The World's Progress Part 33

[1] Johns: Babylonian and a.s.syrian Laws, Letters and Contracts; Hammarabi's Code, 104, 105.

[2] Ibid., 122, 123.

[3] Ibid., 196, 197, 198, 201, 206.

[4] Ibid., 25.

[5] Johns: Babylonian and a.s.syrian Laws, Letters and Contracts; Hammarabi's Code, 104, 105.

CHAPTER XII.

LITERATURE AND LEARNING.

The Babylonians produced quite an extensive literature. Their writings treated of religion, mathematics, astronomy, astrology and geography, while some attempt was made to explain animal and plant life. History in Babylonia was limited almost wholly to royal inscriptions and lists of kings. In a.s.syria, on the other hand, the greater portion of the literature related to history, and the kings set forth the happenings of their reigns with directness and considerable detail. Diplomatic affairs, correspondence with Babylonia and foreign provinces, official letters, tribute lists and royal decrees, make up a large part of the surviving tablets.

We have already spoken of the library of a.s.shurbanipal, or the Ninevan library, and have seen what a world of light was thrown upon a.s.syrian civilization when its surviving tablets were at last deciphered.

Babylonia maintained libraries, however, before Nineveh was founded.

These cl.u.s.tered, for reasons which we shall soon see, around the temples. At Erech were early collected writings which were concerned with the religion of the ancient Chaldeans, together with the myths and legends of the country. So many tablets were preserved in this temple that Erech was called the "city of books." A library, rich in mathematical lore, grew up at Larsa, another at Nippur, and still another at Cathah. Smaller libraries were attached to all the great temples.

When we speak of "libraries" in Mesopotamia, collections of clay tablets are meant. Rooms were frequently provided within the temples for the storing of these clay books. The size of the tablet varied greatly. The largest were flat and about 9 by 6-1/2 inches; smaller ones were slightly convex, while tiny ones, not more than one inch long, containing but a line or two, have been found. Sometimes the lettering is so fine that it could have been done only with the aid of a lens, and it cannot be read without one.

In these valleys, the cheapest, most available writing material was the soft clay, ever in evidence. When bricks had been partially dried in the sun, a substance was formed which readily received impressions, and these became firm as the tablet hardened. Both sides and sometimes the edges as well, were written upon, and little pegs of wood provided legs for the brick to rest upon when reversed, that the soft impressions might not be injured. To make the whole proof against fire and water, it was finally baked in an oven. When so treated, a material was made which proved more enduring against action of the elements than either parchment or papyrus.

It is quite certain that papyrus and possibly parchment as well were used for writing purposes, especially in the later period, but no fragment of either has survived.

Certain disadvantages attached to the cheap tablets. They were heavy and unwieldy to hold or carry, but more especially, they allowed no embellishments or lengthy descriptions. Owing to the laborious method of transcribing records, everything was of necessity abbreviated and simplified. Thus we see how one thing acts upon another--the country afforded only clay tablets for writing material; these, limited because of size and weight, curtailed speech and so influenced the style of expression.

Occasionally one tablet const.i.tuted a book, but more often several tablets were needed to contain the entire writing. Thus the Deluge Story is the eleventh tablet, or chapter, of a series numbering twelve in all.

Seventy tablets composed a single work on astronomy, while the three books comprising the earliest religious texts covered 200 tablets. Each tablet was carefully numbered and known by the first line of the book; as, for example, one work treated on the creation and began: "Formerly that which is above was not yet called the heaven;" so the first tablet of the series was ent.i.tled: "Formerly that which is above, No. 1;" the second, "Formerly that which is above, No. 2," and so on through the entire series.

[Ill.u.s.tration: MUSICIANS AND ATTENDANTS IN THE GARDEN OF a.s.sHURBANIPAL.]

The ancient Chaldeans believed that literature and the art of writing were gifts from the G.o.ds, and in the myth which to them explained how knowledge came into the world, it was numbered among the things taught them by the Man-Fish, Oannes. This is the myth as Berosus told it: "There was originally at Babylonia a mult.i.tude of men of foreign race who had colonized Chaldea, and they lived without order, like animals.

But in the first year (of the new order of things) there appeared from out the Persian Gulf where it borders upon Babylonia, an animal endowed with reason, who was called Oannes. The whole body of the animal was that of a fish, but under the fish's head he had another head, and also feet below, growing out of his fish's tail, similar to those of a man; also human speech, and his image is preserved to this day. This being used to spend the whole day amidst men, without taking any food, and he gave them an insight into letters, and sciences, and every kind of art; he taught them how to found cities, to construct temples, to introduce laws and to measure land; he showed them how to sow seeds and gather in crops; in short, he instructed them in everything that softens manners and makes up civilization, so that from that time no one has invented anything new. Then, when the sun went down, this monstrous Oannes used to plunge back into the sea and spend the night in the midst of the boundless waves, for he was amphibious."

It was believed that learning and letters were under the special protection of the G.o.ds, and for this reason it was fitting to preserve books in the temples. The libraries thus established were cared for by scribes and were open to the public. Many were engaged constantly in copying, repairing and taking care of the tablets. An order of celibate priests, not unlike the monks of the Middle Ages, devoted itself to the task of book-making, regarding the work as a pious undertaking.

Among the most ancient books recovered is one containing bits of folk-lore, popular songs and maxims. One of the maxims runs:

"Like an oven that is old Against thy foes be hard and strong."

A fragment of a ploughman's song says:

"My knees are marching--my feet are not resting; With no wealth of thy own--grain thou makest for me."

The Creation legends were among the most ancient writings.

"A plant had not been brought forth, a tree had not been created.

A brick had not been made, a beam had not been formed.

A house had not been built, a city had not been constructed.

A city had not been made, earthly things had not been made glorious.

Nipur had not been built, (its temple) E-kura had not been constructed.

Erech had not been built, (its temple) E-Ana had not been constructed.

The deep had not been made, Eridu had not been constructed.

As for the glorious temple (of Eridu), the house of the G.o.ds, its seat had not been made.

The whole of the lands, the sea also, (had not been formed).

When within the sea the current was In that day Eridu was made. E-Sagila was constructed, E-Sagila which the G.o.d Lugal-du-azagga founded within the deep; Babylon (also) was built, E-Sagila was completed.

The G.o.ds and the spirits of the earth were made altogether.

The glorious city, the seat of the joy of their hearts, supremely they proclaimed.

Merodack (Marduk) bound together the slime before the water.

Dust he made and he poured it out with the flood.

The G.o.ds were made to dwell in a seat of joy of heart.

He created mankind.

The G.o.d Aruru, the seed of mankind, they made with him.

He made the beasts of the field and the living creatures of the desert.

He made the Tigris and Euphrates, and set (them) in (their) places Well proclaimed he their name.

The ussu-plant, the dittu-plant of the marshland, the reed and the forest he made.

He made the verdure of the plain; The lands, the marshes, and the greensward also; Oxen, the young of the horse, the stallion, the mare, the sheep, the locust; Meadows and forests also.

The he-goat and the gazelle brought forth to him."[1]

Babylonian myths often took the form of epics. The epic of Gilgamesh was popular. Twelve tablets composed it, each corresponding to a zodiacal sign. The Deluge Story made up the eleventh chapter. Another epic, the Descent of Ishtar into Arallu, or Hades, was well known. Ishtar, herself a G.o.ddess, mourned a departed G.o.d, her consort, so greatly that she braved the terrors of the underworld to find him and to carry him water from the fountain of life, that he might rejoin her. This was the earliest form of a myth which later appeared in many lands.

Astronomy had its birth in astrology--the so-called science which sought to discover the influences of the planets upon the destinies of mankind.

This science was firmly believed in and strongly supported for centuries after the Christian era, and has its followers even today.

Mathematics had a similar beginning. Geometrical figures were used for augury. In arithmetic, 60 was a favorite number for computation, and the division of a circle into seconds, minutes and degrees, dates from this time.

Geography consisted merely of lists of seas, mountains, rivers, waters, nations, and cities then known. Grammars and dictionaries were plentiful because they were needed even at that time for an understanding of a language, already "dead," but still the language of literature.

In the realm of history, royal inscriptions may be included. With the rise of a.s.syria these came to be more complete. Fewer set phrases, copied by each king from most ancient times, were used and more information was included concerning the subject at hand. For example, an inscription of Tiglathpileser I. (about 1100 B.C.) filled eight sides of a clay cylinder, and contained 809 lines. It consisted of (1) an invocation to the G.o.ds who had given him power; (2) set forth his t.i.tles and summed up the deeds of his reign; (3) 500 lines recounted the campaigns of his first year; (4) 200 lines described his royal hunts and his temples built and restored; (5) finally a blessing was p.r.o.nounced upon those who shall honor his deeds and a curse is given those who ignore them.

Both nations loved justice and delighted in formality. All kinds of agreements were put into writing and were duly witnessed. To the original code of laws in Babylonia, court decisions were added and together comprised the later law of the land. All important cases were abstracted and the decision of the judges given at length on tablets which have been preserved in many cases with the signature of the judge.

The judges were appointed by the king. Priests were eligible, but others often served. There was probably a court in the vicinity of every important temple, which has given a general impression that the priests took entire charge of court proceedings.

Education was much more widely diffused in Babylonia than in a.s.syria. In the former country both girls and boys seem to have received some elementary training in the art of reading and writing. Schools for the training of scribes were maintained in connection with each of the great temples. Tutors were doubtless employed in families of the n.o.bility, but little is known of the training of the young. The art of writing was a difficult one to master and required the memorizing of a large number of symbols. There must have been much truth in the sentence found often in the children's copy-books: "He who would become a scribe must rise with the dawn." In the school of Sippara a tablet has been found which is supposed to have been either a medal or a diploma given by the school.

An inscription upon it reads: "Whosoever has distinguished himself at the place of tablet writing shall s.h.i.+ne as the light." The calling of the scribe was an honorable one and his social position was good.

One indication that people of the better cla.s.ses in Babylonia could write is to be found in the number of personal letters which have been found. These are not written, as in a.s.syria, in one uniform handwriting, but show many variations and degrees of perfection.

In a.s.syria writing was a profession, and only trades-people whose business compelled them to understand rudimentary writing, public officials and the upper cla.s.ses understood the art. Public scribes wrote many private letters, much in the same way as a lawyer of today might draw up some doc.u.ment, and to the letter so written, the sender affixed his seal.

Learning was limited in the northern kingdom to the favored few. Some of the kings, notably a.s.shurbanipal, was a book collector and sent his men everywhere to gather up tablets of worth and antiquity.

Letters which have been translated help to bring these early days before us. This one was probably sent by a lover to the object of his adoration: