the country or even the general character of its government and administration.  Some documents of a commercial and legal nature, inscribed upon clay tablets during the reigns of the Kassite kings of Babylon, have been found at Nippur, but they have not yet been published, and the information we possess concerning the life of the people in this period is obtained indirectly from kudurrus or boundary-stones, such as those of Nazimaruttash and Melishikhu which have been already described.  Of documents relating to the life of the people under the rule of the kings of the Country of the Sea we have none, and, with the exception of the unpublished chronicle which has been described earlier in this chapter, our information for this period is confined to one or two short votive inscriptions.  But the case is very different with regard to the reigns of the Semitic kings of the First Dynasty of Babylon.  Thousands of tablets relating to legal and commercial transactions during this period have been recovered, and more recently a most valuable series of royal letters, written by Hammurabi and other kings of his dynasty, has been brought to light.

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

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

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

CHAPTER VI—­EARLY BABYLONIAN LIFE AND CUSTOMS

In tracing the ancient history of Mesopotamia and the surrounding countries it is possible to construct a narrative which has the appearance of being comparatively full and complete.  With regard to Babylonia it may be shown how dynasty succeeded dynasty, and for long periods together the names of the kings have been recovered and the order of their succession fixed with certainty.  But the number and importance of the original documents on which this connected narration is based vary enormously for different periods.  Gaps occur in our knowledge of the sequence of events, which with some ingenuity may be bridged over by means of the native lists of kings and the genealogies furnished by the historical inscriptions.  On the other hand, as if to make up for such parsimony, the excavations have yielded a wealth of material for illustrating the conditions of early Babylonian life which prevailed in such periods.  The most fortunate of these periods, so far as the recovery of its records is concerned, is undoubtedly the period of the Semitic kings of