX
It is with
the words that he penetrates into his dwelling; he issues forth at his pleasure
through the magic spells.5 Thy unkindness brings destruction to the
fish; it is then that prayer is made for the (annual) water of the season;
Southern Egvpt is seen in the same state as the
North. Each one is with his instruments of labour,
1 Neit appears here as the goddess of
production ; the Nile has no need of Neit (or perhaps the rain) in order to
generate the crops ; it makes its way throughout the country hy means of canals
and trenches.
2 This seemsjto be an allusion to the
festival of the "Night of the Drop " (Lllet en-Nuqta), still observed
in Egypt on the 5th of June, when the rise of the Nile is supposed to commence.
The name is due to the old tradition recorded by Plutarch, according to which
the rise of the Nile was caused by a tear which dropped into it from the eye of
Isis. In M. Am^Iineau’s Contes et Romans de VEgyfite Chritiennes, i. p. 17, the
rise of the Nile is attributed to the intercession of St. Michael, whose
festival is celebrated on the 6th of June ; three days^before, the archangel
prays that the water may rise, since it is "the life of men and
animals."
3 Unknown word, conjectured by Cook to
represent the name of a new god Kates.
4 The Nile inspires Thoth the scribe of
the divine utterances.
5 The Nile is unaffected by incantations,
but serves himself with them at his pleasure in order to manifest himself.
none
remains behind his companions.
None
clothes himself with garments,
the
children of the noble put aside their ornaments.
The night
remains silent,
but all is
changed by the inundation;
it is a
healing-balm for all mankind.
X
Establisher
of justice ! mankind desires thee, supplicating thee to answer their prayers;
thou answerest them by the inundation !
Men offer
the first-fruits of corn ; all the gods adore thee !
The birds
descend not on the soil.
It is
believed that with thy hand of gold thou makest bricks of silver !
But we are
not nourished on lapis-lazuli; corn alone gives vigour.1
XI
A festal
song is raised for thee on the harp, with the accompaniment of the hand.2
Thy young men and thy children acclaim thee and prepare their (long) exercises.
Thou art
the august ornament of the earth, letting thy bark advance before men, lifting
up the heart of women in labour, and loving the multitude of the flocks.
1 The Nile is indeed the dispenser of all
wealth, but true wealth does not consist in gold or silver, but of the products
of agriculture which enable men to live.
2 Women are represented on the monuments
accompanying the singers by clapping the hands ; this custom still survives
throughout the East. It is possible that we still possess the festal songs of
the Nile, of which Lane has preserved for us some fragments in his work on The
Modern Egyptians.
XII
When thou
shinest in the royal city,1 the rich man is sated with good things,
the poor man even disdains the lotus; all that is produced is of the choicest;
all the plants exist for thy children.
If thou hast
refused (to grant) nourishment,' the dwelling is silent, devoid of all that is
good the country falls exhausted.
XIII
O inundation of the Nile, offerings are made unto thee, oxen are immolated to
thee, great festivals are instituted for thee.
Birds are sacrificed
to thee,
gazelles
are taken for thee in the mountain,
pure
flames are prepared for thee.2
Sacrifice
is made to every god as it is made to the Nile.3
The Nile has made its retreats in Southern Egypt,
its name
is not known beyond the Tuau.4
The god
manifests not his forms,
he baffles
all conception.
XIV
Men exalt
him like the cycle of the gods,
they dread
him who creates the heat,
even him
who has made his son6 the universal master
in order
to give prosperity to Egypt.
Come (and)
prosper ! come (and) prosper!
1 Probably Thebes, the residence of
the^Pharaohs at the time when the Hymn was composed. No other city can be
meant, as otherwise the mythological texts would have mentioned it, Thebes,
moreover, is near Silsilis, where the height of the Nile was measured, as is
indicated by the Book of the Dead, chap. 149, and the royal decrees of
Silsilis, which institute festivals in honour of the Nile.
2 These offerings are mentioned in the
decrees of Silsilis.
3 See verse 7. 4 The other world. 5
The Pharaoh.
O Nile, come (and) prosper!
[O thou
who makest men to live through his flocks1 and his flocks through
his orchards !
Come (and)
prosper, come,
O Nile, come
(and) prosper!]
This work
has been successfully finished and dedicated to the scribe of the treasury
Qaqabu [by the scribe Ennana].2
1 From the Anastasi papyrus.
- See the Papyriis Anastasi 7, pi. 7, II.
5 and 6.
LETTERS TO
EGYPT FROM BABYLONIA, ASSYRIA, AND SYRIA, IN THE FIFTEENTH CENTURY B.C.
Translated by the Editor
An
account has already been given in these volumes of the recent discovery of
cuneiform tablets at Tel- el-Amarna in Upper Egypt, which prove to contain
official correspondence addressed to the Egyptian monarchs of the Eighteenth
Dynasty, Amenophis
III and his son, Amendphis IV, Khu-n-Aten, “
The Heretic King ” (Records of the Past, new ser., vol. ii. pp. 5 7 sq.) One
statement, however, in that account requires correction, in view of the letters
from the king of Mitanni, which have now been published. Queen Teie, the mother
of Amen6phis IV, was not the daughter of Duisratta or Dusratta, the Mitannian
king; the daughter of the latter prince was Tadu- khepa, the wife of Amendphis
IV. We are still in the dark as to the parentage of Teie, and Prof. Maspero may
be right in considering her to be of Egyptian origin, possibly even a sister of
Amen6- phis III.
In the
following pages I have given translations of the most important letters, from a
historical point of view, which have yet been published. They are mostly to be
found in the magnificent publication of Messrs. Winckler and Abel, entitled
Mittheilungen aus den orientalischen Sammlimgcn (Berlin, Spemann, 1889, 1890),
of which two parts have appeared containing the texts of a considerable number
of the Tel el-Amarna tablets at Berlin and Cairo. The promptitude and
carefulness with which they have been edited contrasts favourably with the
tardiness of the authorities of the British Museum in putting the collection
of Tel el-Amarna tablets that exists there at the service of scholars. Of the
eighty- one tablets now in the British Museum four only have been published (by
Mr. Budge in the Proceedings of the Society of Biblical Arclmology, June
1888). A few passages in the letters have been translated by Dr. Winckler in
his Bericht ueber die 7'hontafeln von Tel-el-Amarna in the Sitzungsberichte of
the Berlin Academy, 1888 (No. xxiii), and Dr. Zimmern has translated four of
the texts in the Zeitschrift fiir Assyriologie, V. (1890). Three of these are
the same as'Nos. 2, 3, and 10 translated by myself in the following pages.
An
unexpected light is cast by these letters on the literary education and
intercourse which prevailed throughout the ancient civilised world from the
Euphrates to the Nile in the century before the Exodus. The government of Egypt
extended as far
as
Northern Syria, its political influence as far as the frontiers of Assyria. But
the culture of Western Asia had its primitive home in Babylonia ; it was the
language and complicated script of Chaldsea which were taught and studied in
the distant countries of the west, and which the educated gentleman was
required to learn. Egypt exported gold from the mines which had been opened in
the desert, and were worked by convicts and the captives taken in the Asiatic
campaigns of the Eighteenth Dynasty.
These
Asiatic campaigns, however, had tended to Semitise the governing class in
Egypt. The king married into the families of Asiatic princes and filled his
court with Asiatic officials. Amenophis
IV even became a convert to a Semitic faith,
and endeavoured to substitute a belief in the supreme Semitic Baal, who
revealed himself in the fiery orb of the sun, for the old religion of his
people. His dominions in Palestine and Syria were placed under governors who
bore Semitic names, mostly of a purely Canaanitish stamp. Even the vizier
himself has a name which is otherwise not found outside the Bible, although the
name of the Carthaginian goddess Dido indicates that it was not unknown to the
Phoenicians. This is Dudu, the Dodo of the Old Testament, etymologically
related to David. Dudu’s two sons, Aziru and Khai, bear names which are equally
Biblical in their character.
The two
letters of Aziru to his father show pretty
plainly
the position occupied by Dftdu in the kingdom of the Pharaoh. He alone is
addressed like the Pharaoh himself as “ my lord,” and even his son calls
himself his “ servant.” Perhaps, however, the most significant phrase is that
which speaks of “Dtidu and the king my lord and the nobles." We are
reminded of what the Pharaoh said to Joseph, “ Only in the throne will I be
greater than thou ” (Gen. xii. 40).
The
letters of Aziru possess a further interest. They bring the Hittites before us
in the act of descending from their old homes in the north upon the fertile plains
and cities of the Semites in the south. Kadesh, on the Orontes, has not yet
become their southern capital ; but they are already threatening Tunip, the
Tennib of modern days, to the northwest of Aleppo. A century later, when the
civil wars were ended, which the death of Amendphis IV and his attempt to
introduce a Semitic religion and a Semitic government into Egypt had
occasioned, when the stranger and his faith were driven from the land, and the
Nineteenth Dynasty was founded by that "new king which knew not Joseph,”
the Hittites were encamped on the northern threshold of Palestine. The
Egyptian armies again marched into Asia, but even the power of Ramses II was
unable to dislodge them from the post they had gained, and the utmost he could
do was to check their southward advance. The chief result of his war was to
weaken both Egyptians and Hittites, and to exhaust the
cities of
Canaan, so that they became an easy prey a few years later to the invading
tribes of Israel.
Assur-yuballidh,
king of Assyria, whose letter to Amenophis IV I have placed first in my series
of translations, is mentioned towards the commencement of the so-called
“Synchronous History of Babylon and Assyria ” (line 8) as a contemporary of the
Babylonian king Kara-Urus. We learn from the letter the name of his father,
Assur-nadin-akhi, who must therefore be inserted between Assur-yuballidh and
Buzur-Assur (see “ List of the Kings of Assyria,” Records of the Past, new
ser., vol. ii. p. 206). Buzur- Assur, as we learn from the “ Synchronous
History,” was a contemporary of Burna-buryas, another correspondent of
Amenophis IV.
A third
royal correspondent of the Egyptian monarchs was Dusratta or Tusratta or
Duisratta— for the name is written in these various ways—the king of Mitanni.
According to the Assyrian inscriptions Mitanni was the district on the eastern
bank of the Euphrates which lay opposite to Car- chemish. It is called Maten in
the Egyptian inscriptions, and was included in the kingdom of Nahrina, the
Aram-Naharaim, or “Aram of the two rivers,” of Scripture, of which
Chushan-rish-athaim was king (Judges iii. 8). It is possible that an obscure
passage in one of the letters signifies that the Mitannian prince claimed
sovereignty also over Khani-rabbat or eastern Kappadokia. Among the tablets now
at Berlin is a long letter from Dus-
ratta,
written in cuneiform characters, but in the language of Mitanni, which seems
unlike any other hitherto known. We gather from it that the father and
predecessor of Dusratta was Sutarna, who is stated in an inscription on an
Egyptian scarab to have sent his daughter Kirkipa as a wife to Amend- phis III
in the tenth year of the latter’s reign, along with 317 attendants. Artatamas,
the grandfather of Dusratta, had also married his daughter to Thoth- mes IV, so
that for three generations the rulers of Egypt and Mitanni had been connected
by marriage with one another.
The people
of Mitanni, however, did not speak a Semitic language, and it is probable that
they did not belong to the Semitic race. But they had adopted the Semitic
adoration of the winged solar disk, and along with it, in all probability, some
portion of the Semitic worship of Baal. It was this worship and adoration which
Amendphis IV attempted to force upon his subjects. The Semitic tendencies of
the court and the dominance of Semitic strangers from Canaan and Syria were due
not so much to the intermarriages with the royal family of Mitanni as to the
Egyptian conquest of Palestine.
I.—Letter of Assur-yuballidh,
King of Assyria, to Amenophis IV,
King of Egypt1
1. To Napkhuriya (Neferu-kheper-Ra) [the
great king]
2. the king of Egypt,2 my brother, [I write]
3. thus, (even I) Assur-yuballidh king of the
country of
Assyria,
4. the great king, thy brother.
5. To thyself, to thy house and thy country
may there be
peace!
6. That I have seen thy ambassadors
7. has pleased (me) greatly; thy ambassadors
8. I have sent for to appear in my presence.
9. A chariot [the choicest?] in the kingdom
with (its) harness
10. and two white horses, [together with]
11. one chariot without harness and a seal of
white ala
baster
12. I have despatched as a present for thee.
13. For the great king is produced perpetually
14. the gold (which) in thy country (is like)
the dust
1 Winckler and
Abel: Mittheilungen, i. p. 8,
2 Written Mitstsari as in the letters of
the king of Mitanni. The Babylonian form of the name is Mitsri, corresponding
to the Hebrew Matsor and Mitsraim. In the later Assyrian inscriptions the name
appears as Mutsur or Mntsri, probably through confusion with the name of
Mutsri, a district to the north of Assyria.
15. (that) they collect: why in thy presence
16. is it brought and kept back, is it withheld
and not
sent ?
17. All the gold that is my property,
18. as well as what is lacking to it, send.
19. When Asur-nadin-akhi my father
20. sent (an embassy) to the country of Egypt (Mitsri),
21. 20 talents of gold did they despatch to
him.
22. When the king of the country of Khani-rabbatO1
23. to thy father and the land of Egypt
24. sent (an embassy), 20 talents of gold
25. did they despatch to him.
26. [As] to the king of Khani-[rab]bati
27. [so] also to myself
28. despatch the gold.
29. [The road both in] going and returning
30. for the hands of my ambassadors
31. I have made secure.2
32. If thou inclinest thy face3
favourably
33. despatch much gold, and thy letter in
return
34. write (to me) and what thou desirest let
them take.
35. Behold, distant4 lands
36. have the ambassadors visited6 and
they have journeyed
to (many) cities.
1 11 Khani the great,” or
Eastern Kappadokia/the capital of which was
Malatiyeh. 2 Ultammatstsi,
3 Literally, "If thou art good as to
thy face.”
4 Ruqatum. 5
Ilika.
37. As for thy ambassadors
38. they have delayed on the way because the ’Suti1
39. threatened2 them with death,
until I sent and
40. the ’Suti took fright (?)3.
4t. My ambassadors . . . them
42. [and] they did not delay.
43. When the ambassadors (reached) the frontier
(of
Assyria)
44. why do they not wait?4 and
45. at the frontier they are in a hurry (?)5
46. It is fitting (?) at the frontier they
should wait
47. for the king; everything is there
48. and he has established (it) and at the
frontier )
49. he has arranged (it). Against the king who
fulfils
everything
50. there is no charge (?): why
51. at the frontier are they in a hurry Q),
52. even the ambassadors who . . .
The last
three lines are too obliterated, for translation.
II.—Letter
of Burna-buryas, King of Babylonia, to Amenophis IV of Egypt6
OBVERSE
r. To
Nipkhurri-riya king of the country of [Egypt]
2. by letter
3. I speak (even I) Burra-buriyas king of the
country of
Kara-duniyas 7
1 Nomads, who ranged through the desert on
either side of the Tigris, in Mesopotamia and the south-east of Assyria.
2 Ura'u, the Heb. ydrL
3 Probably to be read kharde, “fear." 4 Ultannazazu.
5 Imattu; the verb imati occurs in K 1282,
Rev. 18.
6 Budge, Proceedings of the Society of Biblical
Archeology, June 1888,
pit
Vj vi, 7 Babylonia.
4. thy brother : unto myself (is)
peace ;
5. to thyself, thy house, thy wives, thy
children, thy
country,
6. thy officers, thy horses (and) thy
chariots, may there
ever be
peace!
7. Ever since my father and thy father with
one another
8. conferred in amity,
9. they sent beautiful present[s] to one
another,
10. but they did not address one another in
fair (and) beautiful letter[s]. ir. Again, O my brother, 2 manehs of gold I
have sent as my present.
12. In return send (me) abundance of gold as
much as
thy father
(sent),
13. or if that is displeasing send half of what
thy father
(sent).
r4.
Wherefore shouldst thou send two manehs of gold (only) ?
15. For the sake of1 the folding
doors in the temple2 of
Mat and the palace
16. (which) I have undertaken3 to
build send much gold,
17. and whatsoever thou desirest in my country
18. write for and let them take it to thee.
19. In the time of Kuri-galzu my father the Kuna(?)k.hians,
all of
them,
20. sent unto him saying: Against the government
of the
country
(?)4
21. let us sin and rebel.
22. [With] thee will we make (a league). My
father
1 Literally, "in favour of."
2 Literally, “house of God," bit-ili, the
Heb. beth-cl, The following word ?ndt seems to be a proper name, though whether
it denotes the name of a deity or of a place I cannot say, We may, however,
read m&d, "many a temple." 3
Read tsabtaM.
4 Perhaps the country 6f “Qannisat."
The Kunakhians arc probably to be identified with the Kinakhkhians of the next
letter. Winckler compares the name of the Canaanites.
23. sent this (answer) to them
24. saying:
REVERSE
1. Cease (to ask) to ally thyself with me :
2. if thou art estranged from the king of Egypt my
brother,
and
3. alliest thyself with another,
4. I will not go and assist1 you.
5. Thus my father was like-minded with me,
6. because of thy father he did not listen to
them :
7. Again, by an Assyrian who regards [my face2]
8. have I not sent to thee after the news (I
have) of them,
asking
9. why they have gone to thy country.
10. If thou lovest me, no success
11. will they obtain; dismiss them to their
distant land.
12. For a present to thee 3 manehs of
alabaster,
13. (and) 14 spans of horses with 5 chariots of
wood
14. I have despatched to thee.
III.—Letter of Burna-buryas to Amenophis IV3
OBVERSE
1. [To] Napkhuhru-ri[ya]
2. the king of Egypt 4 my brother [it is spoken]
3. thus : Burra-buryas the king of Kara-[Duniyas]
4. thy brother—unto myself (is) peace ;
5. unto thee, thy country, thy house, thy
wives, thy
children,
6. thy officers, thy horses (and) thy
chariots
7. may there_ever be peace !
1 Akkamat like khamat, W. A. /., v. i.
75.
2 That is, 11 is tributary to
me.' ’
3 Winckler
and Abel, Mitthei I ungen, p. 7. 4 Mitsri.
VOL. Ill F
8. I and my brother with one another
9. have conferred amicably,
1 o. and this is what we have said
11. as follows : as our fathers with one
another,
12. we also have friendly dealings.
13. Again my ministers
14. who came with Akhi-dhabu1
15. into the country of Kinakhkhi2 trusted to destiny,
16. from Akhi-dhabu to visit my brother they
passed;
17. in the city of Kikhinnatuni of the country of Kin
akhkhi
18. Sum-Adda the son of Balumme3
19. (and) Sutatna the son of Saratum4
of the city of Akku,5
20. when they had sent their men, slew
21. my ministers and carried off their
treasures
22. which they [were taking] for [a present to
the king of
Egypt],
23. I have sent to you [therefore] a complainant6
24. [who] may speak to thee [thus]:
REVERSE
1. Kinakhkhi
(is) thy country and the king [is thy
servant
?].
2. In thy country I have been injured; do
thou punish
[the offender],
3. The silver which they carried off [was] a
present [for
thee], -
4. and the men who (are) my servants they
have slain.
5. Slay them and requite the blood (of my
messengers);
6. but if thou dost not put these men to
death,
7. (the inhabitants) of the high-road that
belongs to me
will turn
1 Dr. Zimmern compares the Biblical name
of Ahitub.
2 Perhaps to be identified with the
Kunakhians of the preceding letter.
3 Perhaps the Biblical Balaam. His son’s
name would represent Shem-Hadad.
4 The Biblical Sarah. Sutatna may be
Seth-yathan; cf. Numb,
xxiv. 17.
6 The Accho of Judg. i. 31, now Acre. 6
8. and verily will slay thy ambassadors, and
9. a breach will be made in the agreement (to
respect the
persons)
of ambassadors,
10. and this man1 will be estranged
from thee.
11. One of my men Sum-Adda, r2. having cut off
his feet,
13. detained him with him;
14. and as for another man, Sutatna of Akku,
15. having made him stand on (his) head,
16. he stood upon his face. As for these men
17. . . . one has spoken thus: I have seen
indeed
18. . . . [what] thou askest that indeed thou
knowest.
19. [By way of a pre]sent, 1 maneh of alabaster
I have
despatched
to thee.
20. [By] my ambassadors a costly gift I have
[sent to thee].
21. [On account of the re]port2
which my brother has
heard
22. my ambassadors do not detain;
23. the costly present let them offer [to thee].
IV.—Letter from Aziru to his Brother Khai3
1. To Khai4 my brother
2. thus (I speak, even I) Aziri6
thy brother:
3. Unto thee may there be peace,
4. and from the soldiers of the palace
5. of the king my lord may there be much
peace !
6. What immediately
7. I speak before the king my lord,
' 1
That is Buma-buryas. 2 \Dhe\ma.
“ 3 Winckler and Abel: Mittheilungen, ii. p. 38.
4 The Hebrew khay, "living";
compare the name of Hiel, 1 Kings xvi. 34.
5 Aziru or Aziri (Ezir in the Old
Testament) was the son of Dddu (the Biblical Dodo or David), a high official at
the court of the Pharaoh. See Letter v.
8. publicly I speak,
9. (even) I and my sons
xo. and my brothers, all (being) servants
11. of the king my lord before (him).
12. Now I and Khatib
13. have gone again
14. with a present to Khazai1
15. [who is] among you ;2 verily the
frontier,
16. behold ! I have reached.
17. From the orders of my lord
18. I do not free myself,
19. or from your2 orders,
20. (even) I the servant of my lord.
21. The king of the land of the Hittites 3 in the country
of Nukhasse4
22. is staying and I am afraid
23. of him (and) have defended myself.
24. To Phoenicia
he ascends;
25. and if the city of Dunip5
26. falls, he stays in a place (only) 2
parasangs from here (?),
27. and I am afraid of him;
28. yet according to this order
29. he remains until he quits it.6
1 This seems to be the name of the Hittite
king.
2 Plural. s
ickatte.
4 Nukhasse was in northern Syria ; Dunip
appears to have been one of
its
cities. M. Halgvy suggests that Nukhasse is the land of "bronze"
(Heb.
nekhosheth), and compares 2 Sam. viii. 8.
6 The Tunip of the Egyptian monuments, now
Tennib, between Azaz and Arpad (Erfad), north-west of Aleppo. In the Assyrian
period, from the ninth century B.C. downwards, Tunip disappears from history,
its place being taken by Khazazu (Azaz) and Arpad.
6 Adi patari-su. Compare another letter
of Aziru (No. 32): “The king of the Hittites is staying in the land of Nukhasse
and I am afraid of him. He is staying in a place [only two] parasangs distant
(?), [in] the city of Tfrnip and I am afraid. The place he has quitted
(iptur) also I
30. And now one has gone
31. with a costly present to him
32. (even) I and Khatib.
V.—Letter from Aziru to his Father
DOdu.1
1. To Dudu my lord, my father,
2. thus (speak I) Aziru thy servant;
3. at the feet of my lord I prostrate myself.
4. Khatib has gone
5. and has answered (?) the words
6. of the king my lord publicly and well,
7. and I have rejoiced exceedingly;
8. and my country and my brothers,
9. the servants of the king my lord
10. and the servants of Dudu my lord,
11. have rejoiced exceedingly.
12. Behold, there has gone
13. the prince 2 of the king my lord
14. unto me. From the commands
15. of my lord, my god, my Sun-god,
16. and from the commands of Dudu
17. my lord, I do not free myself.
18. Now, O my lord, Khatib
19. remains with me.
20. I and he3 will go (together).
21. O my lord, the king of the land of the Hittites
have
reached. [So] again ... we have gone into the land of Phoenicia, the country of
my lord, and I am afraid for the country of my lord.” So also in another
despatch (No. 33): “And again [the king of the Hittites] is staying in the land
of Nukhasse ; [he is staying] two parasangs distant (?) in the city of Tunip,
and I am afraid it may fall . . . may [the king of the Hittites] quit (liptur)
the city of Tunip. “
1 Winckler and Abel, Mittheilungen, ii. p.
45.
2 Sarru, which must not he interpreted
“servant” here, but “ prince/' like the Heb. sar. In correct Assyrian sarru is
“king,” malku (melech) “ prince,” but the writer of the letter follows the
Canaanitish usage.
3 Sfitu, a curious derivative from sil
“he,” likeyati “myself.”
22. has marched into the country of Nukhasse
23. but has not prevailed over the cities.
24. May the king of the land of the Hittites quit (them)!
25. Therefore now have (we) marched,
26. (even) I and Khatib.
27. May the king my lord listen to
28. my words. O my lord, I am afraid
29. of the king my lord
30. and of Dfidu.
31. And now my gods
32. and my messengers also are the men
33. of Dfidu and the nobles
34. of the king my lord, and I march.
35. And thus (speak) Dfldu
36. and the king my lord and the nobles :
37. If ever we publish anything
38. about Aziru which is not right
39. (let it be) before my gods and before my
god,1
40. and now I
41. and Khatib (are) servant(s) of the king
before (him)
42. O Dtidu, verily thou knowest (?),
43. behold, I go to thee.
VI.—Letter from Rib-Addu to the King of Egypt2
1. [To] the king my lord,
2. my Sun-god I speak, (even I) Rib-Addu3
1 In place of the anacoluthon we may
translate, “(it is) against my gods and against my god." In another letter
of Aziru (No. 39), we read, "A second time (I say) to Dfldu my lord ; hear
the words of the kings of Nukhasse (which) they have spoken against me."
2 Winckler and
Abel, Mittheilungen, ii. p. 81.
8 Or Rip-Hadad. Addu or Hadad is given as
the Syrian equivalent of the Assyrian god Rimmon.
3. thy servant: at the feet of my lord
4. my Sun-god seven times seven
5. do I prostrate myself. The king my lord
6. has heard the words of the servant
7. of his justice.1 (I am) very
sick.2
8. Unto me has hostility approached.
9. The sons of Ebed-Asirta3
descended
10. into Phcenicia4;
they5
ir. (and) all of the country of the city of Tsumura6
12. and the city of Irqata,7 armed themselves
13. against the governor ; and now in
14. the city of Tsumura
(is their) station.
15. Behold, the governor is sick.
16. On account of the attack he has left8
17. the city of Gubla,9
and there are not10
18. Zimrida [and]
19. Yapa-Addu along with me.
20. Now [accordingly] has the governor
21. sent to them, and
22. [they have sent] 30 manehs to him.
23. [Now] has the king my lord heard
24. the report of the servant of his justice,
25. and has despatched reinforcements
26. in haste to
27. the city of Tsumura
to defend (it)
28. [and] capture the soldiers
1 That is
to say, “his righteous servant." 2
Or "distressed.”
3 Also written Ebed-Asr&ti, "the
servant of Asherah." The name of
Asrati is
more than once preceded by the determinative of divinity, showing that AshSrah,
mistranslated "grove” in the authorised version of the Old Testament, was
a goddess. She was, in fact, the goddess of fertility, who was symbolised by a
cone or branchless trunk, and must be carefully distinguished from Ashtoreth
or AstartS.
4 Mat Akharra.
5 It is possible also to translate,
"into Phcenicia, even they : all the country.”
6 The Zemar of the Old Testament (Gen. x.
18), called Simyra in classical geography, now Snmra, north of Tripoli.
7 The " Arkites ” of Gen. x.
17, now Tel ’Arqa. 8
Itizi\b\
9 The Gebal of the Old Testament, the
Byblos of Greek writers,
now JebSl
north of Beyrflt. Rib-Addu, the Egyptian governor of Phoe
nicia, had
his residence at Gebal. 10
Ya[nu\.
2 9. of
the palace of the king, the Sun-god ;
30. and the king, the Sun-god, has supplied1
me
31. with the soldiers of the kingdom2
from
32. the midst of his own country. A second time
33. has the king, my lord, heard the report of
his servant
34. and has despatched 3 the garrison
4
35. to the city of Tsumura and
36. to the city of Irqata. Since
37. there have fled all
38. the garrison from
39. the city of Tsumura,
and
40. there has applied (his) ear the king,
41. the lord, the Sun-god of the world, and
42. has given me 20 convoys
43. of horses for myself,
44. and has despatched reinforcements
45. in haste
46. to the city of Tsumura to
47. defend it, even all
48. the garrison
49. who had armed themselves with difficulty,
50. and the men had . . .
51. in the midst of the city, since
52. the soldiers of the palace had not
53. ... , and
54. the said city had not armed itself,
55. on the capture and slaughter (?) of the soldiers
of the
palace
56. it is intent. All the world
57. have gone5 to the king.
1 Usamri-ni. _ 2 Native Egyptian soldiers.
3 The scribe has'omitted the final syllable of ussira'"he has
despatched." 4 Literally "men of the
guard."
6 Literally "we have gone.'1
VII.—Letters from Dusratta, King of Mitanni, to
Amenophis III1
No. I
r. To
Nimmuriya the great king,
2. the king of Egypt, my brother,
3. my son-in-law, whom I love
4. and who loves me, speak
5. thus : Dusratta, the great king,
6. the king of the country of Mitanni, thy brother, thy
father-in-law,
7. and who loves thee ;
8. unto me is peace, unto my brother and unto
my son-
in-law
9. may there be peace; to thy houses, to thy
wives,
10. to thy sons,2 to thy men, to thy
chariots,
11. to thy horses, to thy country
12. and to thy property, may there be abundant
peace !
13. Of my brother, whom I love,
14. the wife, my daughter, I deliver to him :
15. may the Sun-god and Istar march before [my] brother :
16. according to the heart of my brother may
they [act] :
17. and may my brother on this [same] day r 8. rejoice : may the Sun-god and [Istar]
19. [hear] the prayer of my brother :
20. abundant joy [to my brother]
2r. may they give, may [they . . . ] :
2 2. and
may my brother [live ?]
23. for ever in pea[ce]!
24. Mane, the messenger of [my brother],
25. and Khane, the dragoman3
1 Winckler and Abel, Mittheilungen, i. p.
17.
2 “Sons” may mean "children"
here.
3 Targuman\nu\ The word occurs for the
first time in this letter.
26. of my brother, like a god1 thou
didst [send],
2 7. many
presents didst thou give [them],
28. thou didst [honour] them greatly
29. on account of their letter, counting on
their service (?)2;
30. the men who really live
31. if at any time I see not, may my gods
32. and the gods of my brother protect them.
33. Now Nakhramassi,
34. whom thou hast seen, to transact (business)
with my
brother
35. I send, and also one necklace
36. of crystal and alabaster
37. and some gold for a present
38. to my brother I have despatched,
39. and for 100 thousand years
40. for the service (?) of my brother
41. may it be used.3
VIII
No. II4
OBVERSE
1. [To Nim]muariya king of the land of [Egypt] my
brother,
my son-in-law,
2. [whom I] love (and) who loves [me], speak
3. [thus :] Dusratta the king of Mi[tanni], thy father-
in-law,
4. loves thee as thy brother • [unto] me is
peace; unto
thee
1 Or “according to the god,"
2 X am quite uncertain as to the correct
translation of this passage.
3 I follow Dr. Zimmern, though with
hesitation, in reading nati as nadi.
A Winckler and Abel, Mittheilungen, i. p. 18.
5. [may there be] peace; to thy house, to
[thy] wives, to
thy sons,
to thy nobles,
6. [to] thy chariots, to thy horses, to thy
officers,
7. to thy country and thy property may there
be exceed
ing abundant
peace!
8. Mane the ambassador of my brother went to
demand
a wife for
9. my brother that he might take her to be
queen ot
Egypt, and the letter1
10. which he took I read, and to his message
listened
11. my good heart attentively, and the words
of my brother
as the
person of my brother
12. I saw and rejoiced on that day very
exceedingly.
13. Day and night it produced pleasure.2
14. And all the words of my brother which Mane
took
[to me]
15. I performed in the same3 year;
again the wife of my
brother,
16. the queen of Egypt, I . . . and have despatched to
my
brother;
17. ... on that day the countries of Khani-rabbat 4 and
Egypt.
18. And as regards this, Mane will [speak?]
before my
brother :
Giliya 6
19. and Mane I [presented with?] a costly
present, but I
did not
address them.
20. Again, 0 my brother, for . . . and for
[their] dis
missal . .
.
1 Duff a,
“a clay tablet." 2 [An]nd etefu\us}. 3 An\ni]ti.
* •• Kbani
the greater," or eastern Kappadokia, of which Malatiyeh was the capital. It is
unfortunate that the commencement of the line is lost:
if
Khani-rabbat formed part of the dominions of Dusratta, it may have referred to
the alliance between it and Egypt which was secured by the
marriage.
5 Giliya was the ambassador sent by
Dusratta to Egypt.
21. But I did not cause them to go up (to
Egypt) to [con
vey my
daughter] that she might be the wife of [my] brother;
22. even now I did not cause them to go up.
23. After six months Giliya my ambassador and
Mane the
ambassador]
24. [of my brother I dismissed; the wife of my
brother,
to be
queen of Egypt],
25. [my daughter], to my brother they brought.
May
Beltis the lady [of battle]
26. my [goddess], and Amanu1 the god of my brother
according
to [his heart]
27. advise2 [him].
28. [His wife] to my brother they brought, and
when my
brother
[had children by her]
29. his son grew up stoutly and also . . .
30. . . . according to the heart of my brother
he became
tall,3
and . . .
3r. . . .
which to give my brother . . .
32. . . . above the face . . .
33. [Now Na]kharamassi has spoken, O my
brother, a
word to
[my brother],
34. . . . and a letter4 into his hand
I have given . . .
35. . . . and his words may [my brother] hear,
[saying]
36. [thus : Nakhara]massi to my brother I have
sent . . .
37. the soldiers [of] my brother have not made .
. .
Lacuna.
REVERSE
1 he commencement is lost. r. . . . of my
brother they have brought . . .
1 The
Egptian Amun, the supreme god of Thebes.
- [.Lt]messil[Usu], the Hebrew mdshal, “to
speak in proverbs/’
3 Ipsidk, like the corresponding
Aramaic verb. 4 Duppa.
2. ... my [ambassador] has collected
everything, 0 [my]
brother.
3. . . . before all of them, and we . . .
4. . . . among them, and these seals and the
gold . . .
5. . . . and they regarded (them) very
intently;
6. they [considered] these treasures1
as water, all of them,
treasures
of gold without [number] ;
7. [and] they said : “ in the land of Egvpt (are) treasures
of gold,
more than the dust in abundance.”
8. [My heart], O my brother, now loves thee
in rivalry;
the men .
. .
9. . . . whom they love, and yet nothing is
given to their
backs.
10. [There are] quantities of what is needed,
quantities
more than
the dust in Egypt in plenty.
11. As myself (are) these men; to whom is the
gift
made? . .
.
12. . . . and it has no gate; and truly when I
[heard of]
the
treasures
13. [which lie] before you, I did not question
if he loves
me very
greatly
14. [and] my country, even the king of Egypt.
15. And my brother lifts me up in his heart
when my heart
was vexed
at aught;
16. and he does not fail (?) at any time, and
the great god
my lord
does not forsake me;
17. Along with my brother am I not remembered
(?) by thee ?
and to
country and city . . .
18. like my brother . . .
19. Mane the ambassador of my brother [and the
drago
man] of my
brother who with him
20. journeyed, I honoured: [I spoke to] them and
honoured
them
1 Mdm$,
possibly the Aramaic mamon, " wealth,’’ the Mammon of the New Testament
21. exceedingly; now Mane has departed, and my
brother
22. has exalted him even as I honoured him very
greatly.
23. To my brother also I spoke, and my brother
heard from
them how
24. I had done unto them : when Mane lacked
(aught
which) is
not supplied
25. to him, he indeed is not vexed.
26. And, O my brother, I have sent much worked1
gold
which
cannot be counted, and the aqqat
27. of my father may my brother return to me, as
my
brother
regards friendship.
28. As my brother before my country, as before
my
numerous
(?) brethren,
29. my brother has caused me greatly to
flourish, so may
the god
Amanu2 sustain (?) (him), and
30. act for ever according to the heart of my
brother, and
may my
brother,
31. my beloved one, act according to my heart,
like the
Sun-god
32. who loves mankind, and like the god Na-n1nu
may the
gods
33. direct us, and for ever
34. let us love [one another].
35. [And now I send] by way of a present one
spear of
ubbi wood
36. . . . and an isizzu of Aleppo3
stone set in gold
37. . . . [which] he folds together on his
throne
38. . . . khulal stone set in gold for a throne
39. ... to my brother I have sent.
1 Musse. 2
Amon.
3 Khiliba. See W. A. v. 30, 66. The word
seems tn have no connection with the non-Semitic khilii, "a god."
IX.—Letter of Dusratta to Amenophis IV1
OBVERSE
1. [To Napkhurijya my son-in-law whom I love
and who
loves
[me],
2. [Dusratta], the great king, [the king of Mita]nni, thy
brother,
thy father-in-law, who loves thee: unto me (is) peace j
3. [to thee and] Teie [thy mother, and to]
Tadukhepa my
daughter,
thy wife, may there be [peace] !
4. [To . . . ] may there be peace ! To thy
sons, to thy
nobles, to
thy chariots, to [thy] horses,
5. [to] thy [country], and to thy property
may there be
exceeding
peace!
6. [I sent an embassy ?] to Nimmuriya, and
thy father sent
to me . .
.
7. [and as regards] the message which he
sent, there was
no word
whatsoever which [was concealed from ?]
8. [the ambassadors] of thy father whom he
sent [to] me;
and Teie
the chief wife of thy father,
9. thy mother, [knew ?] them all; he showed
(?) them to
Teie and
favoured (?) all of them, and after (?) them
1 o. thy father [repeated ?] the words
which he had spoken with me. .
11....
exceedingly, and [the words which I spoke] with Nimmuriya thy father whom we
love,
12. [and the words which] Nimmuriya thy father
spoke
with me,
he (and) I, my heart in nothing
13. did they vex, and all the words which I
spoke those
also on
that day
14. did not vex the heart of [thy father, my]
beloved one, in
anything,
and all that
15. [I said] these also did he perform on that
day.
1 Winclder and
Abel: Mittheilungen, i. p. 22.
16. [Now Manakhbia1] the father of
[Njimmuriya sent to
Artatama
the father of my father, and the daughter [of]
17. [Artatama, the father] of my father he
asked for; 5
times, 6
times he sends, but (Artat&ma) did not give her; at last
18. [his daughter] he sends and with a train
(of handmaids)
he gave
her. An embassy from Nimmuriya thy father to Sut[tarna2]
19. [my father came], and the daughter of my
father, my
darling
sister, though he asked for her and seven times [requested her],
20. [my father did not give.] At last five times
and six
times he
sends and (my father) gave [her] with a train (of handmaids).
21. [When] Nimmuriya [thy father] sent to me
and when
he asked
for my daughter, I did not [refuse],
22. [but] I spoke favourably; to his messenger I
speak as
follows :
“I am ready to give her; thy messenger among [my] children
23. has come, and [my] eyes [have seen] the aqq&ti
which
he has
given, and her dowry is worthy of yourself,3 and I will bestow [on
her]
24. the dowry due to Nimmuriya thy [father]
which [con
tains]
jewels (?) [such as] no god possesses; and because I am honoured4 I
do not [refuse]
25. to give her;” and Amasis6 [the
ambassador] of my
brother,
[who had come] for the bride, I sent (back) to Nimmuriya
26. after three months, with a very costly
present, and
. . . . ,
and four ... of gold [such as] none [had given before]
Manakhbia
is mentioned as Ihe father of Amendpbis III in a tablet
now at
Berlin (Winckler and Abel, ii. No. 30). It represents the Egyptian Menkhepru-(Ra)
or Thothmes IV.
2 The name is restored from the letter of
Dusratta in the Mitannian language (Winckler and Abel, i. p. 29, line 55). A
scarab of Amen6phis III states that in the tenth year of the Egyptian monarch,
Satarna king of Nahrina sent his daughter Kirgipa to Egypt with an escort of
317 maidens. 3 Literally ' ‘
like yourself. ’* _
4 Literally '' made illustrious." 6 Khdmcisi.
27. [and] a goblet ... of gold was given, which
I [despatched].
28. At last my daughter I gave [to him], and
when [I had] despatched her and when Nimmuriya thy father had seen1
'her,
29 he rejoiced with exceeding fulness, and my
brother
speaks as follows : “ In the joy of my heart
30. I will give her [all her desire]”; and he
caused her to
be united
publicly with his country2; and moreover my ambassador
31. [he honoured ?] like men . . . when he had
seen [him],
and he
honoured him, and ever did Nimmuriya
32. [place him] in the front rank; and since he
honoured
the
embassy, so among the houses which [he gave] to Tadukhepa
33. [my daughter, he placed] my [servants] all
of them, and
he made
(them) dwell round about3 and in the midst of my ambassadors, who
entered
34. [his country]. There was nothing which
Giliya [my
ambassador
did not obtain ?]: gold which he gave a thousandfold in weight
35. . . . Nimmuriya gave to [Tadu]khepa and
Tadukhepa
36. [gave to Giliya?] whatsoever he desired, and
[Giliya]
my
ambassador did Nimmuriya in friendship
37. [exalt and] honour: then [Nimmjuriya sent
Nisag his
ambassador
38. [on account of Tadukhepa] my darling sister,
and along
with
[Nisag] he sent slaves to my presence [and] objects of gold
3 9 of
gold .... of Giliya; and ever
4 0 [Nimmuriya]
returned my friendship, [and]
my
ambassadors
4 1 I
(?) did not send to the slaves
1 We must read itamar.
2 Literally “he performed the affiliation
of that (lady) in public with his country.”
3 Zikhkhirti for 'sikhirti. Sastu,
"he made dwell," is the pcrmansive Shaphel.
VOL. Ill G
4 2 among
the slaves when he sent
4 3 he
did not despatch to me, and ... I de
spatched ;
an object (?) it had not; and so
44. [Nimmfl]riya, thy father, in all the words
[he had], one
subject
for vexation did not leave.
45. [The words] which I speak, all of them, . .
. and a
wish I do
not utter. Teie
46. [knows the truth of] what I speak, and ask
Teie thy
[mother]
if among the words which I speak
47. (there is) one word of falsehood . . . him
did Nim-
mfiriya
thy father [honour ?], and
48. Nimmuriya thy father made brotherhood [and
league ?]
with me,
and Nimmfiriya thy father
49. did [not] say : At last the gold which [thou
desirest] I
have
forwarded1 to the land of Khani-rabbat; and when I went down and
50. he did not send the [gold which] I asked
for, [to]
future
[days] it was left in the keeping of Nim- mfiriya
51. thy [father]; and Nimmuriya said to [my]
envoy : Fur
niture
(and) objects of gold, a profusion of everything
52. [which] my brother has asked for, which was
left [here],
which [I
have agreed to give] and which my father agreed to give, I [now] send to you.
53 [And]
so Nimmuriya thy father never changed his word to a non-word;
54. [through what] he said in words never did he
cause vexation.
55- [Now]
they say that Nimmuriya has died,2 and what they have said
56. has distracted my heart,3 and I
wept on that day,|
57. [on my throne] I did [not] sit.4
Bread and water on
that day I
did not [take], and I was sad,
58. [and] I [said] : If he is dead, in the land
of my beloved
| We must
read u-sc-its-tsi. 2 Literally *' has gone to his destiny.1
3 Such seems to be the signification of
the text. The verb ultebsil is literally “caused to seethe." * [Af\tasab.
(sister)
and among my [servants] are the objects (of gold), and
59. [his son will succeed him ?], and he loves
me \ or if he
is alive
with the god1 and . . . , we love
60. [one another, and on] that account in our
hearts we are
[not]
distant (from each other).
61. [And now to] me the eldest son of Nimmuriya
by Teie
his wife
62. has made [offers of alliance and
brotherhood] and has
spoken
thus: Nimmfiriya is not dead
63. [since Napkhururi]ya [his] eldest son by
Teie his chief
wife
(sits) in his place and
64. will never at all alter [his] words from
their place (but
they shall
remain) as before.
65. [Now to] my [brother] I say as follows:
[Artat?]ama
my brother
whom we love in our hearts
66. [I have sent to? Napkhftriya] the son of
Nimmfiriya
his father
[whom I] honour on account of Teie his mother, who [was chief] wife
67. [of Nimmuriya] (and) loved (him) during the
reign of
(his)
father, in order that she may repeat (?) the words before Napkhuriya,
68. [even the words of Nimmu]riya her husband,
very
earnestly,
whom we love.
69. Since [Nimmuriya] formerly sent an embassy
to [me]
when he
dismissed Giliya, and
70. [further] sent Mane [as ambassador], and my
brother
despatched
objects of wood, and also gold
7 1 [saying]
that it (is) not gold and that I
have not
brought (it)
7 2 immediately
from before the king
1 It is unfortunate that the mutilation of
the text makes it impossihle to stale with certainty what is the context of
this interesting phrase.
73. Nimmd[riya] my brother forthwith [despatched
the
objectjs
which my brother gave to me,
74. [saying, Take it?] since I dig [the mines]
very labori
ously,
75 and I [answer] thus: Nimmuriya my brother
the
presents
76. despatched
[to me], which Napkhdriya my brother, whom [I love], has not increased ahove
him
7....................... 7 and what he despatched ; and since................
7....... 8 and
before Mane I was vexed
7........ 9
8 0 [the
presents] which my brother forwarded
and
8 1 [I
convened] my nobles, saying: With my
brother in
[friendship]
82. [I am united, as his fathers with] my
fathers in sooth
and with
his fathers
83. [my fathers; I have received] the gifts
which my
brother
has sent and
8 4 we
have rejoiced exceedingly and kept a
day of
festival.
8 5 he
fixed ourselves, and in the [time] of
night thou
thyself
X.—Letter of Dusratta to Amenophis III1
OBVF.RSE
1. [To] Nimmuriya the great king, the king
of Egypt,
[my]
brother,
2. my son-in-law, who loves me, and whom I
love
3. it is said as follows : Tusratta, the
great king, thy
father in
law
1 Budge, Proceedings, pll. i.-iv.
4. who loves thee, the king of Mittanni, thy brother.
5. Unto myself (is) peace; unto thee may
there be peace,
to thy
house,
6. to my sister,1 and to the rest
of thy wives, to thy sons,
7. to thy chariots, to thy horses, to thy
noble(s),
8. to thy country and to thy property may
there be
abundant
peace!
9. Until the time of thy fathers, they with
my fathers were in closest ro. alliance;2 since then thou hast
perfected3 (it), and with my father
11. wert in exceedingly close alliance.
12. Now thou, since (thou) and I love one
another,
13. hast established (it) ten times more than
in my father’s
time.
14. May the gods direct them,4 and
this our alliance
15. may Rimmon
6 my lord and Amanum 6
for ever as
now
16. confirm (?).
17. And when my brother sent Mane his
ambassador,
18. saying : O my brother, let thy daughter be
my wife
19. and mistress of the land of Egypt, I did not vex the
heart7
20. of my brother and spoke publicly according
to (his)
wish,8
21. and her whom my brother asked for I showed
to
Mane,
1 That is to say, his daughter Tadukhepa,
who being the wife of his ' * brother ' had thus become his sister.
2 Literally “loved.1’ 3 Literally
"fulfilled" (it).
a If the
copy is correct, Dusratta must have written ' ‘ them ” in mistake
for
"us.”
D Called
Tessubbe or Tessupa, in the language of Mitanni, as we learn from a letter of
Dusratta which is written in that dialect. The name is written Tessupa in an
Assyrian letter of Dusratta (W. 24. 79.)
6 The
Egyptian Amon. 7 So
Zimmern.
8 Annimd,
“favourably.’’ Dr. Zimmern renders ina panatimma
(“
publicly”) 1' in joy,” considering it to stand for ina banatimma.
22. and he saw her. When he had seen her he
much
approved1
of her;
23. and in peace in the country of my brother
may I know
her:
24. may Istar
and Amanum according to the
heart of
my brother
advise her !
25. Giliya my messenger reported unto me the
words of
my
brother.
26. When I heard (them) it was very good, I rejoiced
very
2 7. exceedingly saying : Verily unto me
has this favour
happened,2
and
28. whereas in consequence of the alliance that
(was) be
tween us
we loved (each other),
29. now in consequence of these words we shall
love (each
other) for
ever.
30. When I had sent to my brother and had said
thus :
As for me,
31. very exceedingly do we love (each other)
and in
alliance
32. we have been friendly; then to my brother I
said
thus : My
brother
33. has honoured me ten times above my father !
34. And I asked much gold of my brother saying :
Above
my father
35. may my brother set me and may my brother
send (it)
to me.
36. And to my father didst thou send much gold;
37. an oblation-dish of solid gold and a cup3
of solid gold
didst thou
send to him ;
38. a brick of gold like molten bronze didst
thou send to
me.
[. -1
Yuttehizzi’vcL correct Assyrian yuttehi's'si from nah&du, “ to honour. / 2
Literally,'" been made to enter.” 3
Sakharrahi.
39. I sent Giliyaon an embassy to my brother and
[much]
gold
40. I asked for saying : As for me may my
brother
41. above my father honour me, and much gold
42. which cannot be counted may he send me,
REVERSE
1. may my brother send me more than to my
father.
2. And then I said thus to my brother : Thy
standard,
3. which my grandfather made saying: As for
me, that
4. it may last I have painted the work
red(?), I have con
structed
(it) again for thee ;
5. and thereupon I further said : The gold
which my
brother
will send
6. let him send for the dowry.
7. Again my brother'sends gold (and) I say
thus :
8. The amount is much,1 for the
supply of the amount is
much ; and
unto the (fitting) quantity
9. it reaches, for thus it reaches exactly
unto the (fitting)
quantity;
10. and on this account I have rejoiced
greatly, and for
all
11. that my brother has sent for this I have
rejoiced ex
ceedingly.
12. Now again I send to my brother, and may my
brother
13. grant me friendship above what (he granted)
to my
father.
Now
r4. have I
asked gold of my brother, and the gold which of my brother
15. I have asked, has twice been asked for,2
once
16. because of thy standard and a second time
for the
dowry.
17. And, O my brother, gold in good earnest
which cannot
be counted
1 Mdius.
2 Literally, “ goes twice to be asked
for,”
18. may my brother send unto me, and may my
brother send more gold than (he sent) my father, r9. since in the midst of the
country of my brother gold is as plentiful as dust.
20. May the gods reveal1 it, and as
at present in the
country
21. of my brother gold is plentiful, so ten
times more than
at present
22. may he extract gold; and may the gold, which
I have
asked for,
in the heart of my brother
23. not cause vexation, and O my loved one, my
heart let
not my
brother
24. vex, but let my brother the gold which
cannot be
counted
25. in good earnest send unto me !
26. And whatsoever my brother desires let him
send for
to the
house where it is, and
27. let (the messenger) go and I will give the
present
which my
brother has asked for.
28. This country (is) my brother’s country, and
this house
(is) my
brother’s house.
29. Now I send my ambassador Giliya to my
brother, and
let my
brother
30. not detain him. Let him dismiss him with a
costly
present,
and let him go.
31. May I rejoice very exceedingly when I hear
of my
brother’s present;
32. may I hear for ever of my brother’s present.
33. And as for this letter2 which we
have sent may Rim-
mon 3 my lord
34. and Amanum4
direct them,6 and unto their destination
35. may they attain, and as (things are) at
present so may
they continue
with them.
1
Literally, “dismiss." 2
Literally, “words."
* Tessubbe in the language of Mitanni. 4 Amon.
15 The
seribe forgets that he has written the feminine cim&him in the preceding
line, and uses the masculine sunuti, as if “messengers" had been spoken
of.
36. As at present we love (one another), so, as
at present,
37. for ever may we love (one another)!
38. Now for a present to my brother, one goblet
of gold
set with
crystals
39. (around) its cup; one heavy necklace of 20
crystal beads,
and 19
(beads) of gold,
40. in its centre a crystal (amulet) encased in
gold; one
heavy
necklace of 42 khulalu stones
41. (and) 40 gold beads, the metal of which
(is) ... of
Istar, (in) its centre an (amulet) of khulalu stone cased in
gold ;
42. 10 pairs of horses ; 10 chariots of wood,
together with
their
furniture;
43. and 30 eunuchs I have sent for a present to
my
brother.
XI.—Letter of Dusratta to Amenophis IV1
OBVERSE
1. To Napkhurruriya the king of Egypt,
2. my brother, my son-in-law, who loves [me],
3. and (whom) I love, it is said
4. as follows : Dusratta, king of the country
of Mittani,
5. thy father-in-law, who loves thee, speaks
thus :
6. Unto myself (is) peace; unto thee may
there be peace,
7. unto thy houses, Teie thy motherland the
land of
Egypt,
8. to Tadukhepa my daughter, thy wife,
9. to the rest of thy wives, to thy sons, to
thy soldiers
10. and thy chariots, to thy horses, to thy
men,
11. to thy country and to all that thou hast,
may there be
very
abundant peace !
1 Sayce,
Proceedings of I he Society of Biblical Archeology, June 1889, PP- 5g9-39i-
12. Pirizzi and Pupri my ambassadors
13. I have sent to my brother to explain, and
14. have addressed them with great trouble and
earnest
ness,
15. and I have sent them in a body (?)1;
16. and this speech beforehand
17. I make to my brother : Mane, thy ambassador
r8. I detain, and Umeatu my messenger. . . .
19. I will dismiss, and the prophet2
shall go [to thee].
20. And now my brother to [their own land?]
21. has not permitted them to go, but has detained
them
2 2. overmuch. Wherefore has he not
23. protected the ambassadors? They have fled,
and
(there is)
guilt
24. on my brother in respect of the ambassadors.
Why is
his heart
25. [angered]? Why has he spoken (?) before the
face
of . . .
26 [Pup]ru
has not returned and he has spoken (?).
27. ... his offers of alliance he does not
listen to.
28. [Yet I,] O son-in-law, (am) verily thy
father-in-law.
Lacuna.
Last
paragraph:—
1. And as regards the frequent intercourse
which with
thy father
2. I had Teie thy mother knows the facts;
3. no one else knows the facts;
4. but after Teie thy mother thou knowest
them, and
5. what he said to thee. As thy father with
me
6. was friendly, so now, O my brother again
7. with me thou art friendly, and what (is)
contrary thereto
no one,
8. O my brother, listens to.
1 Mi'stisamma; but the reading is not
certain.
Translated
by G. Bertin
The tablet which contains the agricultural precepts is one of
the series called by the Babylonians, from the first line of the first tablet,
uludinebisu = ana itti- su} formerly read ki-kankala-bi-su = ana itti-su. This
collection, which must have contained at least ten or twelve tablets, was a
compendium of precepts and prescriptions written at an early date in Akkadian
for the guidance of the people in their various professions.2 The
work, as we know it from the fragments in the British Museum, is accompanied
with a Babylonian translation, probably of the time of Sargon of Agade; and the
fragments recovered are those of a Ninevite transcription made in the time of
Assurbanipal for his library.
The
tablets are divided, into two columns, the left- hand one giving the Akkadian
and the right-hand one the translation. The first six tablets and part of the
seventh contained what may be called the comment-
1 E. G. Pinches.
2 S. B. A., vol. viii. part 2; Akkadian
Precepts, pp. 4 and 5.
ary, that
is, the list of the most difficult words and expressions, with explanations or
translations. The notion, strange at first sight, of beginning with the commentary,
appears natural when we bear in mind that these works were the text-books of
the Babylonians, which they had to copy in order to master their complicated
system of writing and the literary Akkadian language1; the text-book
therefore began, as in our reading-books for children, with simple expressions
or isolated words ; the learner having acquired these, next undertook and
understood without difficulty the connected text.
These
tablets contained no laws, as has been sometimes stated, but precepts drawn,
perhaps by a philosopher like Confucius or Mencius, from the customs and usages
of the time. The seventh tablet contained “ Precepts for a man in his private
life.” 2 The agricultural precepts covered no doubt more than one
tablet; the only one we possess is partly mutilated, and, the colophon being
lost, we do not know what place exactly it occupied in the collection. What we
possess, however, strange to say, has never been entirely published; the
fragments found at first were published by the trustees of the British
1 An exercise book (on clay) has been
found in which some parts of these tablets have been copied three times over
for practice ; this fragment of a copy-book is now in the British Museum.
2 XV. A. /., ii. pi. io, and v. pis. 24
and 25. It is the tablet which revealed to me the real character of this
collection. See my paper which contains a translation of it; it must be
remembered that our knowledge of Akkadian has made great progress since its
publication. A mutilated tablet of '' Commercial Precepts," which belong
probably to the same collection, is published, W. A. /., ii. pi. 13.
Museum,1
and a fragment found afterwards was published by Dr. Haupt.2 No
complete translation of the fragments has been attempted,3 no doubt
because the tablet was considered to be a list of unconnected words and
sentences ; some of the paragraphs have, however, been incidentally explained
in order to support the interpretation of other texts.4
In the
following translation the Akkadian has been taken as the standard text, but it
has often been necessary to follow the Babylonian translation. Some parts of
the translation are doubtful, partly on account of the mutilated state of the
text and partly because, as many words are not found anywhere else, we have no means
of testing their signification,5 and some paragraphs are still
obscure.
1 W. A. I., ii. pis. 14 and 15.
2 Keilschrifttexte, p. 74. In the same
publication Dr. Haupt has also republished the two first columns, pp. 71-73 ;
it is difficult to see why he has not also republished the other parts, so as
to make the publication complete.
3 Prof. Sayce has given in the Records of
the Past, vol. xi. p. 153, the translation of the fourth column nearly
complete.
4 The difficult passages have been
generally omitted, and in the vocabularies already made public many words
found in these texts are left out.
5 I may also state that the transition is
free, as my object is to give the meaning of the text and not that of the
isolated words ; I reserve the discussion of the words for a critical paper,
where the text can be reproduced.
COLUMN I
(First
paragraph lost.)
II. In the sixth month1 of the year,
he (the agriculturist) marks his establishment.
III. He agrees about the covenant.
IV. He completes the wording of the covenant.
V. He collects his tax-gift and surrounds
the field with hedges. .
VI. He brings together the gazelles (his flock)
and gathers the birds.
VII. [He is to work] from dawn to dusk.
VIII. When the time of the working of the field
comes, he ploughs, rakes, and divides it.
IX. For every sixty measures of grain the farmer
takes eight measures, wheat produce, straw in stokes, grain thrashed and
winnowed.
X. Field of half. In this case a field of
culture is merely for culture.
XI. He (the agriculturist) goes as associate to
his associate.
XII. He
ploughs the field, he keeps his seeds, he takes the birds together, and gathers
manure.
XIII. He waters the field and multiplies the seeds.
1 Only the
Akkadian text of this paragraph remains ; it is interesting to
note that
the month is designated by a number, as in some of the omen and astronomical
tablets.
XIV. When the time of working the field comes he
ploughs and rakes it, and the overseer reports to the lord of the field.
XV. Field of partnership. He (the agriculturist)
takes a field of partnership with the lord of the field.
XVI. Everything is made equal and on the same foot
ing; man
as man, house as house, seed as seed.
XVII. When the time of working (reaping)
comes, the
master
sends from his place as help a long cart, an ox for thrashing the corn; and the
corn of the field . . .
(One
paragraph lost.)
COLUMN II
(Three
paragraphs lost.)
IV. He draws water1 for the field . .
.
V. He takes possession of the field.
VI. He fences with sticks the ground to be ploughed.
VII. He has the field ploughed and rakes it.
VIII. He waters it once and twice.
IX. He fixes hooks for the pails for drawing
water.
X When the
time of working comes, in a field of fifths the farmer takes one part.
XI. As for the other divisions, he takes the
percentage according to the division.
XII. In a field of a third, he takes a third.
XIII In a
field of a fourth, he takes a fourth.
XIV. In a field of a fifth, he takes a fifth.
XV. In a field of a tenth, he takes a tenth.
1 The
paragraph is mutilated, it may refer to the establishment of some irrigating
instrument.
XVI. As for the tithe, he gives one part as tithe
to the palace.
(One
paragraph lost.)
(Reverse.)—column in
I. Of property.
II. Various kinds of divisions (or land
tenures): division of half, division of a third, division of a fourth, division
of a fifth, division of a tenth, division with a tithe.
III. Furnitures and fixtures :
furniture
of the palace, fences,
sticks for
fences,
poles,
threshold,
ploughing instruments,
ploughing instruments of the field, poles of the plantation.
IV. Enclosure {or garden):
enclosure
of the palace, enclosure of the lord, enclosure of the associate.
V. He (the agriculturist) marks the limit of
his garden.
VI. He indicates the limit of the garden by
means of boundary stones.1
VII. He plants date-trees in it.
VIII. He waters the young plants.
IX. He strengthens the walls.
X. He completes the paling of the garden.
1 Or
palings.
XI. The lord of the garden may give to the
farmer his dismissal.
XII. He pulls up the paling of the garden.
XIII. He extends one enclosure to the other.
XIV. He strengthens the walls.
XV. On the thirtieth of the eighth month,1
in fine weather.
XVI. At the time of drying dates.
XVII. At the time of pulling off the paling.
XVIII. In order to quit himself he delivers to
the lord of the plantation two-thirds of the dates.
XIX. He
takes a fixed amount and he sends in money the amount of the produce of the
date-trees.
(A
paragraph lost.)
COLUMN IV
I. He makes secure the door and the gate.
II. The servants’ (or working) house and the
dwelling house [also].
III. He establishes for a dwelling his dwelling
house
as such.
IV. Until the house is built, he prepares the
beams
and makes
the foundations.
V. He gathers together the beams which have
been ' cut.
VI. He arranges in rows the chief beams.
VII. He strengthens the old house with bricks and
sets up the uprights.
VIII. When he does not work in the fields, he works
in the house.
IX. He makes a small house in the middle of the
garden.
X. He lays down the intermediary wall of his
foundation.
XI. He puts a roof over the wall he has devised.
XII. He makes first the house of the man.
1 In
Akkadian the month Apin.
VOL. Ill H
XIII. Let him hold himself cautioned once and twice,
even if he
is not told so.
XIV. He works and toils for himself.
XV. He pays the wages at the time of the
cessation of work.
XVI. If his wall is not constructed strongly, he
must not set up props.
XVII. The house of comfort must be a house
for his comfort.
XVIII. He makes a house as a (proper) house for
a man, as (becoming to) a man.
XIX. If the house is not arranged as a proper
house, he shall pay a fine of ten shekels.
(Two or
more paragraphs and the colophon are lost.)
The tablet
from which the above is a translation is of great importance as giving us
information and particulars as to the system of land tenure and cultivation of
the land in the early Akkadian period. The tablet speaks first of the simple
tenure, and it shows (Paragraph II) that the tenure was to begin legally from
the sixth month, that is the Babylonian Ululu. The end of that month is no
doubt meant, and it would tend to confirm the opinion that at an earlier date
Tisritu was the first and Ululu the last month of the year, though the
Babylonians might have had an agricultural year, as we have a financial year, a
scholastic or university year, etc. After having chosen the farm and agreed to
the conditions of the contract, the first step of the farmer was to determine
his position towards the treasury, for, among the Babylonians as among us, the
payment of the taxes is a proof of the legality of the holding.
After that
the farmer had to gather hts live stock. The tablet says “ gazelles,’' and so
carries us back to the earliest period, for the ox and sheep did not come
originally from Babylonia, and the first animal domesticated there must have
been a kind of gazelle which was found wild in the country. In the tablet,
however, the word “ gazelle ” is no doubt taken to mean any kind of quadruped;
in the same way the word “ birds ” designates here domesticated birds,— doves,
ostriches, and at a later period hens, which were introduced a long time before
the Persian conquest.1 Being once established in his farm, he is to
give all his time to it.
After
these preliminaries about tenure in general come the specifications about the
various kinds of tenure. The first spoken of is the tenure by half, as it is
called; it appears to signify the properties which used to belong half to the
lord and half to the peasant who was attached to the soil as serf. In that case
the farmer worked for his master, he kept the live stock and the seeds, but
everything was controlled by the agent of the landllord. In the field of
partnership, on the contrary, the landlord was placed on the same footing as
his tenant; if the latter gave his labour, the former had to provide him with
the material, implements, utensils, stock, grain, seeds, etc.
After a
lacuna of a few paragraphs the tablet
1 I have found on a Babylonian contract
tablet, two centuries older than Cyrus, the representation of a cock.
speaks of
the various works to be performed by the agriculturist or farmer. The tenure of
a fifth, or the tenure in which the farmer took a fifth of the produce for
himself, was probably the most common in early times, and for this reason is
mentioned here ; but we also get an account of the percentage to be taken in
the other sorts of tenure. To understand this we must suppose that the
character of the tenure depended on the quality of the land; in very bad land
the farmer was obliged to take a third of the produce to be able to subsist and
be prepared for the next season.
The first
paragraphs of Column III are devoted to what might be termed “ legal
specification." They enumerate the various sorts of tenure, what are furnitures
and fixtures, and the four sorts of garden, probably private gardens
independent of the farm land. Then we are told about the general field work to
be performed independently of the growing of seeds. The farmer may dissolve
partnership or resign his contract at the end of the eighth month or
Marcheswan, in fine weather, or at the time of drying the dates, or when the
palings are to be pulled out, but only on certain conditions.
Column IV
speaks of the works to be performed independently of the field works, and
contains very interesting statements ; for instance, the farmer was obliged to
construct first the house of his workmen ; we are even told that if the house
is not constructed properly he will have to pay a fine. It is also stated
that the
farmer must pay his men when the work is finished.
Part of
Paragraph XIX'and the colophon are lost at the end of the fourth column, but it
is probable that these precepts covered at least another tablet.
Before closing
it is needful to remark again that the tablet of agricultural precepts did not
contain laws but only precepts ; in the time of the Babylonian Empire these
were no doubt consulted by the lawyers, but the progress of civilisation had
rendered some of the prescriptions impracticable, and, as is shown by the
contract tablets recovered from Babylon, the laws of land tenure had become
much more complicated.
Translated by the Rev. C. J. Ball
Whether we suppose that this famous relic of the past embodies
the ipsissima verba of the great king, in whose name and by whose orders, at
all events, it was written and graven in imperishable stone; or that it is the
set panegyrical composition of some one of the literary men of his brilliant
court; will make little difference to the deep interest which such a monument
must always inspire in the minds of thoughtful readers of the prophecies of
Jeremiah and the picturesque traditions of the book of Daniel. Here we have an
unquestionable relic of the age of the fall of the Jewish monarchy and the
brilliant sunset of Hebrew prophecy : an authentic record, preserved almost
intact in its original shape, of the very sovereign whom Jeremiah declared to
be Jehovah’s chosen servant, and whom, consequently, it was Judah’s duty as
well as highest political wisdom to obey. And not only this. The inscription
paints for us in unfading colours a portrait of the man Nebuchadrezzar; it
exhibits in the vivid light of
actuality
his pride of place and power and greatness, his strong conviction of his own
divine call to universal empire, his passionate devotion to his gods, his
untiring labours for their glory and the aggrandisement of that peerless
capital which was their chosen dwelling-place.
The style
of the inscription is elevated almost to the level of poetry ; and the
phraseology often recalls familiar expressions of the Old Testament. If I have
not noted all such coincidences as they occurred, it was because I felt that
they were too obvious and striking for even a cursory reader to miss.
In
correcting my former version (Proc. Soc. Bibl. Arch., Dec. 1887) I have, of
course, made use of the other inscriptions of the king. The beautifully written
cylinder, numbered 85-4-30. 1, Brit. Mus., has supplied several important
corrections of the text. (See Proc. Soc. Bibl. Arch., March 1889.)
Some of
the Accadian ideograms and words I have succeeded in explaining and
illustrating by means of their Chinese representatives, as will be seen from
the notes (cp. my papers in Proc. Soc. Bibl. Arch., entitled The New Accadian).
Column I
1. Nebuchadrezzar
2. king of Babylon,
3. the prince exalted, '
4. the favourite of Merodach,
5. the pontiff supreme,
6. the beloved of Nebo,
7. the serene, the possessor of wisdom,
8. who the way of their godhead
9. regardeth,
1 o. who
feareth their lordship ;
11. the servant1 unwearied,
12. who for the maintenance2
13. of Esagilla
and Ezida3
14. daily bethought him, and
15. the weal of Babylon
16. and Borsippa
1 Or minister, i.e. of the gods. The
Accadian ideogram isfoot + man; somewhat like the Chinese foot+Jirm,
pronounced kdn (= kfn), "a servant." But Chinese actually possesses
an identical ideogram in the term fu (=bu or ha), " to sit in
state,” "to make a low obeisance," "to sit cross-legged in
worship ” ; a character compounded of foot + man. David "sat before the
Lord” in prayer (2 Sam. vii. 18). This, at least, favours the opinion that
sagganakku or sakkanakku meant a priestly rather than a secular
personage ; and that when Sargon called himself sagganak Bdiili, he meant not
‘' Machthaber," but "high-priest of Babylon.”
2 Literally "fillings,” "filler”
(zan&nu is a synonym of maid, Rich Cyl. i. 17, 18).
3 The chief temples of Babylon and
Borsippa. E-sagilla, the temple of Bel - Merodach, also contained a shrine
dedicated to Nebo, called " E-zida of E-sagilla " (Cyl. A.H.,
82-7-14. 1042, col. i. 31).
17. regardeth ever;
18. the wise, the prayerful,
19. the maintainer1 of Esagilla and Ezida,
20. the chiefest son
21. of Nabopalassar,
22. king of Babylon,
am I.
23. After that the lord my god had created me,
24. that Merodach
had framed
25. the creature in the mother;
26. when I was born,
27. when I was created, even I,
28. the holy places of the god I regarded,
29. the way of the god I walked in.
30. Of Merodach,
the great lord, the god my creator,
31. his cunning works
32. highly do I extol.
33. Of Nebo,
his true son,
34. the beloved of my majesty,
35. the way of his supreme godhead
36. steadfastly do I exalt;
37. with all my true heart
38. I love the fear of their godhead,
39. I worship their lordship.
40. When Merodach,
the great lord,
41. lifted up the head of my majesty and
42. with lordship over the multitude of peoples
invested
me; and
43. Nebo, the
overseer of the multitude of heaven and
earth,
44. for the governing of the peoples
45. a righteous sceptre
46. placed in my hands :
47. for me, of them I am heedful,
48. I have regard unto their godhead;
49. for the mention of their glorious name,
50. I worship the god and Ishtar.2
1 Literally "fillings,"
"filler” (sandnu is a synonym of maU, Rich Cyl. i. 17, 18).
2 The cylinder 85-4-30. 1, establishes
this reading of the ideogram.
51. To Merodach
my lord I made supplication,
52. prayers to him I undertook, and
53. the word which my heart looked for,
S 4. to him I spake :
55. “Of old, O prince, lord of all that is !
56. for the king whom thou lovest, and
57. whose name thou callest,
58. that to thee is pleasing;
59. thou leadest him aright,1
60. a straight path thou appointest him.
61. I am a prince obedient unto thee,
62. a creature of thy hands;
63. thou it was that madest me, and
64. with sovereignty over the multitude of the
peoples
65. didst invest me ;
66. according to thy goodness, O Lord,
67. wherewith thou crownest
68. all of them.
69. Thy lordship supreme do thou make loving,2
and
70. the fear of thy godhead
71. cause thou to be in my heart!
72. Yea, grant that to thee is pleasing,
Column II
1. for my life truly thou makest.’'
2. Himself, the leader glorious,
3. the open-eyed of the gods, the prince Merodach,
4. my supplications heard and
5. received my prayers.
6. Yea, he made gracious his supreme
lordship,
7. the fear of his godhead
8. he implanted in my heart;
9. to draw his car (?)3
1 Literally “thou directest his
name."
2 Cp. ii. 6. The meaning is, 11
Show thyself kind or gracious. ”
3 Cp. the words of Assurbanipal: ’1
The yoke, the wood (= implement) of drawing, I made them (the conquered kings)
put on ; to the temple they drew beneath me” (i.e. drew me in my chariot): 5 R.
10.29.30a. See also Phillipp's Cyl., i. 11, 12. "Unto Merodach ... I
reverently submitted ; to draw his car I bowed the neck and I, 61, below.
i o. he made me submit the heart;
11. I worshipped his lordship.
12. In his high trust,1
13. to far-off lands,
14. distant hills,
15. from the Upper Sea
16. to the Lower Sea,2
17. immense journeys,
18. blocked ways,
19. a place where the path is broken,
20. feet are not;
21. a road of hardships,
22. a journey of straits,
23. I pursued, and
24. the unyielding I reduced,
25. I fettered the rebels.
26. The land I ordered aright, and
27. the people I made to thrive ;
28. bad and good
29. among the people I removed.3
30. Silver, gold, glitter of precious stones,
31. copper, mismakanna-ytooA, cedar
32. what thing soever is precious,
33. a large abundance ;
34. the produce of mountains,
35. the fulness of seas,
36. a rich present,
37. a splendid gift,
38. to my city of Babylon
39. into his presence I brought.
40. In Esagilla,
41. the palace of his lordship,
42. I wrought repairs.4
43. Ekua, the cell
1 Or, lofty confidence. The word tukultu
coincides in form and meaning with the
Ethiopic tukelt, “trust," "confidence,” “hope”; and “his trust” is equivalent to “ trust in him” (obj. genit.)
2 [Lake Van and the Persian Gulf.—Ed.]
3 Or, deported,
carried away, cp. 2 Kings xvii. 6.
4 Literally “fillings," as at i. 12.
.
44. of the lord of the gods, Merodach,
45. I made to glisten like suns
46. the walls thereof;
47. with large gold,
48. like rubble (?) stone,1
49. with uknft2 and alabaster,
50. the habitation of the house I overlaid.
51. The gate Khilisu,
even the Beautiful Gate,
52. and the gate of Ezida (and) Esagilla,
53. I had them made brilliant as the sun.
54. The bright seat, the place of them that
determine
destinies,
55. which is the Quarter of Assembly, the chapel
of
the Fates,
56. wherein, at Zagmuku,3
the opening of the year,
57. on the 8th day (and) the nth day,
58. the divine king, the god of heaven (and)
earth, the
lord of
heaven,
59. taketh up his abode;
60. the gods of heaven (and) earth
61. with awe submit unto him ;
62. they bow, they take their stand before him ;
63. a destiny of enduring days,
64. as the destiny of my life,
65. they predestine in the midst (thereof):—■
Column III
1. that chapel, a chapel of majesty,
2. the chapel of the lordship
1 I only guess the meaning of imt&
from the context. Solomon ‘1 made silver to be in Jerusalem as
stones/’ i Kings x. 27. Is imttt a noun of the form ikribu, from the root
matti, ‘'to strike,” *' break "( = lal)
?? Some common material must be meant ; but unfortunately the reading
"stone" is not certain. (See Amiaud and M£chineau, Tabl. Comp., No.
145 note.)
2 The Accadian zagin is a compound term,
denoting simply " bright,”
11 pure,” "white," and as such
might be applied to various valuable stones, such as jade, jasper, onyx, and
other veined and coloured quartzose stones, of which uknft may have been a
specific kind.
3 From the Aeeadian ZAG, "head,” i.e.
beginning, and Mu, ‘'year,”
3. of the open-eyed of the gods, the prince Merodach,
4. whose fabric a former king
5. in silver had fabricated,
6. with shining gold, a splendid decoration,
7. I overlaid it.
8. The vessels of the house Esagilla
9. with large gold,—
1 o. the Bark of Merodach with Zarirti-stones,—
11. I made bright,
12. as the stars of the heavens.
13. The temples of Babylon
14. I made, I filled.
15. Of Etimmen-ana-ki
1
16. in burnt brick (and) fine uknti stone,
17. I reared its summits.
18. To make Esagilla
19. my heart lifted me up2;
20. in chief have I regarded it.
21. The choicest of my cedars,
22. which from Lebanon,
23. the noble forest, I brought,
24. for the roofing of Ekua,
25. the cell of his lordship,
26. I looked out, and my heart vowed.3
27. The huge cedar-beams
28. for the roofing of Ekua
29. with shining gold I overlaid.
30. The panels under the cedar of the roofing
31. with gold and precious stones
32. I made bright.
33. For the making of Esagilla
34. daily I besought
35. the King of the gods, the Lord of lords.
36. Borsippa the city
of his abode
37. I beautified, and
1 [Meaning, in Accadian, 11
The_house of the foundation-stone of heaven
and earth.1’—Ed.]
2 This phrase is found in
Hebrew, Exod. xxxv. 21-26. ^
3 Literally "spake," “sware”;
i.e. resolved to devote them to this use.
38. Ezida,
the Eternal House,
39. in the midst thereof I made.
40. With silver, gold, precious stones,
41. copper, mismakanna-'NQoA,1
cedar-wood,
42. I finished the work of it.
43. The cedar of the roofing
44. of the cells of Nebo
45. with gold I overlaid.
46. The cedar of the roofing of the gate of Nana,
47. I overlaid with shining silver.
48. The bulls, the leaves of the gate of the
cell,
49. the lintels, the bars, the bolt,2
50. the door-sill,3 ZarirA-stone.
51. The cedar of the roofing 5 2. of its chambers (?)4
53. with silver I made bright.
54. The path to the cell,
55. and the way to the house,
5 6. (was of) glazed (?) brickwork.
57. The seat of the chapel therein
58. (was) a work of silver.
59. The bulls, the leaves of the gates,
60. with plates of bronze (?),
61. brightly I made to glisten.
62. The house I made gloriously bright, and,
63. for gazings (of wonder),
64. with carved work6 I had (it)
filled.
65. The temples of Borsippa
1
Mismakanna or Mishmakanna, which looks like " Makan-wood," Makan
being the Sinaitic Peninsula, or perhaps the east side of the Delta (see Sayce,
Hibbert Lectures, p. 31, note 2), is perhaps the origin of the Biblical
shikmtm, Amos vii. 14 (St. Luke xvii. 6).
2,The
ideogram is (GIS) ES-GAN-ru, shoot + bar + long. The last character, ru, is
explained "to be long, of a pole." It is composed of the signs U,
earth + GU, ox; like the Chinese man, mu, "bolt," "sliding part
of a lock," a character compounded of ox + earth (ngu + du).
8 With the
Accadian kana, cp. Chinese kan,
and k'an, 11 threshold,” "door-sill," sometimes fixed,
sometimes movable.
1 Perhaps related to
the Heb. debtr, or inmost recess of the temple.
5 With lulfi., which is
probably of Accadian origin, cp. the Chinese lau,
old lu,
"to carve," and luh, luk, ditto.
66. I made, I filled.
67. Of the House of the Seven Spheres of Heaven
and
Earth,
68. in burnt bricks, (and) gleaming uknA stone,
69. I reared the heads thereof.
70. The Bark of the river of Gan-ulu,1
71. the car of his princeliness
Column IV
1. the Bark of the Way of Zagmuku,
2. the festival of Babylon,
3. its sides
4. (and) the pavilion within it,
5. I overlaid
6. with Ttrisassfi-stone.
7. The House of the Drink-offering, the
exalted resting-
place
8. of the lord of the gods, Merodach,
9. the master of the revels and rejoicings
10. of the Igigi
and the Anunnaki,2
11. on the ramparts of Babylon,
12. with bitumen and burnt brick
13. mountain-high I erected.
14. the great house, E-dimmer-nin-khar-shagga,
15. in the heart of Babylon,
16. for the Great Goddess, the Mother that made
me,
17. in Babylon
I built.
18. For Nebo,
the exalted Messenger,
19. who bestowed a righteous sceptre
20. for governing all habitable places,
2r. E-shapa-kalama-simma, his house,
22. in Babylon,
23. with bitumen and burnt brick
24. I constructed the structure thereof.
25. For Sin,3
that brighteneth
1 Apparently this means “perennial
abundance,” or “flow."
2 [The spirits of heaven and earth.—Ed.]
3 The Moon-god. Sin means “bright."
26. my boundary walls,
27. E-gishshir-gal, his
house,
28. in Babylon
I made.
29. For Shamash, the Judge Supreme,
30. who putteth the righteous purpose 1
in my mind,
31. E-sakud-kalama, his
house,
32. in Babylon,
33. with bitumen and brick
34. loftily I made.
35. For Rimmon,2
who causeth abundance
36. in my land, E-nam-ghe,
his house,
37. in Babylon,
I built.
38. For Gula that spareth,
39. that fostereth my life,
40. E-sa-bad,
E-kharsagella,
41. her houses in Babylon,
42. with bitumen and burnt brick
43. in fair wise I built.
44. For the Dame of the House of Heaven,
45. the lady that loveth me,
46. Ekikukus, her
house,
47. in the purlieus of the wall of Babylon
48. loftily I made.
49. For the Son of the House, that shattereth
50. the sword of my foes,
51. his house in Borsippa I made.
52. For Gula,
the Lady
53. that maketh whole my flesh,
54. Egula, Etilla,
Ezibatilla,
55. her three temples,
56. in Borsippa
I made.
57. For Rimmon,
that raineth
58. the rain of plenty in my land,
59. his house in Borsippa
60. in fair wise I built.
1 The Accadian terms alam SHIG mean “bright or pure image,'
and so “pure, right thought, desire, or design." Cp. the old ChineseAiw
“to see, perceive," lam, “desirous,” and shing “bright," “pure,1
* * holy. ’ ’ 2 [The Air-god. —Ed.
]
61. For Sin,
that lifteth1 the snare
62. of my welfare,
63. E-dim-anna,
his house,
64. at the side of the precinct of Ezida
65. splendidly I made.
66. Imgur-bel
67. and Nimitti-bel,
68. the great ramparts of Babylon 2
69. which Nabopolassar,
70. king of Babylon,
the father that begot me,
71. had made and not finished
72. the work of them ;
Column V
1. whose moat he had dug, and
2. the two strong walls
3. with bitumen and burnt brick
4. had constructed along its bank;
5. the dykes of the Arakhtu3
6. had made, and
7. a fence of burnt brick
8. (on) the other side of Euphrates
9. had constructed, and
10. had not finished
11. the rest;
12. from the Bright Seat,
13. the place of them that determine destinies,
14. the shrine of the Fates,
15. unto A-ibur-shabu,
16. the causeway of Babylon,
17. before the Gate of Beltis,
18. with brick (and) tur-mina-banda 4
stone,
1 Or, “ beareth away," “removeth ”:
cp. Sarg. Cyl. 57, where the
same god
is called “exposer of snares,” and Ps. xci. 3.
2 The river of Babylon. 3 See Herod, i. 180.
4 This Accadian term recurs, with a
different initial sign, in line 43. Those who know the difficulty of
identifying the precious stones and trees mentioned in the Old Testament will
not he surprised to find that similar difficulties exist in cuneiform
documents. It may be that the material here mentioned (lines 18, 43) is only
some kind of glazed or coloured brick, with a double determinative prefix
[brick + stone).
VOL. Ill I
19. along the way of the great lord Merodach
20. he beautified the road.
2r. As for
me, his eldest son,
22. the beloved of his heart,
23. Iiigur-bel
24. and Nimitti-bel,
! 25. the
great ramparts of Babylon,
26. I finished;
27. beside the scarp of its moat,
28. the two strong walls,
29. with bitumen and burnt brick I built, and
30. with the wall (which) my father had
constructed,
31. I joined (them), and
32. the city, for cover,
33. I carried (them) round.
34. A wall of burnt brick,
35. at the ford of the setting sun,
36. the rampart of Babylon
37. I threw around.
38. A-bur-shabu,
39. the causeway of Babylon,
40. for the way of the great lord Merodach, 1 4r. to a high elevation
42. I raised,1 and
43. with brick (and) dar-mina-banda stone,
44. and stone, the work 2 of
mountains,
45. A-ibur-shabO,
46. from the Shining Gate
47. to Ishtar
that hurleth down them that assail her,
48. for the way of his godhead
49. I made fair, and
50. with what my father had done 5r. I connected
(it), and
52. I beautified
53. the road
54. of Ishtar,
that hurleth down
55. them that assail her.
1 Literally "with a high filling I
filled up." Cp. the Latin expression agger viae, 2 i.e. yield, or produce.
56. Of Imgur-bel
57. and Nimitti-bel
58. the portals, on both sides,
59. through the raising
60. of the causeway of Babylon
61. had become low
62. in their entries :
63. those portals
64. I pulled down, and
Column VI
1. over against the water their foundation
2. with bitumen and burnt brick
3. I firmly laid, and
4. with burnt brick (and) gleaming nknfi
stone,
5. whereof bulls and dreadful serpents
6. were made, the interior of them1
7. cunningly I constructed.
8. Strong cedar beams
9. for the roofing of them
10. I laid on.
11. Doors of cedar
12. (with) plating of bronze,
13. lintels and hinges,
14. copper-work, in its gates
15. I set up.
r6. Strong bulls of copper,
17. and dreadful serpents, standing upright,
18. on their thresholds I erected :
19. those portals,
20. for the gazings of the multitude of the
people,
21. with carven work I caused to be filled.
22. As an outwork 2 for Imgur-bel,
23. the wall of Babylon,
unapproachable,
1 Or perhaps, ‘‘the interior of them,
which was made with (or into) bulls and dreadful serpents, cunningly I
constructed." The relative clause sometimes precedes its antecedent.
2 Cp. viii. 42 ; ix. 40. The Accadian gin me denotes that which turns back
battle (gin = t&ru, ws. =
takh&zu), in this case an outer wall.
24. (what no king before me had done ;)
25. at four thousand cubits off,
26. on the flanks of Babylon
27. from afar unapproachable,
28. a mighty rampart, at the ford of the
sunrising,
29. Babylon
I threw around.
30. Its moat I dug, and the bank of it
31. with bitumen and brick
32. I bound together, and
33. the mighty rampart on the marge of it
34. mountain-high I built.
35. Its portals broad
36. I constructed, and
37. the doors in cedar, with plating of bronze,
38. I set them up.
39. That foes might not present1 the
face,
40. the bounds of Babylon might not approach ;
4r. great
waters,
42. like the volume of the sea,
43. the land I carried round, and
44. the crossing of them
45. (was) like the crossing of the great sea,
46. of the briny flood.
47. An outburst of that within them
48. not to suffer to befal,
49. with a bank of earth
50. I embanked them, and
51. walls of kiln-brick
52. I threw around them.
53. The ward skilfully
54. did I strengthen, and
55. the city of Babylon
56. I made a fortress.
57. DhAbi-suburshu,
58. the wall of Borsippa,
59. anew I made.
60. Its moat I dug, and
1 Reading
la balil; see Proc. Soc. Bit I. Arch,, March 1889. Col. iii, 30 (la ba-bi-il).
61. with bitumen and burnt brick
62. I fenced its bank.
63. Nebuchadrezzar,
Column VII
1. king of Babylon,
2. whom Merodach,
the great Lord,
3. for the weal of his city
4. Babylon did call,
am I.
5. Esagilla and Ezida
6. like the brilliance of the sun I made
shine.
7. The temples of the great gods
8. like day I made bright.
9. Formerly, from the days of yore
10. to the reign
11. of Nabopalassar, king of Babylon,
12. the father that begot me,
13. the many kings my predecessors,
14. whose name the god
15. named for the sovereignty ;
16. in their favourite cities,
17. in a place they determined on,
18. palaces they built themselves,
19. they set up their abode.
20. Their wealth within 2r. they heaped up;
22. they piled their substance.
23. On the feast of Zagmuku,
24. the merrymaking of the lord of the gods,
Merodach,
25. they entered Babylon.
26. From the time that Merodach created me,
27. for sovereignty;
28. (from the time that) Nebo his true son
29. committed his subjects (tp me);
30. like dear life
31. love I the building of their lodging-place
:
32. Besides Babylon
and Borsippa,
33. I did not beautify a city.
34. In Babylon,
35. my favourite city, which I love,
36. the palace, the house of the gazings of the
people,
37. the bond of the country,
38. the splendid mansion,
39. the abode of royalty,
40. in the land of Babylon,
41. that is in the midst of Babylonia,
42. from Imgur-bel
43. to Libil-khegalla,
44. the canal of the sunrising,
45. from the bank of the Euphrates
46. to A-ibur-shabO
;
47. which Nabopalassar
48. king of Babylon,
the father who begot me,
49. with sun-dried brick had erected, and
50. dwelt therein;
51. by the waters of a flood
52. its foundation was weakened, and
53. through the raising
54. of the causeway of Babylon,
55. of that palace
5 6. low had become the gates of it:
57. its walls of1 sun-dried brick
58. I pulled down, and
59. its record I uncovered, and
60. the bottom of the water I reached;
61. over against the water its foundation
62. I firmly laid, and
63. with bitumen and burnt brick
Column
VIII
1. I reared it high
2. as the wooded hills.
1 Literally “ a substance of.'
|
3- |
Stout
cedars for the roofing of it |
|
4- |
I laid
on. |
|
5- |
Doors of
cedar |
|
6. |
(with) a
plating of bronze, |
|
7- |
sills
and hinges |
|
8. |
of
copper-work, in its gates |
|
9- |
I set
up. |
|
10. |
Silver,
gold, precious stones, |
|
11. |
everything
that is prized, |
|
12. |
is
magnificent; |
|
13- |
substance,
wealth, |
|
14. |
the
ornaments of majesty, |
|
15- |
I heaped
up within it; |
|
16. |
strength,
splendour, |
|
i7- |
royal
treasure, |
|
18. |
I
hoarded within it. |
|
19. |
Because
the establishment of my royalty |
|
20. |
in
another city |
|
21. |
my heart
loveth not; |
|
22. |
in no
dwelling-places |
|
23- |
built I
an abode of lordship: |
|
24. |
riches
(and) the ornaments of royalty, |
|
25- |
I place
not |
|
26. |
among
the lands. |
|
27. |
In Babylon, |
|
28. |
a stead
for my abode, |
|
29. |
for the
insignia of my royalty, |
|
3°- |
was not
to be found. |
|
Si- |
For that
the fear of Merodach my lord |
|
32- |
was in
my heart, |
|
33- |
in Babylon, |
|
34- |
his
fenced city, |
|
35- |
to make
large |
|
36. |
the seat
of my royalty, |
|
37- |
his
street I altered not, |
|
33. |
his
chapel I demolished not, |
|
39- |
his
canals I filled not up ; |
|
40- |
a stead
far and wide |
|
41- |
I looked
for. |
42. For an outwork 1
43. to Imgur-bel,
44. the wall of Babylon,
unapproachable,
45. at 490 cubits off,
46. on the flanks of Nimitti-bel,
47. The outer wall of Babylon,
48. for cover
49. of the two strong walls,
50. with bitumen and burnt brick
Sr. a
rampart mountain-like I made. And
52. betwixt them
53. a structure of burnt brick I constructed,
and
54. on the top of it a great stead,
55. for the seat of my royalty,
56. with bitumen and burnt brick
57. loftily I made, and
58. with my father’s palace I joined (it), and
59. in a salutary month, on a lucky day,
60. the foundation of it in the bosom of broad
Earth 6r.
I firmly laid, and
62. the top of it I reared
63. high as the wooded hills.2
64. On the 15th day, the work of it
Column IX
1. I finished, and
2. made splendid the seat of lordship.
3. Strong male 2 cedars,
4. the growth of high mountains,
5. huge female2 cedars,
6. and cypresses,
7. costly stones glittering,
8. for the roofing of it I laid on.
1 ganfi, kan-U, Accadian GIN
"bar," "barrier," "bulwark," "wall,"
answers to the old Chinese gan, gin, "outer wall," "bank,"
"barrier,” and the like.
2 For this distinction, see 2 R. 46, No.
2, 29, 30, where it is applied to palms.
9. Doors of mismakanna,
10. cedar, cypress,
11. ushti 1 and ivory,2
12. the frame of silver (and) gold,
13. and the plating bronze;
14. the thresholds and hinges
15. copper-work
16. in the gates of it I set up, and r 7. with a cornice of uknti its tops
18. I surrounded.
x 9. A strong wall
20. in bitumen and burnt brick
21. mountain-like I threw around it.
22. On the flanks of the wall of brick,
23. a great wall
24. with huge stones,
25. the yield of great mountains,
26. I made, and
27. like mountains
28. I raised its heads.
29. That house for gazings
30. I caused to be made, and,
3 r. for
the beholding of the multitude of the people,
32. with sculptures I had (it) filled.
33. The awe3 of power, the dread
34. of the splendour of sovereignty,
35. its sides begird, and
36. the bad unrighteous man
37. cometh not within it.
38. That no foe might appear,4
1 The Accadian DAN, “hard,"
"strong," is like the old Chinese dan (modern fan), which denotes
several kinds of hard-wood trees, including sandal-wood.
2 The Accadian KA-AUA-si{G) = mouth +
wild-ox + horn, which is the ideogram for “ ivory," recalls the Chinese
k'au, " mouth,” ma, an obsolete name of the yak or wild-ox, and siang,
"elephant," "ivory," as well as si, "rhinoceros"
(written ox + tail).
3 battu (from the same root as balak, i.
47. "I heed or care for," "regard," cp. Arab. bala). The
phrase might be rendered "heed of wrath.” ,
4 Literally “ present face," as at
vi. 40 supra.
39. on the sides of the wall of Babylon
40. a bulwark against him1
41. I built afar, and
42. the city of Babylon
43. I made strong
44. as the wooded hills.
45. To Merodach, my lord,
46. I made supplication, and lifted up my hands
:
47. “Merodach, lord, open-eyed of the gods,
48. glorious prince!
49. Thou it was that createdst me, and
50. with the sovereignty of a multitude of
peoples
51. didst invest me.
5 2. Like dear life
53. I love the exaltation of thy lodging-place :
54. besides thy city of Babylon
55. In no place
56. have I adorned a city.2
57. Like as I love
58. the fear of thy godhead,
5 9. (and) seek unto thy lordship ;
60. favourably regard the lifting up of my
hands,
61. hear my prayers !
62. I verily am the maintaining3
king,
63. that maketh glad thine heart;
64. the careful servant,
65. that maintaineth3 all thy town.
Column X
1. At thy behest,
2. O merciful Merodach,
3. may the house I have made
4. therewith 4 endure ! and
5. with the fulness of it may I be satisfied,
and
1 Literally " the bulwark of his
battle I earried to a distance " (from the inner wall); cp. vi. 40 ; viii.
42.
2 Borsippa was no exception, being part of
Babylon.
3 See note on i. 12, 19 supra.
4 i.e. with Merodach's town, Babylon
itself, ix. 65. Cp. ix. 54 sqq.
6. within it
7. hoar age may I reach !
8. May I be satisfied with offspring!
9. Of the kings of the world,
ro. of all
men,
11. their heavy tribute
12. may I receive within it!
13. From nadir to zenith,
14. (and) where the sun riseth,
15. may I have no enemies,
16. foemen may I possess not!
17. My posterity within it
18. for evermore
19. over the Blackheads1 may they
rule ! ”
1 The Blackheads were the aboriginal
population of Babylonia, i.e. the Accadians. The Chinese anciently bore the
same title, a fact which is one of the innumerable proofs of their Accadian
origin. The meaning appears to be black-haired ; though the expression is said
to refer to the colour of their caps or kerchiefs. The Chinese still call
themselves by several synonymous titles meaning the black-haired folk.
Translated by the Editor
The three contracts which follow are among the numerous
cuneiform documents of the same class the publication of which we owe to the
indefatigable labours of Dr Strassmaier. They are published in his Babylonische
Texte: Inschriften von Nabonidus, i., iii., Nos. 184, 581, and 688, and are
interesting on account of their references to Belshazzar, the eldest son of
Nabonidos, whose name is written in Babylonian Bilu-sarra-utsur, “O Bel, defend
the king.” It is especially curious to learn from one of them that the
heir-apparent to the throne had to conform to the same legal obligations as the
meanest of his subjects. Security was exacted by him for the payment of a debt,
a portion of the security being a house inhabited by a Persian. As Persian
slaves are mentioned in other deeds of the period it is possible that the
Persian in question was a slave. At all events the notice of him proves that
there were Persians living in Babylon before the conquest of the country by
Cyrus. The third document, it will be observed, is dated six years before the
overthrow of Nabonidos and the entrance of Cyrus into Babylon.
No. I
A house belonging to Nebo-akhi-iddin, the
son of Sula, the son of Egibi, which adjoins the house of Bel-nadin, the son of
Rimut, the son of the soldier (?)1 has been handed over (by
Nebo-akhi-iddin) for 3 years to Nebo-yukin-akhi the secretary2 of
Belshazzar, the son of the king, for ij manehs of silver, sub-letting of the
house being forbidden, as well as interest on the money. (Nebo-yukin-akhi)
undertakes to plant trees and repair the house.3 At the expiration
of the
3 years Nebo-akhi-iddin shall repay the
money, namely
11 manehs, to Nebo-yukin-akhi, and
Nebo-yukin-akhi shall quit the house in the presence of Nebo-akhi-iddin. The
witnesses (are) Kabtiya, the son of Tabnea, the son of Egibi; Tabik-zira, the
son of Nergal-yusallim, the son of Sin-karabi-isime; Nebo-zira-ibni, the son of
Ardia ; and the priest Bel-akhi-basa, the son of Nebo-baladhsu-iqbi. (Dated)
Babylon, the 21st day of Nisan, the 5th year of Nabonidos king of Babylon.4
No. II
The sum of
20 manehs of silver for wool, the property of Belshazzar, the son of the king,
which has been handed
1 Kiki ; in the account of the Deluge (1.
169) Bel is called qurad kiki, " the warrior of the kiki. ’'
2 Amel'sipiri. In the reign of Darius we
hear of a certain Abla, who was “royal prince and secretary to the princes of
the new palace."
3 That is to say, to keep the garden and
house in order.
1 B.C. 55'.
over to
Iddin-Merodach, the son of Basa, the son of Nur- Sin, through the agency of
Nebo-tsabit the steward of the house1 of Belshazzar, the son of the
king, and the secretaries of the son of the king. In the month Adar, of the nth
year (of Nabonidos), he gives the money, namely 20 manehs. The house of . . .
the Persian 2 and all his property in town and country shall be the
security of Belshazzar, the son of the king, until he shall pay in full the
money aforesaid. The money which he shall (meanwhile) make upon [the property]
(?),3 he shall pay as interest. Witnessed by Bel-iddin, the son of
Rimut, the son of the soldier (?); Etilpi, the son of . . . the son of the
father of the house; Nadin, the son of Merodach-[sum-utsur], the son of the
superintendent of the works; Nergal-yusallim, the son of Merodach-[edir], the
son of Gasura; Merodach- natsir, the son of Samas- . . . , the son of Dabibi;
and the priest Bel-akhi-iddin, the son of Nebo-baladhsu-iqbi. (Dated) Babylon,
the 20th day of the month . . , the nth year of Nabonidos king [of Babylon].4
No. Ill
One maneh
16 shekels of silver capital and interest, the property5 of Nebo-tsabit-ida,
the steward of the house of Belshazzar, the son of the king, which (he owes) to
Bel- iddina, the son of Bel-sum-iskun, the son of Sin-tabni, and the seed grown
in sight of the chief gates (of Babylon) which has been taken as security (for it).
The money, namely 1 maneh 16 shekels, Nebo-tsabit-ida, by the agency of
Itti-Merodach-baladhu, the son of Nebo-akhi-iddin, the son of Egibi, has
presented to Bel-iddina. The witnesses (are) Nebo-iddina, the son of Rimutu,
the son of Kiki;6 Bel-iddina, the son of Bel-sum-iskun, the son of
Sin-tabni; Nebo-zira-esir, the son of Ina-essu-edir, the son of the
1 Rab-biti. 2 Par*sit.
8 Literally
4' the money as much as upon [the property] he shall fill
«/(?),”
Perhaps we should read isabsfl, "he shall acquire," instead of
imir-sfl. 4 B.C. 545.
5 Read rasutu. 6 Written here as a proper name.
Umuk j1
Nadinu, the son of Merodach-iddin-akhi; Nergal- yusallim, the priest, the son
of Merodach-edir, the son of Gasura. (Dated) at Babylon,
the 27 th day of the second Adar,2 the 12th year of Nabonidos
king of Babylon.3
1 An officer who seems to have had
something to do with the beginning of the year.
2 The intercalary month Ve-Adar, 3 B.C. 544.
B.C.
The
earlier dynasty ends with Arame. . dr. 857-840 1. Sarduris I, the son of
Lutipris, founds the city of Dhuspas (Van) and the
|
|
later
dynasty .... |
. 840 |
|
2. |
Ispuinis,
“ the settler,” his son . . |
. ? |
|
|
Ispuinis
and his son Menuas together |
. ? |
|
3- |
Menuas
alone ..... |
. ? |
|
4- |
Argistis
I, his son .... |
O 00 |
|
5- |
Sarduris
II, his son .... |
. ? |
|
6. |
Ru'sas
I, called Ursa by the Assyrians |
• 730 |
|
7- |
Argistis
II .... . |
• 715 |
|
8. |
Erimenas,
his son .... |
. ? |
|
9- |
Rusas
II, his son .... |
. 660 |
|
0. |
Sarduris
III . .... |
• 645 |
|
|
Ararat
conquered by Media . . |
. 610
(?) |
VOL. Ill
K
B.C.
1. Akhsemenes (Hakhamanish) ... —
2. Teispes (Chaispaish), his son. He con
quers
Susiania and rules in Anzan . cir. 600
3. Ariaramnes (Ariyaramna), son of Teispes,
in Persia
...... —
3. Kyros I (Kuras), son of Teispes, in Anzan
—
4. Arsames (Arshama), son of Ariaramnes, in
Persia
...... —
4. Kambyses I (Kamujyiya), son of Kyros, in
Anzan
...... —
5. Kyros II, or Agradates, son of Kambyses,
in Anzan.
He conquers Media, and founds the Persian empire . . . 550
6. Kambyses II, his son . . . . 529
7. Gomates (Gaumata) the Magian, the
pseudo-Bardes
or Smerdis, usurps the throne for seven months . . . 521
8. Dareios (Darayavaush), son of Hystaspes
(Vishtaspa)
and grandson of Arsam6s . 521
9. Xerxes I (Khshayarsha), his son . . 485
10. Artaxerxes I (Artakshatra) Longimanus,
his son ..... 465
11. Xerxes II, his son, for 2 months . . 425
B.C.
12. Sogdianos, his half-brother, for 7
months . 425
13. Dareios II Nothos (Okhos), his brother1 . 424 r4. Artaxerxes II Mn^mon, his son1 . . 405
Revolt of
Kyros the younger . . . 401
15. Okhos (Uvasu), son of Artaxerxes . . 362
r6. Arses his son ... . 339
r7- Dareios III Kodomannos . . . 336
Conquered
by Alexander . . . 330
1 A
cuneiform tablet, however, gives the length of the reigns of Dareios
II, and Artaxerxes II, as respectively 29 and
36 years.
END OF
VOL. Ill
Printed by
R. & R, Clakk, Edinburgh
An
Answer to Questions suggested by the Late Revision.
BY
J.
PATERSON SMYTH, LL.B., B.D.,
Senior
Moderator and Gold Medalist, Primate*t Hebrew Prizeman, tyc., tyc. Trinity
Colleget Dublin,
Multee
terricolis lingme, coelestibus una.
LONDON:
SAMUEL
BAGSTER & SONS, LIMITED. DUBLIN: EASON & SON, LIMITED.
SEVIEW
NOTICES AND OPINIONS OF EMINENT MEN. Letter from the Bishop of Derry.—Palace, Debry, Jan. 18S6.
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safely say that my attention was throughout stimulated, and that my interest
never flagged from the first page to the last. Thera are few scholars who may
not learn from Mr. Smyth.”
William, Deeey and Rapuoe.
“ It gives
much interesting information with admirable simplicity.”
Aechdeacon I'aeeak.
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little volnme is indispensahle to the Bible reader who wishes to have in small
compass an account of ancient mannscripts and early versions. It supplies a
felt need.”—The Christian.
“ We have
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might honestly have been pressnted to the public as a fiva-shilling
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"
This is altogether an admirable little book.”— Dublin Evg.
Mail.
NEW WORK
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Wow ready,
SECOND EDITION—making 7000 Copies, crown 8vo, 240 pp., price 2s. 6d., extra
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AND
An
Easy Lesson for the People in Biblieal Criticism.
BY
J.
PATERSON SMYTH, LL.B,, B.D.
Senioi
Aloderator and Gold 2fedalist, Primate’a Hebrew Prizeman, S;c. Trinity College,
Dublin,
The Old Testament.
Multse
terricolis Imgn.se, coelestibus una,
LONDON:
SAMUEL
BAGSTER AND SONS, LIMITED.
DUBLIN:
EASON & SON, LIMITED.
REVIEW
NOTICES AND OPINIONS OF EMINENT MEN.
It is not
too much to say that this is a book that should be put into the hands, or
better still, into the head of every Sunday School teacher and scholar. There
is another excellent little book by the same author, “How we got our Bible,” of
which we may say the same thing.—Oxford Journal, April 5.
From Right
Hon. W. E. Gladstone.
I find the
work itself most interesting. I have rarely seen the faculty of lucid
exposition more conspicuously displayed.
From the
Professor of Hebreiv, Trinity College, Cambridge.
A very
readable and attractive account of a subject on which I fear very general
ignorance prevails.
A
thoroughly excellent book is Mr. J. Paterson Smyth’s Old Documents and the New
Bible. . . . The history of the Bible is a subject on which nearly equal
ignorance and curiosity prevail among the people, and Mr. Smyth’s book meets a
real want.— Scottish Leader} April 10.
. . . . It
is a long time since we have come across a book which so thoroughly combined
pleasure with profit as the volume now under description. . . . It is small
praise to say that there is not a dull page in it. Of the driest and most
unpromising of materials he has constructed a book that anyone can understand,
and that most readers will find to contain not only information hnt amusement.
It is a perfect model of what such a book ought to be. —The Bookseller, April
5.
From Rev.
W. Alexander, D.D., Bishop of Derry.
Truly “The
Old Docnments and the New Bible5’ is delightful reading. It is
pellncidly arranged and written, sometimes witty, sometimes pathetic in a high
degree. A most instructive book.
It
contains a first and easy, yet capital and most indispensable lesson in
Biblical criticism, for the understanding of which no long and laborious
preliminary studies are necessary. There is scholarship enough in it to make
it exceedingly valuable to the young divinity student.—Church Review, May 2.
This
little volume is an admirable piece of work by a writer who is evidently
thoroughly master of his subject—Glasgow Herald, April 4. From Rev. Wm. Sanday, Professor of Exegesis3
Exeter College, Oxford.
Much
impressed by the range of knowledge it displays, and by the vigour and
clearness with which the subject is presented.
*V.'
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