[Footnote 2: For the latest bibliography to the early contract-literature see Schorr, "Urkunden des altbabylonischen Zivil- und Prozessrechts" (published in the "Vorderasiatische Bibliothek," 1913), pp. xlix. ff. The great bulk of the royal letters are in the British Museum and are translated in "Letters and Inscriptions of Hammurabi, etc." (1898-1900); and for publications of private letters of the period, see Schorr, _op cit.,_ p. lvi.]
[Footnote 3: See Clay, "Orient. Lit.-Zeit," 1914 (January), "A Sumerian Prototype of the Hammurabi Code." The text, of which Prof. Clay has sent me a photograph, is of the greatest importance for the study of Babylonian law; he is at present preparing it for publication.]
[Footnote 4: The Babylonian name for a member of the upper class was _awîlum,_ "man," and, when employed in this special sense, it is best translated by some such expression as "patrician" or "noble." But for legislative purposes, as well as in common parlance, _awîlum_ could be employed in its more general meaning to include members of the middle class.]
[Footnote 5: They were known as _mushkênum,_ derived from the Shafel-Piel stem of the root (_kânu_), with the meaning "to humble oneself, to be humble." Combe has compared the similar use of _miskîn_ in Arabic for a man of humble station who is not a descendant of the prophet (cf. "Babyloniaca," III., p. 73 f.). The word passed into Hebrew as _miskên,_ and, with modifications of meaning, into more than one European language (cf. Ital. _meschino, meschinello,_ Portug. _mesquinho,_ French _mesquin_); see Johns, "Schweich Lectures" (1912), pp. 8, 74.]
[Footnote 6: Herodotus (I., 193) bears witness to the great fertility of Babylonia, stating that of all countries of the ancient world it was the most fruitful in grain.]
[Footnote 7: On the early system of tribal ownership, which survived even the Kassite conquest and requisitions, see below, pp. 249 ff.]
[Footnote 8: In fact, the _métayer_ system was in force, the landlord finding the cattle, agricultural implements, and seed for the culture of the fields; cf. Johns, "Schweich Lectures," p. 5.]
[Footnote 9: See the five letters of Ammi-zaduga, in "Letters of Ham." III., pp. 162 ff.]