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gifts (sometimes called Kurbanni, the Hebrew Korban), partly by obligatory
contributions, the most important being "tithes".
LITERATURE.--Astronomy.--The great work on astronomy and astrology in
seventy-two chapters or books was originally compiled for the library of Sargon of
Accad. It contained chapters on the eclipses or conjunction of the sun and moon, of the
planets, the fixed stars and the comets and the path of the sun through the signs of the
zodiac.
Mathematics.--Treatises giving tables of cube and square roots give an example of
the extent of the knowledge of the subject. The notation of the Assyrians was
sexagesimal, and 6 still figures in such as the divisions of time, 60 seconds, 60 minutes,
24 hours. 360 degrees to the circle, etc.
Medicine, Law and History also held a considerable place in the literature of Assyria.
CONTRACT TABLETS.--From these contract tablets we may gather mush as to the
social life of the people.
Marriage.--We find polygamy was very rare and the wife enjoyed a considerable
amount of independence, being able to trade with her own money and conduct law suits
in her own name. Wives, however, could be purchased.
Slavery.--This was ancient institution, but the slave was protected by law. The
Sumerian law ordered a son who denied his father to be shorn and sold as a slave.
Taxes.--Nineveh paid into the Treasury in the time of Sennacherib 30 talents a year,
Carchemish was assessed at 100 talents. There was an octroi duty upon goods entering a
town.
The Bureaucracy.--The library of Nineveh gives long lists of Assyrian officials.
Among them the Rab-shakeh, "chief of the princes" or Vizier (see Isa. 37: 8),
the Rab-saris, "chief of the nobles", and the Rab-mag, "chief physician".
In one important respect, the basis upon which society rested in Babylonia and in
Assyria was different. The Government of Babylonia was theocratic, that of Assyria was
military. While Assyria with its bureaucratic centralization was an anticipation of
imperial Rome, Babylonia with its theocratic constitution was an anticipation of papal
Rome. The king was the adopted son of Bel, and his right to rule was based on the fact
that Bel, the true lord and master of the state, had delegated to him his power.